Q with labor and trade expert Harley Shaiken
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buy canada goose jacket Harley Shaiken, chair of the campus Center for Latin American Studies, researches labor rights and trade and is an advisor to leading members of cheap canada goose uk the United States Congress on these topics. He has recently written about lessons he believes can be learned from the United States’ past 23 years under canada goose uk black friday the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. NAFTAeliminated most tariffs between Canada, uk canada goose Mexico and the United States and has been criticized as making it easier for businesses to export jobs uk canada goose outlet across the border. President Donald Trump has said he plans to renegotiate or withdraw from the deal. Shaiken’s research, which found that improved cheap Canada Goose rights for Mexican workers will benefit American workers canada goose coats on sale as well, offers one take on where a renegotiation could go. buy canada goose jacket
buy canada goose jacket cheap Harley Shaiken: I think trade in general and NAFTA in particular have implications well beyond the international trade data. I actually began research before NAFTA, completely unrelated to it, looking at how and why companies were siting advanced manufacturing across the world, including Mexico, and how companies before NAFTA were siting very state of the art factories in low wage countries like Mexico. And it was that research that formed an important dimension of the NAFTA debate and really of the way that we look at dimensions of international trade since then. workers ought not to view themselves as the enemy. That is, it isn Mexican workers who are stealing jobs, canada goose uk shop not by any means. Rather, in Mexico today, it is very difficult to form an independent Canada Goose Parka union. In the export sector, it virtually impossible. On the books, Mexico has got strong labor protections. In reality, those are not observed. So, the issue is not saying we don want to trade with Mexico. I think trade with Mexico is very important and potentially beneficial both to buy canada goose jacket the United States and Mexico. What critical is the rules of the game for trade. buy canada goose jacket cheap
canadian goose jacket DC:What do you think about Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership and talk of taxing Mexican imports? canadian goose jacket
Canada Goose sale Shaiken: I am appalled by many of the things that Trump has done in the last 10 days. I canadian goose jacket agree with, although perhaps for very different reasons, his decision to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership. As it was written, the games of trade would flow to the very top. Most people would be bypassed or even damaged by the structure of the trade agreement. But that is not the same as saying what you want to do is cut off the trade within the global economy. That both impossible and not particularly desirable. I think where I differ fundamentally with Trump is you need rules of the game that will result in a broadly shared prosperity. That really allows workers, communities and most people to share the gains of trade. workers? Canada Goose sale
Canada Goose online Shaiken: You could have profitable canada goose uk outlet companies and you can have more highly paid workers, which would be in everyone interest in the long term. In the short term, you can make a lot more money (paying) lower wages canada goose outlet if you’re a firm. firms will go to their workers and say, “OK, you are at $30 (an hour) now, but unless you go to $20, this plant is going to Mexico.” But it doesn stop there. People work in that community. School teachers, nurses, people who work in restaurants, cashiers they are going to see their wages go down if something as central as canada goose store a major factory is threatened with closure. So where that puts us is not workers and communities on both sides of the border doing better, but rather the lowest standard becoming the new competitive standard. And I don think that an anyone’s interest. I think you can be very much for Canada Goose Coats On Sale expanded trade, you can be very much for engaging in global local economy, but you need rules that ensure more than Canada Goose Online one percent benefit from it. It not a new phenomenon. We have had deterioration of labor law. We have had administrations beginning with Canada Goose sale Ronald Reagan that were very hostile to unions. And it taking a very sharp toll with this administration, it promises to become far worse. There’s already very fierce pressure which has caused canada goose black friday sale a stagnation and declining wages, and that has caused real troubles for labor in the United States. Canada Goose online
canada goose store DC: What would it take for the advancement of workers rights to be appealing to pursue? Why focus on raising wages? canada goose store
canada goose coats on sale Shaiken: Well, I think we’ve got to put this in context. Pew Research in Washington just came out with a survey that shows a majority of Americans have a very https://www.canadagoosejacketonlines.ca favorable impression of labor unions. So it not canada goose that people are hostile to unions. It is in many cases very difficult to join one. Why? Because employers pull out the stops, even violating the law, because the penalties are so light that the result ends up being that you can lose your job. And, because they are so much on the defensive in many areas, workers Canada Goose online are fearful. So the key here is removing the fear. canada goose coats on sale
Canada Goose Parka DC: What would you hope to see happen if a NAFTA renegotiation process were to begin? Canada Goose Parka
Canada Goose Outlet Shaiken: NAFTA is a complex, at times canada goose coats convoluted, agreement. It canada goose factory sale over a thousand pages. I think what critical here is that there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed, from dispute settlements to environmental standards. But the one issue that I think is particularly critical, and this will determine whether most ordinary people benefit or not, is labor standards on both sides of the border. That involves strong, enforceable language in the agreement. Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose black friday sale DC: What would be any negative impacts of advancing labor rights in the export sector? canada goose black friday sale
canada goose coats Shaiken: Everything can have a downside. The global economy is a very competitive place, but expanded wages can sometimes lower cost. How does that happen? Because it improves productivity and reduces turnover and creates more committed workers. You can have innovative, productive results canada goose coats.