Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) was on CNN last night talking about the state of play on the Deathstar Deal, and had this to say:
I think the comment from some individual leaders in the Chamber of
Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers is that they're kind of
getting a wink and a nod from
Secretary Schwab - the U.S. trade rep
Schwab saying and perhaps Secretary Paulson saying well, these
standards look good, labor will be happy, environmentalists look happy,
they are good in terms of the substance. But they know they are not
going to be enforced. We went through this with Jordan in 2000.
Congress passed a Jordan trade agreement. It's one I voted for
because it had strong labor and environmental standards. It has not
been enforced and Jordan has become a sweat shop for that part of Asia.
With Bangladeshi workers working there producing all kinds of apparel
that ends up in our country, duty free, products of sweat shops.
The Jordan FTA is an important piece of evidence as people consider the Deathstar Deal. Consider the following:
Continue reading "On Jordan Standard and Bush's Corporate "wink and a nod"" ยป
