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VERMONT T1MF~ OCTOBER 28,1993-11

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W h y I O p p o s e N A F T A
W h y I a m l o r N A F T A
tricity or running water. I met with an
employee of Zenith who broke down in
tears asshedescribed howhard it wasto
keep her family aliveon the $1an hour
she was paid. I heard another woman
express the view that her miscarriage,
andthe illnesses of other workers inher
plant, were related to the dangerous
chemicals to which they were exposed.
In Brownsville, Texas I met with aphy-
sician who is deeply concerned about
ByBernard Sanders birth defects in the area that may be
linked to toxicwastes discharged bythe
A
recent trip toMexicowithfiveother factoriesintheborder maquikJdora area.
members of Congress has only con- Theessence ofNAFTA isthat Ameri-
firmed my worst fears about the can workers will be forced to compete
effect the North American Free Trade against desperate and impoverished
Agreement (NAFTA) will have on the Mexican workers who earn aminimum
standard of living, and quality of life, for wageof 58cents anhour, andanaverage
both Americans and Mexicans. manufacturing wage of $2.35 cents an
In our country, the working people hour.A!ready,some2000Americancom_
arecurrently facingtheir worst economic panies (AT&T, Ford, General Motors,
crisis since the Great Depression. Real Zenith, Digital, etc.) hsve thrown more
wageshave declined by20percent since than ahalf amillion American workers
1973; the distribution of wealth is more out on the streets as they have headed
uneventhan at any tirnesincethe 1920's, south for lowwagelabor. UnderNAFTA,
with the richest 1percent owning more when all trade barriers areremoved and
wealth than the bottom 90percent; and American corporations will have even
extremely frightening for the future, more security in Mexico, the exodus of
most of the new employment being ere- American jobs will only accelerate. Ac-
atedconsists of lowwage, part-time and cording toaSeptember, 1992Wall Street
temporary jobs with minimal benefits. Journal poll, 40%of the companies con-
Inmyview, NAFTA will accelerate all of tacted indicated that they were likely to
thesenegative economic trends, andwill shift some production to Mexico.
oniybenefit theruling elites oftheUnited The good news, therefore, is that
States, Mexico and Canada. Americancorporations arehuildingsome
In Mexico, I observed workers em- ofthemosttechnologicallysophisticated
ployed at a high-tech General Motors factories in the world, and are hiring ~ DYA I iI A GI ,
radio assembly plant earning $1.80 an huodreds of thousands of people. The 'I I I I I SS A
hour, and living in shacks without elec- Continued on Page 28
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ByEmily H. Merrill
F
or ten years, I haverun asuccessful
business in Vermont. Mycompany,
Turtle Brystie Inc., manufactures
outdoor accessory products that sell
around the world. The argument made
by Ross Perot and others that NAFTA
would cause job losses in the U.S. is
short sighted.
To profit from the savings in labor
costs would require an initial capital
investment most small businesses can-
not afford. Presumably, there wouldbe
additional shipping costs for raw goods
and finished products. Therefore it will
not makeeconomic sensefor small busi-
nesses, whoaccount for most of thejobs
in the U.S., to movetheir production.
Though labor costs are an important
factor in the pricing of products, in a
global competitive market they are not
the only expense. Others include the
costa of complying with excessive gov-
ernment regulations and taxes. Part of
this tax revenue isused for U.S. foreign
aid to countries like Mexico.
The Mexican market for U.S. goods
has tripled since 1986 to $41billion in
1992. With NAFTA, that growth can
continue, despite the fact that Mexico's
per-capita income is only 5 percent of
ours. NAFTA is an opportunity to help
ourneighborwhile benefitting ourselves
and reducing foreign aid requirements.
Though mycompany sellsaround the
world, it was not until the 25 percent
tariff on shipments into Canada was
reduced to 10percent that wewereable
toaccess this hugemarket for our prod-
ucts. Welookforward totruly freetrade
with Canada, as I amsure many other
businesses do with Mexico. Unfortu-
nately MeXicoisnot aslargeapotential
user of warm accessories for cold
weather.
NAFTAwill not happen over night. It
will be10years before there is virtually
frestrade. Twoimmediate benefits, how-
ever, arethat Mexicowill open its2,000-
mile border and interior zones to U.S.
trucks for the first time and that intel-
lectual property provisions strengthen
MexicanandCanadian protection ofU.S.
inventions andcreative works fromille-
gal copying.
I have to believe that President
Clinton and the past four presidents
havestoodupfor theNAFTA agreement
because, as Mr. Herbert Stein, former
Continued on Page 28
Continued from Page 11
bad news is that they are n?t
building these. plants. 10
Brattleboro, Benmngto.n, Wmd-
soror WhiteRiverJ unctlOn. They
arebuildingthem inMexlCo,with
lowwagelabor - andarethrow-
ingAmerican workers out onthe
streets in the procesS.
The new factories that are
being built in Mexicoby Amen-
ean companies are high tech,
state of the art plants, which are
producing someof highest qU.al-
ity products in the world ":lth
skilledMexicanworkers. Mexico,
whichexported 1.3million auto-
motive engines last year, now
leadsthe world inthat category.
Studies haveindicated thatMexi-
canmanufacturingworkershave
nowreached 80% of the produc-
tivity level of American workers , _
_ WHILE EARNING 15%OF
THE INCOME. An extremely
attractiveequationforthousanda
ofAmericancompanies whowant
to increase their profits.
Wages have declined in
Mexico, despite the growth of
hightechjobs, because of the low
wage policy established and en-
forced by the undemocratic gov-
ernment of President Carlos
Salinas - the leader of the au-
thoritarian PRI Party. The PRI
has been in complete control of
thegovernment since1929,never
having "lost" a national election.
Workers inMexicotoday are not
ailowed to organize free trade
unions, state and federal elec-
tions are rigged, the media is
heavily controlled bythe govern-
ment, and dissidents have been
jailed. Howdoyou have a"free"
trade agreement with acountry
that is not free?
Whyisit that virtually ail rnul-
tinatipnal corporations in
America support NAFTA, and
they are putting millions of dol-
lars into a campaign to see it
. . . S a n d e r s
-
passed? Why is it that the Mexi_
can government, dominated by
30super-rich fanillies, are put-
ting an unprecedented $40 mil-
lion into apro-NAFTA lobbying
effort? The answer isobvious. If
NAFTA passes, corporate profits
will soar because it will beeven
easier than now for American
companies to nee to Mexicoand
hireworkers there for Starvation
wages.
NAFTAmustbedefeated. The
goal ofAmerican economicpolicy
must he to raise wages in our
country, not lower them. Ameri-
can corporations must reinvest
inAmerica, and not exploit des-
perate third world workers.
Bernie Sanders (Independent)
is Vermont's lone Cogressman.
. . . M e r r i l l
Continued from Page 11
chairman of the President's
Council of Economic Advisers
recently wrote, IIi n addition to
serving our economic interests!
liberal trade policy is an applies-
tion of American principles, so
expression of American concern
for the wellbeing of others, sod
above ail that it makes acontri-
bution tothe stability oftheworld
we live in."
Emily H. Merrill is founder
and chief executive of Turtle
Brystie Inc., an outdoor accessory
manufacturer in Morrisville.