Members of Congress Urge Bush to Back AFL-CIO China Petition

by James Parks, Jun 30, 2006

Forty members of Congress wrote President George W. Bush today urging him to move quickly to accept the AFL-CIO’s petition charging China’s failure to protect workers’ rights is an unfair trade practice that costs U.S. jobs.

The letter was signed by 11 senators and 29 members of the House of Representatives, including Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kans.) and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, which handles trade issues.

The AFL-CIO filed the petition June 8, along with Reps. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Christopher Smith (R-N.J.). It challenges China’s abuse of basic labor standards under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.  The petition calls on President Bush to use his authority under U.S. law to impose sanctions against China or take other actions to remedy the situation. (Act now  to urge Congress and the president to protect Chinese workers’ rights and U.S. jobs by clicking here.)

Two years ago, the AFL-CIO filed a similar petition, which the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) refused to investigate. The USTR did not dispute the evidence presented in the petition, but said Bush was taking other actions to advance workers’ rights. Two years later, nothing has changed. In fact, the situation is worsening, say Chinese workers and global union leaders.

This denial of workers’ rights lowers Chinese wages between 47 percent and 86 percent, according to the latest AFL-CIO petition. If the government enforced workers’ rights, the overall costs of manufacturing in China would rise between 12 percent and 77 percent, the petition said.

Using a model from the U.S. International Trade Commission, the AFL-CIO calculates Chinese exports have a 43 percent cost advantage over U.S. exports, an advantage that has been responsible for the loss of up to 973,000 manufacturing jobs and 1.23 million total jobs in the United States.

Here’s what the members of Congress wrote to the president:

There is no doubt that China’s persistent pattern of conduct violating basic, internationally-recognized labor standards has continued.  In fact the 2003, 2004 and 2005 State Department Human Rights Reports have all concluded that the Chinese Government “continued to deny internationally recognized worker rights,” and these reports contain vivid examples of violations, including the use of forced labor, a ban on independent trade unions, and arrests of labor leaders. Indeed, the most recent State Department report notes that regulations aimed at suppressing autonomous labor organizations grew even more harsh in 2005.

Unless we hold China accountable for violations of basic workers rights, its leaders will conclude that they can get all the benefits of access to markets in the United States and other developed countries without adopting reforms.  This would allow firms an ill-gotten competitive advantage over companies in the United Sates, and set back critical reform efforts.

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