Berman Resists Unions’ Pleas, Backs NAFTA

Breaking with his longtime labor allies, Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) gave a boost Thursday to the Clinton Administration’s uphill effort to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement by endorsing the controversial pact.

Berman, who had been heavily lobbied by both sides, rejected labor leaders’ contention that phasing out trade barriers between the United States, Mexico and Canada over 10 years would send jobs flooding to Mexico. He contends NAFTA would bolster the interest of workers as well as help clean up environmental problems along the Mexican border and slow illegal immigration.

“Passing NAFTA is in the best interest of advancing my own intense commitment to creating new, high-wage manufacturing jobs in Southern California,” Berman said.

“Defense cutbacks have resulted in the loss of these jobs to an extent far greater than anything NAFTA’s opponents point to in their most dire predictions. I am convinced that NAFTA is the route to restoring manufacturing jobs.”

Berman is the second San Fernando Valley Democrat to announce his support for the treaty in recent days and only the fifth Democrat in the California congressional delegation to do so. Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) declared his backing earlier this week. Both had previously indicated that they were leaning toward endorsing NAFTA.

The Administration, which has stepped up efforts to win the backing of wavering lawmakers, claimed that Berman’s endorsement will help sway others as well.

“As a former labor lawyer and a very thoughtful person, his support means a great deal to the success of NAFTA,” said Tom Nides, chief of staff to U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, who repeatedly lobbied Berman. “People respect his opinion.”

Berman, who only last week confided that he was uncertain Clinton would really push for the pact, said that he became convinced that, if those who lean toward NAFTA remain publicly uncommitted, “there’s no chance to get close enough so that the fence-sitters can make the difference.” He said he now believes that “the President is really going to fight for it.”

Labor leaders expressed disappointment, though not necessarily surprise, in his opposition on an issue they consider one of their highest priorities.

“It’s significant because we don’t go to our friends very often and tell them this is a must vote,” said Jim Quillin, executive director of the California Conference of Machinists, which represents 100,000 workers.

“This was one of them and he wasn’t there for us.”

Berman described the decision as a difficult one. He said that it pitted his philosophical support for free trade and his belief that the agreement would actually benefit labor against his reluctance to break ranks with allies and major financial supporters of many years who “feel more intensely about this than any other issue I’ve seen.”

“The problem is that we have this fundamental deep disagreement,” Berman said. “I think NAFTA offers the hope of arresting the decline, of turning things around. They think of it as symbolic of everything that’s gone bad and perhaps accentuating that.”

Berman has championed labor causes as a state assemblyman and a congressman. In recent years, he has worked closely with representatives of machinist and United Auto Worker locals in his northeast San Fernando Valley district to establish electric vehicle and other high-technology industries to replace some of the thousands of aerospace and automobile jobs that have been lost.

Labor political action committees have responded with generous campaign contributions. From 1987 to 1992, Berman raised a total of $233,350 from building trades, industrial, government, teachers and transportation unions, according to figures complied by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group. He has also steered large sums from labor to campaigns opposing such political causes as term limit and reapportionment initiatives in California.

“I think it’s undetermined how labor will view him in the future,” said Quillin, who has been friends with Berman for three decades. “He is extremely close to labor and this is probably the first real litmus test on which he turned his back on labor.

“Are we going to try to defeat him? I don’t think so. Are we going to support him with financial resources? That’s a real question.”

Berman acknowledged that he had weighed the prospect of fewer campaign contributions from labor. But he said he didn’t think “the consequences of this will be politically fatal.”

Labor is not the only interest that expressed disappointment in Berman’s decision.

Representatives of Ross Perot’s United We Stand America chapter in the lawmaker’s 26th District are scheduled to meet with Berman to discuss NAFTA on Oct. 8. Perot, who has been the treaty’s most visible opponent, maintains that it would open the floodgates for U.S. companies to relocate jobs and factories in low-wage Mexico.

“It’s unfortunate that (Berman) announced a position before we had a chance to discuss it with him,” said Marc Poulin, a Sun Valley resident and treasurer of the 26th District chapter, which has 1,100 members. “It’s a pretty high priority.”

Mail and telephone calls in Berman’s district have run three to one against the pact, said Gene Smith, Berman’s administrative assistant. She said that much of the correspondence appeared to be generated by members of United We Stand.

Berman said that he decided to support NAFTA because U.S. exports to Mexico have tripled since 1986, when Mexico began to lower its trade barriers; the U.S. trade balance with Mexico has gone from a $5.7-billion deficit in 1987 to a $5.4-billion surplus and, for every $1 billion in net exports to Mexico, 20,000 new jobs are created in the United States.

“This is what is happening now , pre-NAFTA, because of the lowering of Mexican trade barriers, a movement that will increase as those barriers are further lowered and eventually eliminated,” Berman said. And he noted that Mexican trade barriers to U.S. exports are 2 1/2 times higher than U.S. tariffs to Mexican exports.

Berman, a strong environmentalist, also said that “the catastrophic environmental problems along the U.S-Mexican border will be addressed faster and better if we pass NAFTA.” And he said, “Without economic development in Mexico, we cannot truly solve the problem of illegal immigration and the enormous costs it imposes on all Americans, Californians above all.”