Unions Press for Sanctions Against China

[Freddie Stubbs]

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - Organized labor asked the Bush administration on Tuesday to impose economic sanctions on China because of the country's alleged violations of worker rights.


The request — in a petition filed with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick — represented the latest effort by American unions to highlight what they see as unfair trade practices that have led to a record $124 billion U.S. trade deficit with China last year and the loss of thousands of U.S. factory jobs.


The petition, filed by the AFL-CIO on behalf of its 13 million members, alleged that China was brutally repressing worker rights and this constituted an unfair labor practice as defined in Section 301 of Trade Act of 1974.


It marked the first time that Section 301 has been used to challenge another country's worker rights practices.

more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=530&ncid=530&e=2&u=/ap/20040316/ap_on_bi_ge/us_china_trade

[The Sushi Bandit]

1. Way to GO!!

[joeunderdog]

2. OUTSOURCE worker's rights! Fair trade, not free trade.

We should all have to play by the same rules. If we don't allow slave labor here, why simply subcontract it out?

We should not be allowed to buy a product made by some school aged kid working 70 hrs/wk in a crowded sweatshop. Why have we ever patronized a seller whose goods were produced this way?