http://bernie.house.gov/statements/20020520163412.asp
Statement of Congressman Sanders on 5/20/2002
regarding:
National Trade Policy Devastates Vermont Jobs
For the last several years there has been
growing
concern in Vermont about what appears to be a
relentless loss of manufacturing jobs. In a state where half
of all workers in Vermont make less than a living wage of
$11.45 per hour, we can’t afford to lose more jobs that have
decent pay and benefits -- especially those in rural areas
of the state, where good jobs are often few and far between.
In just the last 18 months, according to the state
Commerce Agency, job losses from plant closures have
amounted to 368 in Windsor County, 292 in Bennington, 284 in
Windham, 260 in Chittenden, 154 in Orange, 125 in Orleans,
95 in Caledonia County, and others.
Other manufacturing plants have downsized, laying off
additional workers. There are many factors involved in
companies’ decisions to close plants and lay off workers,
but one thing is certain:
Our nation’s so-called “free trade” policies, NAFTA, MFN
and PNTR with China, GATT, and the WTO, are a disaster for
workers in Vermont and throughout the country. If we are
serious about protecting manufacturing jobs in America we
need to move toward a concept of “fair trade,” not just the
“free trade” policies we have today.
Despite the constant drumbeat from multinational
corporations and the media they own about how wonderful
so-called “free trade” is, in fact it has been devastating
for our nation. Right now, the United States has a record
breaking trade deficit of $346 billion, including a $426
billion deficit in goods. Let me tell you what this deficit
means.
From 1994-2000, the U.S. lost over 3 million
manufacturing jobs due specifically to our trade policies,
1.3 million jobs in 2001 alone. Over the past 4 years, we
have lost a total of 2 million factory jobs representing ten
percent of the manufacturing workforce.
182,000 jobs have been eliminated in the textile industry
since 1996, including 59,000 from North Carolina alone.
Steel has lost 46,700 jobs since 1998, including 18,000
in Cleveland, Ohio.
Since 1998, the apparel industry has lost one in three
jobs, including over 40,000 in California. One in five jobs
among companies producing aircraft is gone. We have lost
367,000 jobs in industrial machinery, 299,000 jobs in
electronic and electrical equipment, a quarter million jobs
in transportation equipment, and 116,000 jobs in motor
vehicles.
Let me give you just a few real-life examples of the
impact of “free-trade” on workers in the state of Vermont.
Stanley Tools -- 160 workers in Shaftsbury
Last year
160 workers at the Eagle Square plant -- the oldest
continuously operating manufacturing plant in Vermont --
lost their jobs. The U.S. Department of Labor determined
that increased imports of the tools they made, including
levels and chalk lines were a key factor in the closing.
According to a union official, “The levels went to Thailand
and the chalk lines were out-sourced to China.”
Bogner -- 42 workers Newport
In 2001, Bogner, a ski
apparel manufacturer, laid off 42 of its 75 workers, citing
tough international competition in its industry. The Newport
production manager said the company, struggled to make
enough money to pay its workers: "We just can't do it
anymore. We can't pay $10 an hour versus 25 cents an hour,"
which is what overseas clothing plants pay.
Bogner of America Inc., based in Munich, operated its
Newport plant since 1973 and once employed 200.
Sheftex -- 80 workers in St. Johnsbury
Late last year
the manager of the Sheftex plant said; "Imports are
absolutely killing us. It's hurting me, and it's hurting to
see my people go."
Kimberly Clark -- 63 workers in East Ryegate
Company
officials cited increased competition from overseas in the
need to reduce manufacturing capacity.
Ethan Allen -- 124 workers in Island Pond, 154 in
Randolph, 69 in Orleans
Last year, Ethan Allen closed its
Island Pond plant (along with plants in New York and North
Carolina). This year it closed it Randolph plant, and laid
off workers in its plant in Orleans. Increased imports have
been cited in idling U.S. furniture manufacturing capacity.
For a decade, furniture imports have grown at twice the rate
of furniture sales. In recent years, imports have soared and
now comprise 32% of the furniture sold in the U.S. Some
manufacturers expect imports will more than double in the
next 5 to 10 years.
Because of the impact of imports on loss of their jobs,
Ethan Allen workers were able to receive federal Trade
Adjustment Assistance (TAA).
In the last number of years other companies that have
laid off Vermont workers or shut down because of our trade
policies are:
Johnson Controls -- 240 workers in Bennington.
Maska
U.S. Inc. -- 85 workers in Bradford
Precision Rotary
Instruments -- 37 workers in Bridgewater
Fair-Rite
Products -- 25 workers in Springfield
Our current trade policies have not only resulted in a
substantial amount of manufacturing job loss in this
country, but in the lowering of wages for millions of
workers. U.S. workers displaced as a result of NAFTA have
seen their earnings decline by an average of 13 percent. The
displaced workers’ new jobs are likely to be in the service
industry, the source of 99% of net new jobs created in the
United States since 1989, and a sector in which average
compensation is only 77% of the manufacturing sectors.
Young, entry level workers without a college education saw
their average real wages plummet by 28% between 1979 and
1997 because they are forced to work in the low-wage service
industry as opposed to manufacturing.
In 1993, before NAFTA was signed into law, the U.S. had a
$1.92 billion technology trade surplus with Mexico. In 2000,
the U.S. had a $1.05 billion technology trade deficit with
Mexico. We now have an $83 billion trade deficit with China,
a $29.9 billion trade deficit with Mexico and a $53.3
billion trade deficit with Canada that has more than doubled
since NAFTA. And as any economist can tell you, trade
deficits translate into lost jobs at home.
The bottom line is that here at home, Vermont lost 6,283
trade-related jobs from 1994-2000. And the rest of New
England has been similarly hurt: New Hampshire has lost
12,936 jobs; Rhode Island has lost 29,164 jobs; Connecticut
has lost 31,431 jobs; and Maine has lost 31,057 jobs.
Despite the almost religious adherence of Presidents Bush
and Clinton, Republican leaders and many Democrats to the
notion of “free trade,” the evidence is overwhelming that it
does not work for American workers. Americans cannot and
should not be asked to compete with desperate people in
countries like China where pay is 20-30 cents per hour, and
where workers go to jail if they try to form a trade union
or fight for their rights.
The essence of trade is to try to create a win- win
situation – a process in which both sides gain. This is true
in baseball. It is true in football and it is true in
economics. Unfortunately, our current policies are a loser
for American workers, and for many poor people in the
developing world. The only clear-cut winners are large
multi-national corporations who have thrown millions of
American workers out on the street, and have replaced them
with desperate people abroad who are forced to work for
starvation wages.
If there is good news in this situation it is that more
and more members of Congress are realizing that their former
support of so-called “free trade” was misplaced - to say the
least. Earlier this year, despite intense lobbying by the
large corporations and their millions of dollars in campaign
contributions, “fast track” trade authority only passed the
U.S. House by a single vote. And that came after intense arm
twisting from the Republican Leadership. More and more
members of Congress who have been supportive of our trade
policies are hearing from their constituents back home who
are losing their jobs and are asking; “If free trade is so
good, why am I losing my job?”
It is my hope that in the coming months and years, more
and more members of Congress, more and more governors, more
and more local officials will begin speaking up and demand a
trade policy that works for the average American, and not
just the CEO of the large corporations. When we do that, we
will see corporate investment substantially increase in the
U.S. – and more and more good jobs created.
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. As
someone else noted though, his statistics are no less valid.
I can only wish that it was the WTO's actual site.