Yesterday, the local United Auto Workers hosted a luncheon for 60 people at their Region 1D office. Thea Lee, trade expert for the AFL-CIO and author of the book A Field Guide to the Global Economy, (due to be updated this year) spoke about the pending Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Lee didn’t share any new information on CAFTA, but did frame the debate in very understandable terms. She was in town to participate in a debate at Aquinas College, but local labor activists took advantage of her visit to build support for a growing local coalition of labor, environmental, and community groups against CAFTA.
The debate was held at Aquinas College and hosted by a local organization The World Affairs Council. Lee debated Dan Griswold from the conservative think tank, the Cato Institute. Not surprising, the Cato representative said that global trade as it currently stands is good for America and good for the world. He even claimed that “global trade creates more democracy.” Thea Lee’s analysis was much more sophisticated and sourced, something that Griswold rarely did when citing studies and data. According to a new study by Public Citizen, the US Chamber of Commerce has been distorting information on NAFTA, which could distort the debate about CAFTA.
Before the event some local organizers were collecting anti-CAFTA signatures despite being threatened by the Aquinas Campus security who said they would call the GRPD because permission was not obtained for collecting signatures.
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