Mike Levin: “I also want to mention, last night when we discussed the provision that says there shall be no funds made available for…”

“I also want to mention, last night when we discussed the provision that says there shall be no funds made available for negotiating a CAFTA or an FTAA that does not require adoption and enforcement of the basic prohibitions on exploitive child labor, forced labor and discrimination and guarantee of the right to associate and bargain collectively, that the important matter was a job, and not what was in that job, what payment there was for the job or under what conditions the job was carried on. I think that is terribly wrong. If people are going to have a chance to climb up the ladder, they have to have a chance to be able to associate and to bargain collectively. We should not base a trade agreement on the suppression of the workers of Central America or of any other place in the Americas.”