WHEREAS:

            AFSCME opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) because we believed that it would inflict serious damage on the public sector including cutbacks in public services; loss of some public sector jobs; reduced federal, state and local tax revenues and a weakening of state and local laws and regulations in areas of health and safety, investment, procurement and consumer protections; and

WHEREAS:

            AFSCME also opposed NAFTA because we believed that it could threaten minority set-aside programs; and

WHEREAS:

            AFSCME also opposed NAFTA because the labor side agreement was inadequate to protect workers by failing to establish enforceable standards to protect basic labor rights including the right to organize, bargain collectively, strike and be protected against forced labor; and

WHEREAS:

            NAFTA was approved by the United States Congress and was implemented on January 1, 1994. The AFL-CIO is beginning to monitor the effects of NAFTA.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

            That AFSCME supports the AFL-CIO in its efforts to monitor the effects of NAFTA. This monitoring should include any known plant or job relocations to Mexico, any threats by companies to relocate, any loss of tax revenues due to plant or job relocations or tax breaks given to retain jobs, any attempts to bring U.S. local or state laws and regulations into conformity with NAFTA which result in a lowering of standards, any subcontracting of goods or services to Mexican companies, any weakening of minority set-aside programs, and any other negative effects; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

            That all AFL-CIO monitoring reports will be made available to AFSCME members.

SUBMITTED BY:      

Linda Chavez-Thompson, Delegate 
Adolph Hernandez, Delegate
Lisa Ball, Delegate 
Kevin Ball, Delegate 
AFSCME Local 2399
Texas