Posted on 28-7-2002

Workers Will Pay For US Recovery
by Alan Marston

True to form workers are the first closely followed by the natural
environment, to be forced to carry a sick economy. The usual medicine will
yet again be applied in full, so-called free trade. US President Bush and
his Republican Party have moved within 5 working days of a record-breaking
stockmarket and business confidence crash to implement what past President
Clinton (during economic upswing) couldn't get in 8 years - enabling
legislation to give the President wide powers to remove tariffs and other
defensive measures that protect US worker's and consumers livelihoods and
the businesses and natural resources that employ and supply them.

The negotiating power Mr. Bush seeks was held by five earlier presidents
but expired in 1994. President Bill Clinton never succeeded in convincing
Congress that the negotiation authority should be renewed, mainly because
of concern that trade deals cost American jobs and lower environmental
standards. Mr. Bush has always put expanding international trade near the
top of his economic agenda. In recent weeks, he has stepped up pressure on
Congress to pass the trade bill on the grounds that it would help the
economy recover from last year's recession and restore confidence at a time
when the stock market is sinking - even though the fruits of any trade
deals are years away.

However, the deal has a sweetner in it to help the medicine go down.
Besides granting broader trade negotiating authority to the president, the
agreement breaks significant new ground for American workers. It creates a
new program of subsidized health insurance, in addition to other benefits
for Americans who are displaced by foreign competition. The measure calls
for the government to pay 65 percent of the health insurance costs for such
workers in the form of refundable tax credits.

The deal has caused a sharp split among Democrats, which could have
repercussions in the party's presidential primary in 2004. Senator Tom
Daschle of South Dakota, the majority leader, called the legislation "a
very strong bill for workers adversely affected by trade." But
Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, the House minority leader,
was critical of it and said House Democrats would work to defeat it. The
two Democratic leaders rarely disagree on major issues.

Organized labor, already running ads against such trade legislation in
eight major states, promptly began lobbying against it. John Sweeney, the
president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., said, "Working people have watched unfair
trade deals and growing trade deficits send millions of family-supporting
jobs overseas to nations where corporations can abuse workers' rights,
child labor and the environment."

Democrats who were disappointed by the agreement argued that the health
care tax credits would not ensure that displaced workers would be able to
afford coverage in the private health market. Democratic aides were working
hard to keep most of their party voting against the bill as a tactic to
force Republicans from vulnerable textile and steel areas to cast a vote
for the bill that could be used against them in the election.