Labor and Politics
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Inside: DSA resolution on Clinton v. Bush PUBLISHED BY THE DEMOC RATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMER ICA September /October 1992 Volume XX Number 5 Labor and Politics Labor Day 1992 INSIDE DEMOCRATIC LEFT _______ An Organizer's Guide to Free Trade DSActlon ... 21 by Glenn Scott ... 3 The Democratic New (?) Deal Does Bill Clinton Work for the Labor Movement? by Jo-Ann Mort ... 25 by David Moberg. 10 The End of the Conservative Era? Work and Family: The Missing Movement by Mark Levinson ... 28 by Susan Cowell ... 14 TIME SQUEEZE: The Overworked DSAer International Labor Solidarity in West Virginia by Joanne Barkan ... 31 by Penny Schontz. .. 16 You Con Win in the 1990s by Greg Tarpinian .. 37 On the Left by Horry Fleischman .. 20 Janie Higgins Reports ... 40 cover photo by Andrew Lichlensloln/lmpoct Visuals perity America-the first election since falls prey to precisely these special 1=t•lit•i:1n11 1948 in which a majority of Ameri- corporate interests. Out goes the cans do not take prosperity as a given. commitment to Canadian-style na- Elect Bill Clinton This leads to the good news: the tional health care because it threat American people want government ens the private insurance industry. Resolution passed by to play a role again in promoting the Instead of proposing alternatives to life opportunities of its citizens. And "free trade" which would support DSANPC then, the mixed news: belatedly, in trade union rights and balanced, en August 28, 1992 its characteristically tepid fashion, vironmentally-sound growth that the Democratic Party has begun to would raise living standards both The Democratic Left is printing this respond to this sea-change in the North and South, the platform speaks resolution in order to provide guid political climate. The party is shift- vaguely of "environmental stan ance to members and locals in 1992 ing from more narrowly targeted to dards." The platform speaks of mili electoral work. Our September/Oc more urnversal programs: college tary intervention to defend vital in tober issues of 1984 and 1988 ran loans, apprenticeship programs, terests, yet ignores the political and these statements, as well. family leave, national healtl1 insur- continued on page 38 This year's presidential election ance, affordable housing. There's ------------- presents the nation with rea I dangers political logic behind this shift, too: and with the mild possibility of hope. thE' recognition that government, and DEMOCRATIC LEFT the Democrats, who in America passes The Bush administration has been Managing Editor a completely expectable disaster. As for the party of government, only Michael Liglzty the nation's economy continues its wins support when it serves the long and wrenching decline, as the majority of Americans. Production twenty-year upward redistribution Yet in the rush towards univer Kera Bolo11ik of wealth continues unchecked, as salist programs, the Democrats seem Editorial Committee cities bum and dreams die, the re to be abandoning key constituencies: ]oa1111e Barkan, Dorothee Benz, sponse of the administration has been the poor and working poor, trade Howard Croft, Milch Horowitz, all but non-existent. unionists, African-Americans and Sherri L.evi11e, Neil McLaughlin, Yet, if ever a year had all the other communities of color, and the Maxme Phillips preconditions for progressive politi unemployed. Without the mobiliza cal change, 1992 is that year. This is tion of these constituencies there can Interns the first election to follow the end of be no Democratic presidential vic Sllealem Ml'.Lmey, Robert. Marinovic the Cold War -- the first in which the tory, nor U1e vigorous pressure from Founding Editor billions of dollars we have spent below to pass progressive legislation Miclzat'I Harrington (1928-1989) annually on our arms budget could over the opposition of the perma °""'"cr•hc I dt f hSN •rMn.1207> u-""bltdwtl "' hrrus •yr.•~ be redirected towards our glaring nent Washington government, cor •t J5 lNhh St.• 509,NY. N'( 10038 S"'''"T'ipt/mu: SI r'fJlll•r; SIS 1n.JtrtwtTon•I l1osflr11hb'r; :)rHd •dllrr~ duingt's to JS Dwtd• social needs. This is also the first porate lobbyists. In the guise of Sr • • SO<I. NY. ,,'Y JOO.IS ll<wooa•ti< 1.efr I•"""';"'"' by .. 0..oer•hl ~od.Jists of A....m,~.,. JS !Jt.tdt \t,. •>N. NY. NY election to take place in post-pros- moderation the Democratic platform JNJI '2121 962-1.190 '•f<l>ed ortid" nf"'"O tM opinlmo. of ti\• •uthan •nd twl ncr<"""'rilv t.hov Ctf th• inrw.aniutioe.. 