Bush Sends Oman Trade Deal to Congress. Coalition Tells Bush to Bag It

by Mike Hall, Jun 27, 2006

Like previous free trade agreements, the Bush administration-negotiated Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA) lacks strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards and likely will cost jobs in the United States and lower living standards for workers in Oman, according to a coalition that includes the AFL-CIO and more than 350 labor, religious, consumer, farm and environmental groups.

The Bush administration sent the trade agreement to the House, where a vote is expected later this summer.

In a letter to Congress urging rejection of the trade deal, the coalition wrote:

OFTA would expand the failed model of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). This model has accelerated job loss and lowered living standards in the United States while exacerbating poverty and social disparities in the developing nations with which we trade.

At a Capitol Hill press conference today, where the group released its letter, Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) said:

These trade deals aren’t working for Americans. They aren’t working for the countries America trades with. They might be “free” trade deals—but they are certainly not fair trade deals.

Especially troubling, say coalition members, is the lack of enforceable worker protections in the Oman agreement in light of recent reports of worker abuses in Jordan, a nation with a free trade agreement with the United States:

These violations include widespread human trafficking, 20-hour workdays, and widespread failure to pay back wages. More troubling is the fact the Oman FTA contains weaker labor provisions than the Jordan FTA.

Earlier today at a Center for American Progress panel discussion on worker abuse in Jordan, trade experts said that despite the inclusion of workers’ rights protections in the Jordan Free Trade Agreement, sweatshop conditions and other egregious abuses of worker rights in Jordan have continued unabated, especially for migrant workers.

Thea Lee, AFL-CIO policy director and chief international economist, said:

The worker rights provisions in the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement represented an important step forward at the time the agreement was negotiated. However, these provisions don’t work if they aren’t enforced.

(Click here to read the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center’s report, Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Jordan.)

Omani workers will face even harsher conditions than workers in Jordan because of the Bush administration’s refusal to include labor protections, the coalition says:

While current Omani law does not come close to meeting core International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, members of the Ways and Means Committee have been trying to encourage the Sultan of Oman to bring his nation’s laws into compliance. However, as evidenced by the five-year record in Jordan, when foreign “guest workers” comprise much of the labor force—and do not speak the language, changing domestic laws is not sufficient to ensure that workers’ rights are respected. Sweatshop conditions with our trading partners mean more lost jobs in the United States.

In March, Lee told Senate International Trade Subcommittee:

Oman’s labor laws are egregiously out of compliance with the ILO core labor standards, and we are deeply concerned about the lack of fundamental protections for Omani workers in both law and practice. Oman’s labor laws do not provide for the exercise of the most important and fundamental workers’ rights: freedom of association and the right to organize and bargain collectively.

If you live in Texas and want to tell your representatives to reject the Oman Free Trade Agreement, click here. 

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