WASHINGTON - May 28 - Today, trade ministers from the United States and five Central American countries will sign the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) – which will lower trade barriers and establish new rules for trade and investment between our countries.

Unfortunately, the Bush administration has negotiated an agreement that will utterly fail to create good jobs at home or promote equitable and sustainable development in Central America. This agreement will leave workers, family farmers, the environment, and communities more vulnerable, while enriching and empowering corporate elites.

CAFTA would reward companies that ship American jobs overseas with greater access to the U.S. market, more freedom to violate workers’ rights with impunity, and the ability to challenge government regulations enacted in the public interest. CAFTA’s rules on investment, government procurement, intellectual property rights, and services create new rights for multinational corporations, but the agreement contains no effective new protections for workers’ rights and actually removes existing protections, leaving the interests of ordinary working men and women out in the cold.

For these reasons, the AFL-CIO joins with our Central American partners and our allies in the development, farm, environment, women’s, and religious communities to oppose this flawed and lopsided trade agreement.

The American people overwhelmingly disagree with the Bush administration’s view that sending good jobs overseas benefits average Americans. In fact, CAFTA is so unpopular that it is not likely to come to a vote this year. There simply aren’t enough votes in the U.S. Congress to pass another trade agreement designed to accelerate the shift of jobs offshore, when we still haven’t replaced the 2.7 million manufacturing jobs lost since Mr. Bush took office.

It is time for America’s leaders to admit trade agreements like NAFTA have not delivered on their promises of job creation and economic development. Our policymakers need to dramatically rethink, reform, and renegotiate our trade policies to reflect new priorities and new realities. We can start by rejecting this flawed and inadequate agreement. Then we can replace our negotiating team, starting at the very top.

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