2 DcMCX::RATIC: Lur An Organizer's Guide to Free Trade A Maqulladoran BY GLENN Scorr factory worker stands In front of ayoffs. Declmmg living standards. A policy: the polluted shrinking middle class. A seemingly 1. There has never been a Free Trade Agree stream that L permanent, expanding w1derclass com ment (FT A) between two countries with such surrounds his prised of single women and their children vastly different developmental and economic home. living in poverty. High unemployment. Dra situations as the U.S. and Mexico. Even with The stream Is matic increase in the low-wage service sector. a FfA between two countries with relatively used as a dump All the trappings of what we as progressives similar economies, such as the one between site by the see as the wrenching injustices of the late 20th the U.S. and Canada three years ago, positive nearby factory. century American corporate capitalism. results are hard to find. According to the New How will a North American Free Trade Democratic Party and the Canadian Labor Agreement (NAFT A) affect the economy and Congress, free trade has been responsible for people of North America? Will it provide an over 400,000 layoffs. Labor leaders, farmers, expanded business market, thereby spurring feminists, and environmentalists trash free economic growth, as the prcrfree traders claim? trade for plunging Canada into their deepest Critics say no. NAFTA will spur layoffs in recession in 40 years. U.S. manufacturing as corporations chase low In contrast, the European Community has wages in Mexico. Without lifting labor and negotiated lowering trade barriers by recog environmental standards, the N AFT A will nizing the social dimension of trade and in condemn Mexico for increased penetration of vestment. In doing so, they were able to pass U.S. capital and lock the Mexican people into a wide range of measures to lift the weaker low wages, poverty conditions, and environ economies of Portugal and Greece in order to mental degradation. avoid a mass relocation of factories 1n search Several environmental policy activists, of cheaper labor and weaker environmental along with progressive labor economists, la regulations. bor leaders, and progressive think tanks have developed a five-tenet critique of NAFTA's 2. The NAFTA process has deliberately si- SEPTEMBER/()crosrR 1992 3 lenced workers and organizations in crucial away lies the evidence of the human and matters. Recall George Bush's statement about social cost of this "success." Workers live in labor and environmental issues being"off the ne tin or cardboard shacks with no running gotiating table" when he first trotted out his FT A water or electricity. When it rains, workers agenda. Since then, the Bush Administration has and children have to walk through sewage. attempted to placate critics by negotiating the Companies regularly dump untreated in establishment of trilateral commissions to envi dustrial waste in the ditches and tributaries ronmental standards and enforcement; the labor of the Rio Grande, the only water supply. issue was not on the table, now it is not in the The National Toxics Campaign's sample agreement. tests have shown extremely high toxic chemi cal rates in the water near neighborhoods. 3. The Maquiladora industry serves as a perfect illustration for the resu I ts of free trade. Along the 4. Mexican workers have not had any fi Mexican side of the U.S./Mexican border, trade nancial benefits from Maquiladora expan tariffs were drastically lowered to encourage the sion and corporate profitability. In fact, building of Maquiladoras, or assembly plants. wages have been cut in half over the last The intent was to entice U.S. companies to build eight years thanks to austere policies. The facilities in Mexico to give Mexicans jobs, thus largely Hispanic population along the U.S. slowing immigration considerably. This growth side of the border has seen little improve would expand markets, thus creating jobs in the ment from the Maquiladoras. 1he Rio Grande U.S., and lower costs for goods. Valley, Eagle Pass, Del Rio, El Paso, all Prior to 1980, there were about 50 assembly border cities, have some of the highest plants; presently there are over 1700 plants unemployment rates and poverty statistics employing over 500,000 workers at an average in the country. Yet this has definitely bene wage of 60 cents an hour for a SO-hour work fited the U.S. consumer, for the cost of week. This is a lower wage than the rest of Mexican-made goods is one eighth the cost Mexico, but this should come as little surprise, of comparable U.S.-made goods. for the work force is predominantly comprised of Carlos Salinas' political base in the tiny women between the ages of 16 to 24. Mexican upper class understand that they Over 90% of these companies are U.S. corpo are trading low wage Mexican workers for rations assembling goods for the U.S. market, a piece of the action. Any efforts on the part such as AT&T, Ford, General Motors, and Ze of Mexican workers to raise their wages are nith. They have made huge profits from the low met with state intervention.