Passed February 26, 2001
Meeting of SF Labor Council

Whereas: A "Summit of the America's" of all Western Hemisphere countries, excluding Cuba, will convene April 18-22 in Quebec City, Quebec, to further negotiations on the Free Trade Area of the Americas,

and whereas; The FTAA would expand NAFTA throughout the Western Hemisphere and incorporate selected trade rules from the World Trade Organization(WTO) and the defeated Multilateral Agreement on Investments(MAI),

and whereas; NAFTA, the WTO and the FTAA are "corporate rights charters"; i.e. secretive, undemocratic, unaccountable, supranational institutions which act against the public interest through deregulation and privatization and impose the rights of corporations over the labor, health, safety, consumer and human rights of citizens (and their elected representatives and institutions), and the environment;

and whereas, NAFTA has led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs, increased exploitation of Mexican workers in the maquiladoras (factories in Mexico, owned by US and other foriegn corporations), the impoverishment of small Mexican farmers who are forced to leave their farms for the slums of Mexico City or the perils of immigration northward;

and whereas; "Fast Track" negotiating authority, if passed in the US congress, will allow the US President to push the FTAA through Congress with limited debate and no ammendments,

and whereas; Protests are being planned, to coincide with the Summit of the Americas, in Quebec City, on the border at Tijuana/San Diego and the border between Washington and British Columbia,

Therefore be it resolved that the San Francisco Central Labor Council(SFCLC) urges all of its affilitated unions and members to join in the planning of and participate in the protests against the FTAA;

and be it further resolved that the SFCLC calls upon the California Federation of Labor to join in active opposition to Fast Track and FTAA and be it further resolved that the SFCLC, contact local, state and federal legislators and ask them to join us in opposing Fast Track and the FTAA;

and be it finally resolved that; the SFCLC commit resources to the fight against Fast Track and FTAA, make meeting space and phone-banking available to union members who want to oppose the FTAA

Submitted by Robert Irminger IBU/ILWU Art Persyko IBT 85