Jay Fenello [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] passed on an article by Scott McConnell, apparently from a Pat Buchanan web site. Among Mr. McConnell's statements were the following: >>President Clinton, nothing if not attuned to the >>political breezes of the moment, arrived in Seattle and >>suddenly began talking how the WTO should put labor >>standards on the agenda. >> >>Labor standards. Imagine that. A two-term Democrat >>who has always received the major union endorsements, >>who has made very effective use of union soft money >>political advertising, just now claims to have discovered >>that one his core constituencies might have legitimate >>interests at stake in the trade negotiations Jay, you need to screen your sources more carefully. It is a well-established fact that Clinton and the US have long been in the forefront of bringing issues of labor standards before the WTO. I found some snippets from non-US publications of national stature regarding the first meeting of WTO ministers in Singapore two years ago. The sources are probably more credible than what one would find on a Pat Buchanan website. >From the Financial Times in the UK: (12/16/97): "The WTO's first ministerial meeting could have been a disaster and very nearly was. Yet on Friday [the chairman] could truly claim it a 'resounding success.' Much of the credit for this success is due to WTO Director General Renato Ruggiero...but the outcome also reflected willingness of all sides to compromise rather than see the meeting collapse in failure, and with it the WTO's credibility and authority.... Acting USTR Charlene Barshefsky did not do badly herself, clinching the IT deal which her boss, President Clinton, so badly wanted and getting labor standards, a U.S. priority, into the WTO declaration." >From Corriere della Sera in Italy: (12/14/97): "Trade liberalization and globalization...has gained new speed and the main boost has come from the United States. The WTO conference in Singapore concluded yesterday with a 'resounding success,' as Bill Clinton's trade representative Charlene Barshefsky called it. It was, in fact, an all-around success for the Americans. But WTO Director Renato Ruggiero was also very happy yesterday for achieving almost all of his objectives and for reiterating with this conference the international role of his organization.... No other country could have achieved such a significant result: This is evidence that the much criticized aggressive trade policy adopted by the White House is getting results, especially when it shows that it can benefit both the rich and the poor.... Mrs. Barshefsky also succeeded where no other U.S. negotiator had succeeded since the Eisenhower era. "She was able to impose on a strongly opposed assembly of developing countries the inclusion in the final declaration of the summit of a social clause linking world trade with workers' rights." And here's an interesting one from the Times of India: (12/13/97): "The ongoing Singapore ministerial...has predictably become the battleground for conflicting visions of free trade. "Apart from trying to liberalize trade in information technology and telecoms, the affluent countries are looking to score major victories over the poorer ones on labor standards and multilateral investment rules... "On the question of labor standards, the affluent countries need to be reminded that if workers' wages and conditions of work are to converge world-wide, there must be no restriction on labor mobility.... It is hypocritical to talk of free trade, free capital mobility and universal labor standards without talking about free labor mobility. Developing countries should not go along with any 'educative process' on a multilateral agreement on investment without a corresponding study on the feasibility of a multilateral agreement on labor." [Note: I would venture that Pat Buchanan would not agree with this editorial position - heh.] Pete ___________________________________________________ Peter J. Farmer -- Director, Optical Communications Strategies Unlimited http://www.strategies-u.com Mountain View, CA +1 650 941-3438 (voice) +1 650 941 5120 (fax)
