URGENT: SENATE VOTE TODAY ON OMAN NAFTA EXPANSION: PLEASE CALL NOW

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Action Alert � June 28, 2006

NAFTA EXPANSION ALERT:

 

Oman FTA Vote Today in Senate: Call Your Senators NOW!

 

Despite the bruising CAFTA fight, the Bush administration just submitted new

NAFTA Expansion legislation to Congress�this time aiming for the Middle

East, with the OFTA: the Oman Free Trade Agreement.

 

The Senate Republican leadership is pulling a fast one to try to limit debate

and public scrutiny of more NAFTA expansion. They announced last night that they

will hold a Finance Committee mark-up and then the FULL SENATE VOTE on the same

day: TODAY, Wednesday, June 28.

 

The Oman deal is word-for-word CAFTA, except where it's worse. Oman bans labor

unions and has been cited by the U.S. State Department for human trafficking and

forced labor. Please review the talking points below and then call both of your

Senators immediately.

 

 

Take Action: Call BOTH Your Senators to Stop NAFTA Expansion

Tell them to say NO to the Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA)

 

Capitol Switchboard # (202) 224-3121

 

Take these 4 steps to STOP the OMAN Free Trade Agreement (OFTA):

 

1) Call each of your two Senators� DC offices. Don�t know who your

Senators are, or what their phone numbers are? You can call the Capitol

Switchboard above (works 24 hours!) and give them your state or zip code. Or

you can find out here: http://action.citizen.org/getLocal.jsp

 

2) Tell them to vote NO on the Oman FTA. Ask to speak to the person who handles

trade issues. Tell the office you want your Senator to vote NO on the Oman Free

Trade Agreement (OFTA) and ask for a response letter or email stating the

Senator�s position. (Use the Talking Points below)

 

3) Let us know what they said! Reporting back is critical to our success- tell

us what happened using the form below! Send an email letting us know you call

and telling us what they said at padler

 

4) Spread the word. After you've reported back, forward this email far and wide.

We need a flood of calls right now!

 

Thank you for all that you do,

 

The Global Trade Watch Team at Public Citizen

 

p.s. Want to do more? After you call, send a letter to your Congressional

(House) representative here:

http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3664. A house vote is likely

in Congress the week of July 10th, and Representatives will be flying back home

to you to do town hall meetings and other public events next week. Consider

" Bird-Dogging " your member of congress about NAFTA expansion. Find out more

here: http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3307

 

 

 

 

 

Talking Points on the Oman Free Trade Agreement

 

 

 

More NAFTAs mean more lost U.S. jobs. A decade of NAFTA has resulted in the

largest U.S. trade deficit ever-a deficit caused by a flood of job-killing

imported goods and the export of three million U.S. manufacturing jobs. Real

wages are scarcely above their 1972 levels, even though productivity has grown

by over 80 percent. We can't afford any more NAFTA-like trade deals. We need to

change this broken trade model!

 

Oman bans independent labor unions! Currently in Oman it is illegal to form

independent trade unions. Workers can only join " representative committees " that

include management representatives. The OFTA, like CAFTA and NAFTA, has strict

intellectual property rights protections with tough enforcement - but no

enforceable labor rights. OFTA merely requires Oman to enforce its own labor

laws, and while the Sultan has promised " reform, " OFTA would provide no recourse

if he changes his mind. Under OFTA, there's not even any penalty for weakening

this existing bad law further.

 

This Oman FTA will lead to serious human rights abuses. The majority of the

private sector workforce in Oman are foreign-born " guest workers " from China,

Bangladesh and other poor countries. Recent horrific reports about the results

of the U.S. Free Trade Agreement with nearby Jordan show how labor rights abuses

and human trafficking can greatly increase with the introduction of a free trade

agreement. The State Department has noted that Oman " does not fully comply with

the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. "

 

The Oman FTA gives foreign corporations more rights than U.S. citizens. OFTA

contains the same type of " investor-state " provisions as NAFTA and CAFTA, which

would allow an Omani company (or a company from any other country incorporated

in Oman) to sue the United States government in a secret tribunal, demanding

payment from our tax dollars, if the company feels that any U.S. government

policy is restricting their ability to make profit.

 

OFTA could undermine U.S. national security. The OFTA goes beyond even CAFTA

and NAFTA in explicitly promoting rights for foreign companies - including

government-owned companies - to operate our sensitive infrastructure:

electricity grids, port operations and more. OFTA allows foreign investors to

take the U.S. government to secret tribunals if the profitability of any foreign

investment in these sensitive sectors is threatened by an act of the U.S.

Congress!

 

For more info about U.S.-Oman FTA, go here.

 

Have you sent a letter to Congress about the Oman agreement yet? If not, do so

here.

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