[Texgreen] Call your reps: Last Chance to Stop Peru Free Trade Agreement

[Margaret]

Easy action request from Texas Fair Trade Coalition

The House of Representatives will vote on the Peru Free Trade Agreement
this Wednesday, November 7.

Contact your Congress Member today to have your voice heard!
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1034/t/537/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=13543

Last Spring, Democratic leaders in the House negotiated a trade 'deal'
with the White House to make a few improvements on labor and
environmental standards in exchange for supporting the Peru FTA. This
'deal' was, unfortunately, very inadequate to address a host of
problems from the NAFTA/CAFTA model that harm workers, the
environment, and family farmers. Not least among these is the fact
that the new standards depend on President Bush's willingness to
enforce them.

With the Democratic leadership on the wrong side of this issue, it is
up to us to make sure our Congress Members vote 'NO'. If we can get a
majority of Democrats in the House to oppose, then that sends a strong
message to the Democratic leadership that they must go back to the
drawing board and create real change in our trade policy. Right now
the count is close, but we'll need to get a number of currently
undecided Representatives to oppose if we are to achieve that goal. So
far only 1 out of the 13 Texas Democratic Representatives have
committed to voting against the Peru FTA. If we don't want more and
more NAFTA and CAFTA style trade agreements to pass then we must do
better than that.

We need lots of calls and e-mails to these undecided Texas
Representatives today:
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Dallas) -- (202) 225-8885
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (Houston) -- (202) 225-3816
Rep. Al Green (Houston) -- (202) 225-7508
Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (San Antonio) -- (202) 225-4511

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1034/t/537/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=13543

If you don't live in one of these districts, contact your
Representative anyway.

For those of you who live in Rep. Gene Green's district, thank him for
committing to vote against the Peru FTA.

If you live in Rep. Lloyd Doggett's district, contact him to express
your disappointment in his vote for the Peru FTA in last week's House
Ways and Means Committee vote. Urge him to follow two other Ways and
Means Committee members in deciding to change course and vote 'No' on
the House floor. His office number is (202) 225-4865.

Reasons Why Your Congress Member Should Oppose the Peru FTA:

Workers Rights: Recent changes to provide enforceable labor standards
do not go nearly far enough to ensure that the lot of Peruvian workers
will actually improve -- the two major Peruvian labor unions have
recently reiterated their opposition to the Peru FTA because the
enforceable labor standards are vague and open to manipulation by
corporate lobbyists, and because the agreement requires a president
unfriendly to workers to initiate any enforcement proceedings. As
workers continue to be exploited in Peru, jobs will continue to be
lost in the U.S.

Jobs/Wages: The investor rights and procurements provisions are
largely unchanged from the CAFTA version - they subject local, state
and federal regulations and procurement policies to challenge by big
corporations in trade tribunals. Among the laws prohibited by the the
Peru FTA are Buy America laws and anti-offshoring regulations designed
to protect U.S. workers. The Peru FTA also gives foreign companies the
ability to challenge prevailing wage laws that ensure decent salaries
for employees working on government-funded projects.

Small Farmers: The Peru FTA has the same NAFTA pro-agribusiness rules
that led to 1.3 million Mexican small farmers losing their
livelihoods, and being forced to emigrate to the United States to find
work. If passed, the prospects for millions of indigenous farmers in
the Peruvian highlands look grim - with the result being more poverty,
increased production and flow of illegal drugs, and greater social
instability.

Protect the Environment: The Peru FTA threatens the sanctity of the
Amazon rainforests that are the ecological heart of our planet. The
FTA has a little known provision that expands the definition of
investment to include "natural resource extraction", giving added
power to foreign mining, logging, and oil companies to challenge in
trade tribunals any Peruvian laws that restrict their "expected future
profits." This same provision can be used by companies with Peruvian
subsidiaries, such as Halliburton, to challenge the way the U.S.
regulates the use of our forests and other natural preserves.

This trade agreement sets the groundwork for even worse trade
agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. If you don't want
to give those trade agreements momentum, then don't vote for the Peru
FTA.

For more information visit www.texasfairtrade.org/FactSheets.html .