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Clinton labor envoy feels workers' pain
Monday, October 25, 1999
By MICHAEL PAULSON
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman has a simple message for workers in Seattle: A strong export economy and worker rights are not mutually exclusive.
In an interview, Herman defended the Clinton administration's work on behalf of labor rights. But she also acknowledged that its main labor proposal to the World Trade Organization is "not exactly revolutionary," and warned that if the world's trade ministers don't do a better job recognizing worker rights, the world's economies risk "a race to the bottom."
Herman will make several appearances in Seattle today, the latest in a parade of Clinton administration officials courting key Washington state constituencies with concerns about the WTO, which meets in Seattle from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3. The agriculture and transportation secretaries, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, have also visited.
While in Seattle, Herman plans to speak at a luncheon and a town hall meeting, to visit a Boeing worker retraining program in Tukwila run jointly by the company and its Machinists union, and to meet privately with about 20 top Washington state labor union leaders.
"My overall message for labor members is . . . that we understand that the benefits of trade are clear, but the disruption and the dislocation are painfully concentrated and we can't ignore them," she said. "That means, in my view, that we have to begin to . . . have a dialogue in this country and internationally about what are the rules of the road."
Herman said she is not worried about the contentious crowds that have greeted some Clinton administration officials carrying the pro-trade message to Seattle, and said she understands why the labor movement is planning a massive protest Nov. 30.
"I am not surprised at all," she said. "I am very much aware that there is anxiety and concern on the part of many workers today. . . . The fact of the matter is, this is a very dynamic economy we have, and in this dynamic economy, you have a lot of job gains, but you also have job loss."
Herman said the administration has a "basic principle" as it tries to integrate labor and trade policy -- to find "what is it going to take to ensure the continued competitiveness of the United States as a country, that we continue to have open markets, but that we recognize that we must bring workers along in this new equation."
Herman defended the Clinton administration's record on labor issues, saying that the president has repeatedly pushed the cause of workers before international organizations. And she said Clinton's push for a WTO working group on trade and labor -- the administration's major labor-related proposal for the Seattle meeting -- is an important first step toward integrating labor concerns with trade policy.
"It is important that we begin somewhere," she said. "We can no longer sit on our hands simply because we don't have the support of the entire world. . . . To me, it is a process, a process that starts with raising awareness, engaging international partners on this issue, and being committed to a different course of action."
She said the proposal for a WTO working group on labor is "not exactly revolutionary," and said "if reasonable people understand what the request is, then I am hopeful" the request will be adopted.
Herman cited her work to pass an international child labor convention, which she said took two years of hard negotiations, as evidence of how difficult it is to move international organizations to respond to labor issues.
"If we can't begin to agree on fundamentals, such as the elimination of the most abusive forms of child labor, then we really are not ready to march forward into the future," she said. "This can not be about a race to the bottom."
Asked whether the world's countries are already engaged in such a race, she said, "I don't believe that we are engaged in the race to the bottom, but I believe that if we don't take these issues very seriously, that we will be."
King County Labor Council Executive Secretary Ron Judd, one of the labor officials who will be meeting with Herman today, said he plans to push the administration to do more to force international rules that are more "worker friendly." He said he expects even workers whose jobs are dependent on experts, such as Boeing Machinists and Port longshoremen, to be demonstrating at the WTO to raise that concern.
"These workers understand that the only way for their standard of living not to be eroded in the long term is to give workers in other countries the right to organize," he said.
Judd said the WTO and the Clinton administration need to push protecting worker rights as hard as international property rights. He said the administration should push for sanctions against countries that violate core labor standards, such as prohibitions against child labor and a right to collective bargaining.
"If you have the right to protect a patent on a CD, you ought to have the right to protect children from being forced to go to work," he said.
"The WTO was created to develop a rules-based system of trading, and we believe you need that," he said. "We just believe the rules as presently written and applied don't work for workers, the environment or local communities."
For more information about Herman's public appearances, see
For more information about the U.S. government's position on the WTO, see www.usia.gov/topical/econ/wto99/
For more information about the labor movement's position on the WTO, see www.aflcio.org/wto/index.htm
P-I reporter Michael Paulson can be reached at 202-943-9229 or michaelpaulson@seattle-pi.com
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