[Marxism] CLC Endorses Free Trade,An Open Letter to Ken Georgetti

[eugene <eugene@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yep it's true the CLC has abandoned its tewenty year stand opposing FTA and
NAFTA. It is now embracing free trade on the American Continent, I have
included the CLC press release, Globe and Mail news article and the
Vancouver Province Editorial applauding the CLC.
I would have written a response to Ken Georgetti, but instead a good friend
of the working class, Dr. Karl Marx, had already written a reply which I
have posted at Labour Start on their labour news network page. 

An Open Letter to Ken Georgetti on Free Trade from Dr. Karl Marx
 http://lnn.laborstart.org/more.php?id=245_0_1_0_M

Unfortunately I do not believe that the CLC is embracing Free Trade like
the good Doctor did....
"But, in general, the protective system of our day is conservative, while 
the free trade system is destructive.  It breaks up old nationalities 
and pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie to the 
extreme point.  In a word, the free trade system hastens the social 
revolution.  It is in this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, that I 
vote in favor of free trade.  " Karl Marx

Eugene Plawiuk


GEORGETTI URGES UNION LEADERSHIP TO EMBRACE NEW THINKING ON INDUSTRIAL POLICY 
TO ENSURE LABOUR INFLUENCE OVER NATIONAL ECONOMIC STRATEGIES 
    OTTAWA, Sept. 22 /CNW Telbec/ - The president of the Canadian Labour
Congress is urging the country's labour leadership to work towards a new
industrial policy that, while acknowledging the post-free-trade-agreement
world, would promote a more activist role for government in steering market
forces towards jobs-rich economic development.
    Ken Georgetti issued the collective challenge in his opening remarks to a
CLC Industrial Policy Conference, being held in Ottawa today and tomorrow,
September 22-23. It is the labour movement's first new attempt to influence
national industrial policy since the anti-NAFTA battles of the late 1980s.
    "All of us appreciate that this country more than ever needs good jobs
with good wages," said Georgetti. "The lives and livelihood of working people
require it. The ability of governments to fund public services and programs
demands it.
    "The reality today is that much of our domestic economy is part and
parcel of a North American economy. And to a much greater extent than was the
case before the FTA and NAFTA. Nor are we immune to the pressures on North
American manufacturing posed by the rapid rise of China and developing Asia to
world dominance in the production of consumer goods. Nor to the recent rise in
the offshoring of services."
    The CLC President told Conference participants that the labour movement
must begin to devise a new, credible and workable industrial policy that
allows it to become a serious player in the national debate and determination
of economic strategies.
    "Unfortunately, the dominant governmental approach of the past 20 years,
and more, has been to leave industrial development almost entirely to the
whims of the market. We need to sustain and create good private sector jobs,
and a strong industrial sector should be an important goal of our overall
economic policies. We also want active, not passive, government action to
ensure that corporate decisions promote national and regional economic
development. And the job creation that goes along with it."
    The Conference, being held at Ottawa's Fairmont Château Laurier Hotel and
open to media, continues today and tomorrow with a series of panels,
presentations and debates by leading economists, commentators and politicians.

    The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement,
represents 3 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada's
national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial
federations of labour and 137 district labour councils.                       
Web site: www.clc-ctc.ca


IMPROVE FREE TRADE, UNIONS TELL GOVERNMENT
 By GLORIA GALLOWAY
Globe and Mail
Thursday, Sep 23, 2004 


OTTAWA -- Canada's labour unions remain opposed to free trade, but said
yesterday they reluctantly accept its existence and will now push to make
it better as Canadian jobs face increasing threats from emerging markets
such as China and India.

"If we had political will, we would tell our government to negotiate us out
of the free-trade agreement and negotiate a better agreement so Canada can
set its own course and use the advantages we have to maximize wealth and
job creation in this country," Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian
Labour Congress, said at an industrial policy conference organized by his
group.

The Canada-U.S. free-trade agreement and the subsequent North American
free-trade agreement were responsible for the loss of hundreds of thousands
of manufacturing jobs, Mr. Georgetti said. Those jobs, paying "very good,
family-supporting" wages, were eventually replaced by jobs that did not pay
as well, he added.

