Labor unions declare goal: Revise FTAA agreement or stop it cold
By Joan Fleischer Tamen and Tom Stieghorst
Business Writers
Posted November 20 2003
On the eve of a planned protest march through the streets of Miami, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney on Wednesday rallied union members from the United States and throughout the Americas to oppose the ongoing Free Trade Area of the Americas talks.
"Our mission, very simply, is either to radically rewrite the `Bush' Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement -- or stop it cold," Sweeney said to a cheering crowd of nearly 900 at an International Workers Forum at the Gusman Center in Miami, several blocks from official events of the trade ministers meetings.
The unions object to be being excluded from official FTAA negotiations.
They want to get their message across today during a rally at Bayfront Park followed by a march. As many as 150 busloads of union members and retirees from Florida and the United States are expected.
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