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Trade Policy
The experience of people on Labor-Religion delegations to the border with Mexico provides a close-up picture of the worst effects of free trade as it's currently practiced. That reality is duplicated wherever corporations exploit workers and where environmental protection and labor laws are not enforced. The poverty of border colonias and the ecological deterioration along the Rio Grande is repeated in countries across the developing world.
Despite what supporters of the NAFTA model of free trade would like us to believe, there are alternative ways to conduct business in a manner that protects the environment, safeguards the lives and rights of workers and makes a profit.
Citizens Trade Campaign is a national coalition of environmental, labor, consumer, family farm, religious, and other civil society groups including the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State. The group is united in a common belief that international trade and investment are not ends unto themselves, but instead must be viewed as a means for achieving other societal goals such as economic justice, human rights, healthy communities, and a sound environment.
The New York Citizens Trade Coalition is the new statewide affiliate of the Citizens Trade Campaign. Contact director Mark Bergin (347/ 675-1045) to receive the new e-bulletin, News, Action Alerts and Events. The LRC hosted Economic Justice for All, an organization that served as the New York state affiliate of Citizens Trade Campaign from 2004-2007.
For more on what worker justice supporters seek in trade policies, visit the lively blog on globalization and trade from Public Citizen—Eyes on Trade [www.eyesontrade.org]. A sample is an obituary for Fast Track, “pronounced dead on June 30, 2007 after a brief and damaging existence.” “Fast Track” was a process that removed Congress’s authority and oversight over trade negotiations.
Last Updated:10/08/2008
© Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
