Congress Vote on FTA that Would Displace American Workers
Congress Vote on FTA that Would Displace American Workers
Date: Monday, July 21, 2003 6:47 PM
JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER
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http://capwiz.com/fair/issues/alert/?alertid=2916006&type=CO
Congress to Vote on Free Trade Agreements that Would Displace American
Workers
Contact Your Elected Officials TODAY!
Last week, we asked you to call the Senate to prevent the Chile and
Singapore Free Trade Agreements from displacing American workers. Now,
this issue has become more urgent, as the U.S. House of Representatives
will vote on the two free trade agreements as early as Wednesday! Under
the procedures governing House and Senate ratification of trade
agreements, so called "fast track," each chamber must vote these trade
deals up or down without any opportunity for amendments.
The offending language in the agreements, if approved, would prevent
the United States Congress from setting labor certification rules or
limits on the numbers of intra-company transfer L-1 visa workers
admitted from these two countries. Making these provisions especially
dangerous, the Bush Administration is touting them as a model to be
replicated in future trade agreements with numerous other countries.
The existing H-1B and L-1 temporary high-tech worker visa programs have
already contributed to record setting unemployment among U.S. high tech
workers. FAIR considers the guestworker provisions of these two free
trade agreements to be so harmful that Congress should reject them
altogether unless changed.
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Lindsey
Graham (R-SC) are actively opposing the inclusion of immigration worker
provisions in the proposed Free Trade Agreements. They have written
letters to President Bush and to U.S. Trade Representative Robert
Zoellick urging them to withdraw the immigration provisions and
renegotiate the trade agreements. The Administration has offered only
modest concessions on the H-1B provisions and none on L-1 visas.
How You Can Help:
Contact your elected officials and tell them to oppose the foreign
worker provisions in the Chile and Singapore free trade agreements.
Type your zip code into the "Take Action Now" box to send a free faxed
message.
Follow up your faxes with a phone call. (Visit the "Elected Officials"
section of our website for contact information.) Recommend that
Congress return these agreements to the U.S. Trade Representative with
instructions to eliminate the temporary worker provisions.
Call Senators Feinstein, Sessions, and Graham and thank them for
speaking out against these dangerous guestworker provisions.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein: 202-224-3841
Sen. Jeff Sessions: 202-224-4124
Sen. Lindsey Graham: 202-224-5972
Talking Points:
The guestworker provisions of these trade deals will cause further
displacement of U.S. high-tech workers at a time of record unemployment
in this sector.
Future Congressional action to set numerical limits and worker
protection standard for existing guestworker programs will be crippled
by these treaties if they are approved by the House in their current
form.
Trade agreements are not the appropriate way to enact immigration laws
because they cannot be later amended or corrected by legislation. The
immigration provisions in the proposed Free Trade Agreements should be
subject to separate consideration by Congress.
The inclusion of immigration provisions in free trade agreements
undermines Congress's exclusive authority to regulate national
immigration policy.
The limit on "specialty occupation" guestworkers (H-1B visas) under
these agreements is non-existent because there is no limit on the
number of times the visas for guestworkers from these countries may be
renewed.
The provisions for intra-company transfer L-1 visas preclude
establishing any ceiling on them and rule out the establishment of
labor market protections for American workers.
For more information, read the following FAIR issue briefs:
How Guestworker Programs Harm America
The L Visa: Big Business's New Loophole for Displacing American Workers
The High-Tech Worker Shortage Is a Sham
Also read our FAIR Congressional Testimony on International Trade
Agreements and Movement of Natural Persons.
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Rob Sanchez is board member of NAEA - www.NAEA.US
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