AP: U.S. Blocked Release of CAFTA Reports

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Sun, 10 Jul 2005 12:29:13 -0700 (PDT)

AP: U.S. Blocked Release of CAFTA Reports

 

 

 

Thanks to Larry Jordan for digging this up. If this story doesn't

make your blood boil I don't know what will. What will it take for

people to become enraged at a government that misleads and lies to

them? What will it take?

 

" One lawmaker said he was shocked that a federal agency charged with

protecting the rights of Americans workers would go to such lengths to

block the public from seeing its own contractor's concerns before

Congress votes on the agreement. "

 

If you think this " government " represents your interests then there's

something wrong with you. Let's see if you can read this article and

not be enraged.

 

Pick your issue: Job loss, illegal immigration, corporate scandal,

unprovoked war, cronyism, attacks on worker rights and environmental

laws, out of control federal deficits, budget cuts, on and on, choose

any one you want; they are all connected by the single thread of

corrupton of government by corporate sponsors. Until people see this

is the central problem we will just continue to spin our wheels and

lose battle after battle. We are not just defeating job loss, we are

defeating massive corruption.

 

 

AP: U.S. Blocked Release of CAFTA Reports

 

By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press WriterWed Jun 29, 2:09 PM ET

 

The Labor Department worked for more than a year to maintain secrecy

for studies that were critical of working conditions in Central

America, the region the Bush administration wants in a new trade pact.

 

The contractor hired by the department in 2002 to conduct the studies

has become a major opponent of the administration's proposed Central

American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA.

 

The government-paid studies concluded that countries proposed for

free-trade status have poor working environments and fail to protect

workers' rights. The department dismissed the conclusions as

inaccurate and biased, according to government and contractor

documents reviewed by The Associated Press.

 

The Senate Finance Committee, which approved the agreement by a voice

vote Wednesday, sent it to the full Senate for consideration this week

or after the Independence Day recess.

 

The contractor is the International Labor Rights Fund.

 

In a summary of its findings, the organization wrote, " In practice,

labor laws on the books in Central America are not sufficient to deter

employers from violations, as actual sanctions for violations of the

law are weak or nonexistent. "

 

The conclusions contrast with the administration's arguments that

Central American countries have made enough progress on such issues to

warrant the free-trade deal.

 

The administration and its congressional supporters say eliminating

trade barriers for U.S. products would open new markets in Central

American for U.S. farmers and manufacturers. Critics say the deal

would allow serious labor violations to continue in the countries

covered by the pact — Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,

Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

 

Hoping to lure enough Democratic votes to win passages, U.S. Trade

Representative Rob Portman (news, bio, voting record) this month

promised to spend money and arrange an international conference to

ensure " the best agreement ever negotiated by the United States on

labor rights. "

 

Behind the scenes, the Labor Department began as early as spring 2004

to block public release of the country-by-country reports.

 

The department instructed its contractor to remove the reports from

its Web site, ordered it to retrieve paper copies before they became

public, banned release of new information from the reports, and even

told the contractor it could not discuss the studies with outsiders.

 

The department has now worked out a deal with the contractor to make

the reports public, provided there is no mention of the federal agency

or government funding.

 

At the same time, the administration began a pre-emptive campaign to

undercut the study's conclusions.

 

Used as talking points by trade-pact supporters, a Labor Department

document accuses the contractor of writing a report filled with

" unsubstantiated " statements and " biased attacks, not the facts. "

 

The contractor's deputy director, Bama Athreya, blamed U.S. Trade

Representative officials for circulating the document and citing

passages that won't be included in the final versions of the reports.

 

One lawmaker said he was shocked that a federal agency charged with

protecting the rights of Americans workers would go to such lengths to

block the public from seeing its own contractor's concerns before

Congress votes on the agreement.

 

" You would think if any agency in our government would care about

this, it would be the Labor Department, " Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio,

voting record), D-N.D., said.

 

Dirk Fillpot, spokesman for the Labor Department's Bureau of

International Labor Affairs, said the agency and an independent

evaluator concluded the contractor " failed to meet the academic rigor

expected to fulfill its contract " and the relationship was terminated

June 10.

 

The competitively bid contract totaled $937,000. Fillpot said $250,000

will be refunded to the Treasury.

 

Rep. Kevin Brady (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, who supports the

trade agreement, said he is familiar with drafts of the reports and

believes they will be " widely dismissed as a fraud. " He accused the

contractor of producing " a propaganda piece " and concealing " its rabid

anti-CAFTA bias. "

 

Athreya, the contractor official, has testified in Congress against

the agreement. The group's Internet site has a link to a coalition

trying to defeat the pact.

 

Some of the studies came within a whisker of widespread release in

March 2004, when the labor-rights group posted them briefly on its

Internet site.

 

The Labor Department quickly and successfully demanded the reports be

removed on grounds they were not approved by the agency. Officials

also demanded the group retrieve a limited number of paper copies that

were distributed at a hearing of a Latin American human rights body.

 

Shortly after that incident, Rep. Sander Levin (news, bio, voting

record), D-Mich., began a yearlong effort to pry the studies from the

department through a Freedom of Information Act request. The

department rejected his request until two months ago, when Levin

received — and released — early drafts of the reports.

 

http://news./news?tmpl=story & u=/ap/20050629/ap_on_go_ot/free_trade_stud\

ies

 

We citizens have lost control of our government and it is our duty

while we are still free citizens to take it back from this corrupt regime.