Southland Jobs and Free Trade
President Bush’s plan for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is not only about shifting U.S. and Canadian jobs to inhuman wage and working conditions in Mexico, but about bringing Mexico’s weaker environmental and health conditions north.
Bush’s NAFTA will accelerate a race to the bottom in wages, working conditions, labor rights, consumer safety and environmental conditions by corporations seeking the cheapest production location. It does not have to be this way. NAFTA should be used to raise standards in each nation. For instance, workers in Mexico and the U.S. would benefit by adopting Canadian labor and health care standards. Instead, standards will be pushed downward.
MICHAEL MAGALLANES, San Diego
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