WHEREAS:

For the past three decades, corporations have been waging a fierce war against working families, using the emerging global economy as a club to free themselves from regulation and responsibilities to their employees and communities and driving down working standards and wages worldwide; and

WHEREAS:

In the name of "free trade," corporations have pursued a broad agenda at home and abroad which pits workers in one country against workers in other countries and which results in the lowering of living standards for working families worldwide; and

WHEREAS:

The corporate agenda includes attacks on unions and public employment, the privatization of public services, the elimination of social support programs and the destruction of the right to organize and bargain collectively; and

WHEREAS:

Corporations have continued to invest in developing countries around the world without regard to religious and political persecution, worker exploitation, forced labor and imprisonment of union activists; and

WHEREAS:

The record-high U.S. trade deficit has led to a massive international debt which destroys high wage jobs and erodes the economic stability of communities; and

WHEREAS:

Real wages have stagnated or declined for the majority of American workers while the wealthy few have reaped disproportionate gains; and

WHEREAS:

The current framework of global rules has failed.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:

That the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees support new enforceable rules for the global economy which value people, not just profits, and which would raise the living standards of all working people; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That the policies of this nation must make workers' rights and human rights a mainstay of our trade and investment agreements and international institutions; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:

That AFSCME continue to work with the AFL-CIO and its affiliates to defeat trade agreements that do not contain enforceable worker and environmental rights and standards; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:

That AFSCME joins with the AFL-CIO and its affiliates in committing to a Campaign for Global Fairness that writes new rules for the world economy - a campaign not just about trade and the institutions that govern trade, but a campaign for a new internationalism.

SUBMITTED BY:

Allen Whitehead, President and Delegate
Cathy Weldon, Secretary and Delegate
AFSCME Local 443, Council 28
Washington

INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE BOARD