Stop FTAA—It’s the Wrong Choice

Tens of thousands of workers joined with community allies for four days of rousing, energized Stop FTAA events in Miami, where they protested the Nov. 18–21 closed-door meetings of trade ministers discussing the next steps in creating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a hemisphere-wide trade deal that will destroy family-supportive U.S. jobs.

If approved, the FTAA would eliminate tariffs from 34 countries with a population of more than 800 million and accelerate the staggering job loss and environmental damage experienced under 10 years of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Culminating in a 20,000 strong march against FTAA on Nov. 20, the events included educational workshops, a People’s Gala and Global Workers Forum, where eight workers from North, Central and South America described the impact of bad trade deals on their lives.

To ensure trade ministers didn’t hear only from Big Business—which lobbied hard for FTAA passage behind closed doors—working families brought hundreds of thousands of Stop FTAA ballots to Miami, casting their symbolic vote against the bad trade deal.

More than 2,000 people sang, chanted, ate foods from different countries and rallied at a People’s Gala. With police helicopters circling overhead, the crowd danced and enjoyed the music of the Tell Us the Truth Tour—a group of U.S. activist musicians who are raising awareness on jobs, trade and media reform issues in a 14-city tour sponsored by the AFL-CIO and other groups.

Dennis Walter, president of USWA Local 6521, was among thousands of union members who traveled to Miami “to make the world a fairer place to work.”

In the past two months, five plants in Walter’s hometown, Altoona, Pa., have announced they are shutting down, throwing more than 1,000 people out of work.

“We have to wake people up about where our jobs are going.”