N.C.-3: Another fair trade victory

In North Carolina's 3rd district, fair trade leader Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) held off a primary challenge by a margin of 20 points - a decisive victory for the fair trade, anti-war Republican. Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) in Indiana's 7th district - who took the seat a few months back in a special election and voted for fair trade on the Fast Track resolution - also emerged victorious.

In other news, the AFL-CIO has filed a complaint under CAFTA about labor abuses in Guatemala. This article by Mark Drajem in Bloomberg also touched on Colombia issues...      

The complaint says four union leaders or their family members have been killed this year, and many others have had death threats. Also, workers who attempt to join a union, bargain or strike are often fired, it said...

Proponents say approving the agreement with Colombia would give the U.S. a new mechanism to improve labor rights in the South American nation. The AFL-CIO, which opposes the deal, argues that once the accord is approved, Colombia would have no incentive to continue to protect labor leaders.    

``Once they take that vote, the pressure is off,'' Lee said. ``In fact, that seems to be what happened in Guatemala.''   

Also, Nick Kozloff has an interesting piece in Counterpunch on the Colombia FTA and Afro-Colombians.