Chellie Pingree: “I would like to insert into the Record a letter from the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO in…”

“I would like to insert into the Record a letter from the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO in opposition to all three FTAs. Building and Construction Trades Department, Washington, DC, June 27, 2011. Dear House of Representatives: As President of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, I strongly oppose the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Columbia, Panama, and South Korea, and I urge you to oppose each of these trade agreements because they represent an expansion of failed trade policies that will cause great harm to workers in the building and construction trades. In 1993, President Bill Clinton worked to pass the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that was negotiated by President George H.W. Bush. NAFTA has contributed to the erosion of America's industrial base and been a disaster for our members who build America's factories and retool and service them. Many of our unions represent manufacturing workers, as well as those in the construction trades, and our members have lost jobs as well as line workers in America's shuttered factories. The loss of manufacturing jobs also undermines our nation's ability to finance the public infrastructure (roads, bridges, schools) on which we all rely. When unfair trade policies destroy our manufacturing base and erode the tax base for infrastructure, our jobs in the building and construction trades disappear too.…”