Union Leaders Speak Out on House Vote on China Trade

Here's what union leaders are saying about the U.S. House vote to grant permanent Normal Trade Relations status to China.

"UNITE's members and retirees worked tirelessly with our allies to force a debate on the nature of globalization and the value of worker standards and human rights. They lent their voices in solidarity with Chinese workers who have no right to speak out, to organize for collective bargaining or to express their religious beliefs....We are in this for the long haul. We will continue to do everything we can to create a global economy that supports workers' rights and environmental standards."
          Jay Mazur, President, UNITE

"Sixty-five percent of the American public opposes this flawed trade deal. With the corporate bosses pulling out all the stops, including orchestrated junkets to China, a slick advertising campaign and deceitful lobbying tactics, the American people are still not fooled....The Teamsters union will reassess our support of any candidate who voted against working families today."
          James P. Hoffa, President, Teamsters

"This shows why we must retake control of Congress for working families. Big Business has the bucks. We have the ballots. Let's use them wisely in the voting booths."
           Thomas Buffenbarger, President, Machinists

"President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Speaker Hastert, Congressman Levin and other proponents of PNTR for China claim that the trade deal will lead to a more free and open Chinese society and benefit American workers as well. We intend to hold them to their promises. In that spirit, the UAW calls on President Clinton to demonstrate his commitment to human and workers' rights by demanding that the Chinese government immediately free Wang Changhuai, Yue Tianxiang, Guo Xinmin, Guo Qiqing, Zhang Jingsheng, Liu Jingsheng, Hu Shigen, Yao Guisheng, Wang Guoqi, Peng Shi and the thousands of other Chinese citizens who today are in prison cells for the 'crime' of trying to form free trade unions."
          Stephen Yokich, President, UAW

"Congress had a chance to stand up for the brutally oppressed workers in China and the hundreds of thousands of U.S. manufacturing workers who will lose their jobs because of increased imports from the sweatshops of China. Instead, it turned its back on Chinese and American workers....The struggle for global justice has suffered a major defeat. But we will continue to work with coalition groups and with those in Congress, currently in the minority, who believe as we do that family-supportive jobs, the way people are treated and the principles of democracy are more important than corporate profits....We will work this fall to elect Democrats and Republicans who support workers on trade and other key working family issues."
          George Becker, President, Steelworkers