International Brotherhood of Teamsters

TEAMSTERS PRESIDENT RESPONDS TO STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
January 28, 2000

Criticize New Free Trade Schemes, Praise Other Initiatives

International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa today commended President Clinton for announcing a number of worker-friendly proposals in the State of the Union address. However, Hoffa criticized the President’s call to grant Communist China permanent Normal Trade Relations (NTR) status and expand NAFTA for Africa and the Caribbean Basin.

"The Teamsters Union supports President Clinton on his continued commitment to providing working Americans a real Patients’ Bill of Rights, secure Social Security benefits, affordable prescription drug coverage, and expanded job opportunities in the United States," said Hoffa. "These initiatives are good for American workers, and I look forward to working with the President on behalf of Teamster members."

Hoffa criticized Clinton’s call for permanent NTR for Communist China and the expansion of NAFTA to Africa and the Caribbean Basin on the basis that they do not provide adequate protections for workers in the United States and abroad. Clinton is following the sad tradition of NAFTA, which has cost the United States more than 600,000 manufacturing jobs since its enactment in 1993.

"These flawed trade schemes place profits over people," Hoffa continued. "President Clinton says that the United States should not tolerate child labor or a race to the bottom on environmental and worker protections. If he truly holds these beliefs he should join the Teamsters Union, other labor, environmental, farm, and human rights’ activists in opposing granting Communist China - a country renown for its abuses of worker and human rights - permanent NTR status."