HOUSE GIVES CHINA PERMANENT NORMAL TRADE RELATIONS (PNTR)

On May 24, the House of Representatives held the long-awaited and heavily lobbied vote on PNTR for China. In a major disappointment, the House voted 237-197 to grant permanent normal trade relations (formerly known as "most favored nation" status) to the People's Republic of China. The bill moves on to the Senate, where it is expected to pass by a wide margin. Enactment of this bill means that the Congress will no longer vote each year, after a review of China's human rights record and trade policies, on whether the United States should continue to grant China favorable trading status. Instead, China will have the desired trade status regardless of its behavior. A toothless commission, proposed by Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI), will review and report on China's human rights record, but will not have any leverage to affect China's actions.

The UAW and the rest of the labor movement worked tirelessly against China PNTR for months. We thank the thousands of UAW members who took time to write or call Representatives, and thousands more who rallied and lobbied in Washington and in congressional districts across the country. Joined by a broad coalition - including environmentalists, exiled Chinese dissidents, consumer groups, Tibetans, religious groups and veterans' organizations - we argued that granting PNTR to China would worsen the human rights situation there and would encourage American corporations to move plants to China, where workers make as little as 13 cents an hour and don't have the right to join unions or to strike.

Despite our efforts, the bill passed because we were up against the combined power of corporate America, the House Republican leadership and the Clinton Administration. Media observers in Washington say it was the most expensive campaign ever on a trade bill, with the Business Roundtable admitting to spending over $10 million and the Chamber of Commerce over $4 million on lobbying and advertising. In the end, we lost the vote because the Republican leadership lined up most of the GOP caucus to support PNTR. While two-thirds of Democrats voted against PNTR, almost three fourths of Republicans voted for it, assuring its victory.

HOUSE SET TO VOTE ON FY 2001 BUDGET FOR LABOR PROGRAMS

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote June 8 on the FY 2001 appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and Education. The House Appropriations Committee, voting along party lines, has recommended freezing funding for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at FY 2000 levels, instead of increasing it $44 million to fund more workplace inspections, as the President requested. Likewise, the Committee froze the budget of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at current levels, denying a requested $11 million increase. The Committee also cut the funding for dislocated worker programs by over $200 million rather than granting the increase requested by the President. This translates into approximately 120,000 workers who won't receive training assistance after losing their jobs.

On top of the inadequate funding for worker protection programs, the Republican-dominated committee, in a largely party line vote, added a rider to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill that would block the Department of Labor from issuing the long-awaited ergonomics standard to protect workers from repetitive motion injuries. When the Labor-HHS appropriations bill is taken up by the full House on June 8, the UAW and other unions will be fighting to increase funding levels for OSHA, the NLRB and worker dislocation programs and to remove the ergonomics rider from the bill.

(EVEN MORE) MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG PROPOSALS

Last week, prescription drugs for seniors again made news as Democratic Senator Ron Wyden (OR) teamed up with Republican Representative Bill Thomas (CA) to announce that they will try "to defy the odds" by building a new bipartisan coalition for the enactment of a Medicare prescription drug benefit. So far, however, only sketchy information has been provided about this initiative.

This effort comes three weeks after Senate and House Democrats announced a party proposal for expanding Medicare to include a drug benefit. While all details of the Democratic plan have not been released, the AFL-CIO welcomed the universal, voluntary aspects of the plan. This stands in sharp contrast to the House Republican plan (which has been announced, but not yet released), which would only provide drug coverage to poor seniors and also relies on private insurance market delivery mechanisms.

The attempts to craft party-wide solutions show the importance of this issue in the fall elections. Democrats were quick to take note of the public outcry over drug prices and the needs of those without coverage, particularly seniors. Republicans have been playing catch-up on this issue but seem determined to bring legislation to the House and Senate floor. However, both parties have been struggling to keep all members of their caucuses on-board. Stay tuned.