But the union, in a policy paper prepared for the conference, concedes that
"contrary to some of our most pessimistic predictions, (the free-trade era)
has not been an economic disaster." And, as Mr. Georgetti told the
conference in a speech yesterday, "omelettes are not easily unscrambled."

So his group, a confederation of unions that represents more than three
million Canadian workers, is urging the government to re-examine free trade
to determine ways in which it can be improved. 

Mr. Georgetti, like other labour leaders attending the conference,
suggested the surge of developing markets such as China and India, makes
changes to the deals all the more urgent. Government intervention is needed
to face this global economy, he said.

The CLC suggests the negotiation of deals on a sector-by-sector basis. It
also wants the government to re-examine trade agreements that have "locked
us into a North American energy future." And it is hoping for a new take on
subsidies, worker training and the role of labour in any agreement.

"We don't accept it," Mr. Georgetti said of free trade. "We just want to
find ways to work with it."

Canadian Auto Workers chief Buzz Hargrove, however, said he didn't see much
point in trying to improve deals that are currently in effect.

"The free-trade agreement and NAFTA should both be scrapped," Mr. Hargrove
said. "We should give notice that we want to get back to trading
relationships that say that we're going to have sectoral agreements that we
bargain based on the best interest of our country."

The union boss cited the loss of three auto plants in Canada since the
arrival of free trade and a major decline in his industry that could put
further plants at risk.

But Jayson Myers, senior vice-president and chief economist with the
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters who gave a luncheon address at the
conference, said the country's manufacturing sector has grown rapidly with
free trade.

"We're at record levels of employment, record levels of production in the
sector, in large part because we've been able to sell into the American
market," Mr. Myers said.

He agreed there are ways that Canada could strengthen its trade
relationship with the United States but, more importantly, "we're facing
right now a lot of challenges of how we respond to changes in the global
economy, the impact of China."

As for the restructuring that resulted from free trade, Mr. Myers said it
probably put the country in a better position to deal with emerging markets.

The danger, he said, is that free trade may not be assured "because there
are a lot of protectionist pressures in the United States that would do
away with a lot of the rules that are protecting Canadian industry right
now under the free-trade agreement."

 

FINALLY, LABOUR ACKNOWLEDGES BENEFITS OF FREE TRADE
EDITORIAL The Province September 23, 2004
  
The news that the Canadian Labour Congress is grudgingly abandoning its
attacks on free trade with the U.S. may not seem as startling as the
conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus.

But it represents a major conversion considering that the CLC has been a
fierce foe of free trade, which has been widely credited with boosting jobs
here.

It's also a breath of fresh air, given Canada's narrow-minded labour union
attitudes.

The CLC, the national voice of organized labour, was one of the most ardent
opponents of free-trade legislation when it was introduced in 1987. The
congress claimed free trade would endanger Canadian sovereignty and destroy
tens of thousands of jobs.

But CLC president Ken Georgetti is beginning to see the light. He has now
conceded that the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement has helped Canadian
manufacturing.

"It's time to acknowledge that the free trade era as a whole, contrary to
some of our more pessimistic predictions, has not been an economic
disaster," Georgetti states in a report to be presented this week at an
industrial policy conference in Ottawa.

He argues, however, that most of the newly created manufacturing jobs are
in smaller, non-union plants, paying lower wages.

And he blamed Canadian companies for the low productivity of our workforce
compared with that of workers in the U.S.

CLC figures show the output per hour of the average Canadian worker
increased by 17.9 per cent between 1992 and 2002, compared to 51.9 per cent
in the U.S.

"For all the talk, Canadian businesses invest far too little in the key
building blocks of a knowledge-based, globally focused economy: new
machinery and equipment, research and development and worker training,"
Georgetti said.

The labour boss warned Canada has too many "small and inefficient" plants,
which are unlikely to survive in the face of lower-cost competitors from
China and other emerging powers.

Georgetti may well be right that Canada's manufacturing businesses are
poorly equipped to beat back the competition.

But, we believe the labour movement has to accept a portion of the blame
because it has been so slow at adapting to inevitable change brought about
by modern economic realities.

That said, we are pleased to see that Georgetti has the courage to at least
half-heartedly acknowledge this shortcoming.



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