From a "Fair Trade Caravan" across Texas to a midtown Manhattan rally in front of the mega-Niketown store, union members, human and workers' rights advocates, students, environmentalists and religious leaders used the spring congressional recess to urge lawmakers to turn back legislation granting China permanent Normal Trade Relations.

The recess actions, which ran through May 1, are part of a national grassroots campaign to maintain Congress' annual review of China's human and workers' rights practices, which the U.S. State Department says deteriorated further in 1999. On April 12, more than 15,000 union members rallied on the U.S. Capitol steps and lobbied congressional representatives to deny China permanent NTR and to continue the annual reviews.

The recess actions include:

• The Fair Trade Caravan rolled through Texas April 25-28, with stops in front of congressional offices in Dallas, Austin and McAllen, as well as a rally in front of the Chinese Consulate in Houston. Speakers included Harry Wu, a workers' rights activist and former Chinese political prisoner; commentator Jim Hightower; and representatives of the Texas AFL-CIO, Teamsters, UAW, the Sierra Club, the Texas Farmers Union and the Humane Society.
  
  
• An April 25 rally in front of Niketown, the shoe giant's retail outlet in New York City, with members of UNITE, the New York City Central Labor Council and United Students Against Sweatshops.
  
  
• A rally in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., April 25, with AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson and former Chinese political prisoner Wei Jingsheng, urging Democratic Reps. Carrie Meek and Peter Deutsch of Florida to vote against permanent NTR.
  
  
• Make your voice heard for human and workers' rights in China and across the world. E-mail your members of Congress today to say: "No Blank Check For China."