Unions and Free Trade

Solidarity Versus Competition

by Kim Moody and Mary McGinn

Free trade means jobs and prosperity: so says government in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. Not true, says this handbook. The North American Free Trade Agreement only frees multinationals from government and union restrictions, for the more aggressive pursuit of profit.

The handbook details the effects of free trade on workers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. It argues that solidarity, not competition, is the only long-term strategy for unions. It includes case studies of unions that are creating cross-border ties.

Kim Moody is currently director of Labor Notes and has been there since it began in 1979. Prior to that, he was a telephone worker in New York City and was a labor activist throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Kim Moody is also the author of An Injury to All and Workers in A Lean World.

Mary McGinn worked with Mujer a Mujer (Woman to Woman) in Mexico City, organizing exchanges between U.S. and Mexican women. She also spent time coordinating Labor Notes' international work. Mary McGinn currently work for the United Electrical Workers as an organizer and provider of organizer training.

Contents include:

• Why "free trade" is really "international outsourcing"
• How free trade is connected to the team concept
• What happened to Canada under free trade
• Why our pain is not Mexico's gain
• Why "competitiveness" is a losing strategy
• Who we can ally with in Canada and Mexico
• The "sucker curve"
• A list of videos, articles, pamphlets, and contact people

What others are saying about Unions and Free Trade:

"The struggle around free trade is the fight for workers' interests against those of the multinationals. As Unions and Free Trade makes clear, free trade is neither free, nor is it really about trade. It is about corporations imposing their agenda on the reast of us. This book helps - not only with analysis - but by strengthening our resolve to act."

— Bob White, president,
Canadian Auto Workers

"Unions and Free Trade is a good introduction to the facts about how free trade will impact U.S. workers. We are definitely going to use it in our organizing work here in El Paso."

— Angie Reynoso, international coordinator,
La Mujer Obrera

"Finally someone has cut through all the rhetoric to reveal corporate America's true agenda behind 'free trade,' and made some suggestions about what labor can do to fight back."

— Jan Pierce, vice-president
Communications Workers of America

"Organizing needs to take place wherever our employers take the work. Join the movement to learn to organize with workers from other countries. This book can give you a glimpse of this initiative; hopefully, it will encourage you. Hasta la victoria!

— Baldemar Velásquez, president
Farm Labor Organizing Commission

"In Canada we've already seen what free trade does to working people. We need to start setting some examples like the ones described in this book."

— Diana Kilmury, vice-president,
Teamsters

"As our companies become more internationalized, it is good to see an analysis of free trade that does not set the workers of one country against another, but sets a basis for building international solidarity."

— Laura Unger, president
Communications Workers Local 1150

84 pages