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<div class=Section1>
<h1><b><font size=5 color=red face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
20.0pt;color:red'>Action Alert:</span></font></b><font size=5><span
style='font-size:20.0pt'> Say "No Deal" to the Democrats on Trade and
Immigration<o:p></o:p></span></font></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-style:italic'>May 24, 2007 - adapted from an alert
by the <a href="http://pcasc.net/">Portland Central America Solidarity
Committee</a> (PCASC)<o:p></o:p></span></font></i></p>
<p class=documentdescription><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'>Over the past few weeks Democratic congressional leaders
have announced so-called "deals" with the White House on immigration
and trade. While these may be good for big business, the proposals will deal a
sharp blow to workers, immigrants and the environment. <br>
</span></font><br>
<b><font size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Take Action
Now!</span></font></b><font size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> <font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=documentdescription><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'>1) Call your representative and Senators now and say:
"No deal on trade and immigration. We demand justice for workers,
immigrants and the environment in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on">Latin America</st1:place>." <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=documentdescription style='margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><font size=3 face=Symbol><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Tell
your elected officials that we demand trade and immigration legislation that:</span></b>
<br>
- respects workers, immigrants, human rights and the environment. <br>
- supports Latin American farmers, workers, and other impoverished sectors of
society <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=documentdescription style='margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in;
mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><font size=3 face=Symbol><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font
size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>We
will not accept trade deals that:</span></b> <br>
- allow companies to sue states (Chapter 11 provisions) over labor and environmental
protections. <br>
- lead to dumping of <st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>
subsidized agricultural products in <st1:place w:st="on">Latin America</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2'><![if !supportLists]><font
size=3 face=Symbol><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Symbol'><span
style='mso-list:Ignore'>·<font size=1 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"'>
</span></font></span></span></font><![endif]><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>We
will not accept immigration bills that:</span></b> <br>
- include a guest worker program - "No" to indentured
servitude. <br>
- militarizes the border - "No" to a border fence.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.25in'><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>- further divides immigrant families –
“No” to a “point” system for eligibility <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold;font-style:italic'>Call your
representative and Senators by dialing the capital switchboard: (202) 224-3121<font
color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></i></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>2) join CISPES, the Quixote
Center, the Alliance for Responsible Trade and others in signing on to an ad to
be printed in the New York Times against Fast Track authority, which would help
Bush pass more bad trade agreements: <a href="http://www.notofasttrack.org/">http://www.notofasttrack.org/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=documentdescription style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><br>
</span></font><b><font size=4><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Background:</span></font></b><br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Leading congressional Democrats and White
House Join Hands and Agree to Exploit Immigrants and Working People</span></b> <br>
<br>
The Democratic Party recently signaled that it interpreted its November 2006
congressional victories as a mandate to sell out to big business on trade and
immigrant rights. <br>
<br>
The guest worker based immigration bill and the capital friendly trade deals
are part of a shared vision--held by business, Republicans and most
congressional Democrats--of a global economy that allows corporations to scour
the globe in search for low wages while immigrant workers are forced into the
indentured servitude of guest worker programs. The Democratic leadership's
vision of trade and immigration represent the central contradictions and
hypocrisies of corporate globalization. <br>
<br>
Not that we should be terribly surprised, but the speed with which Democrats
have dropped populist campaign rhetoric and gotten busy making big-biz friendly
deals with the White House is enough to make the most hardened cynic dizzy.
Today they even agreed to drop troop withdrawal deadlines from <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region></st1:place>
war funding legislation! <br>
<br>
While some significant labor and environmental provisions were agreed to, this
is no way changes the fact that there are some things fundamentally wrong with
these "free trade" deals. As labor activist Jonathan Tasini notes, we
need to "get to a place where trade relationships are focused on bettering
the lives of communities, not primarily protecting capital and investment at
the expense of decent living standards and a safe environment." <br>
<br>
The deal on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Panama</st1:country-region></st1:place>
and Peru Free Trade Agreements that Speaker Pelosi and House Waynes and Means
Chairman Rep. Charles Rangel reached with the White House fails to fix nearly
all of what’s wrong with the current NAFTA model. <br>
<br>
Importantly from our perspective, Latin American labor and social movements
continue to reject these trade deals. <br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Why the trade deal is bad a bad idea:</span></b>
<br>
<br>
- According to the National Coordinator of Struggle Against the Free Trade
Agreement in Peru-- a coalition of unions, campesinos and other popular
organizations--an estimated 2,857,000 agricultural jobs will be lost if the
trade deal passes. The Rangel/Pelosi/Bush deal changes none of this. <br>
<br>
- The deal still bans anti-offshoring policies. Many states have lost thousands
of jobs to NAFTA style trade deals. <br>
<br>
- Still includes NAFTA Chapter 11-style foreign investor rights, which allow
corporations to sue states if they think a health, safety, labor or
environmental law is "an unfair barrier to trade." Chapter 11
provisions will undermine the democratic process in the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Peru</st1:country-region>
and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Panama</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<br>
<br>
- The deal threatens prevailing wage laws in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> <br>
<br>
As a recent editorial in The Nation put it: "That the US Chamber of
Commerce is delighted with Pelosi ought to tell you something." <br>
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Why the immigration legislation is a bad
idea:</span></b> <font color=navy><span style='color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=documentdescription><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Senator Kennedy and the White House's "compromise
proposal" is inspired by the corporate vision of immigration. The
corporate ideal envisions the existing two-tiered labor market--within which
immigrants are treated as second class workers--signed into law. Under the
current system, where undocumented immigrants are second class workers,
corporations win by driving everyone<font color=navy><span style='color:navy'>’</span></font>s
wages down and pitting documented and undocumented workers against each other.
The downside for business is that, occasionally, Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) can get them in trouble for hiring "illegal"
workers. <br>
<br>
The new proposal enshrines the two-tiered worker system into law making it
easier – and legal – for corporations to exploit immigrant workers.<br>
<br>
Under the Senate deal negotiated by Senator Kennedy and the White House,
immigrants' labor will be allowed to cross the border, but their humanity will
have to stay in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Mexico</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<br>
<br>
The fatally flawed immigration deal is bad for immigrant and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> workers: <br>
<br>
- Changes the premise of our immigration system from family reunification to
letting corporations cherry pick "desirable workers<font color=navy><span
style='color:navy'>.</span></font>" This deal makes it much harder for
legal residents and citizens to bring family members to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> While many of the 12
million-plus undocumented immigrants currently in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> would earn a "path to
citizenship", that path could take 8-13 years, a ridiculous and costly
"touchback" trip to their country of origin, and around 6 months
worth of wages. <br>
<br>
- Establishes a guest worker program that the New York Times Editorial Board
referred to as a "system of modern peonage within our borders." Guest
workers would be allowed to work in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> on two-year visas, for a total
of six years and be required to return to their home country for at least one
year between each two-year period. <br>
<br>
- Increases the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border. The legalization
provisions of the bill will only be triggered once the government has hired an
addition 18,000 Border Patrol agents and constructed 370 miles of a U.S.-Mexico
border wall.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=documentdescription><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>For more information on the trade "deal",
see <a href="http://davidsirota.com/">http://davidsirota.com/</a> and <a
href="http://www.citizen.org/trade/">http://www.citizen.org/trade/</a> <br>
For more information on the immigration "deal", see <a
href="http://www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/">http://www.afsc.org/immigrants-rights/</a></span></font><font
size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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