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Washington Workers Rights' Board Hearing Helps Shift on CAFTA
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On December 9th, the Washington State Workers Rights' Board (WRB) held a hearing on outsourcing and its effects on Pierce and South King County. The hearing featured five local workers from four job exported industries as well as Ashim Roy from the New Trade Union Initiative in India
The workers spoke eloquently about the specific impacts of losing their jobs on their families and community, gave an industry analysis of why this is happening, and gave the bleak prospects for retraining and securing another living wage job. Mr. Roy gave testimony on the impact of outsourced jobs to India, both to the workers and to the economy.
US Rep. Adam Smith has led a recent tectonic shift by many “free trade” leaders, who now support living wage jobs over the free trade race-to-the-bottom. Not only does Rep. Smith now oppose the expansion of NAFTA to Central America (CAFTA), he is aggressively campaigning for a more sustainable model of economic development nationally as the elected co-chair of the New Democrats. In a recent labor letter, Rep. Smith wrote about his participation in the Hearing:
In closing, Adam joined with the other [WRB] panelists and resolved to work to build a sustainable economy of living wage jobs and stable high employment in our community of Pierce and south King Counties. "There is no doubt in my mind how vital good living-wage jobs are to the success of our economy and the well-being of our community," said Adam. "Determining which policies will preserve these jobs now and 100 years from now is a harder task, but it begins with talking to workers on the ground and forming partnerships in all levels of government and in the community."
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