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  • Trans-Pacific Partnership promotes geographic discrimination
    Posted On: Nov 16, 2015

    When it comes to trade agreements American workers in the manufacturing sector often get the shaft/(S)NAFTA, resulting in numerous job losses. Studies show since 2001 over 8 million manufacturing jobs have been permanently moved overseas to other countries. Why? Because most trade agreements have little language that allows for an equal playing field. 

    The result is competing with trading partners that have little regard for worker safety, substandard wages for workers, and few environmental laws. Combined with the lack of global regulations, countries such as China, South Korea, and others often use currency manipulation to strengthen their competitive advantage over their trade partners. As a result, the world economy is out of balance when it comes to trade agreements.

    The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is the latest trade agreement negotiated behind closed doors without world citizen input. Since 2008, twelve countries have been participating in negotiations involving the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. 

    But what about the working people, did they have a voice or vote? This agreement, in theory, will ease the flow of commerce between the participating countries, but, in reality, will most likely ease the one-way flow of jobs out of our country. 

    The TPP pact was recently finalized by the partnering nations. Next year the US Congress via fast track authority will vote on whether to approve the trade pact by a straight yes or no vote. If Congress approves this agreement, President Obama has said he will sign it into law. The result will be another round of geographic discrimination against the American worker, as multi-national corporations seeking low wage workers move more jobs offshore. Local area residents will soon feel the impact as Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announced closure of its sole US manufacturing facility, ending production in November. 

    Mitsubishi’s decision was not last minute, but part of a long-term strategic business plan dating back to 2010. Multi-national Corporations often use trade agreements to pit workers against workers based on labor costs. These actions result in outright geographic discrimination against workers based on global location. Let us put the dots together.

    Evidence of geographic discrimination first appeared December 9, 2010 with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s ceremonial laying of a foundation cornerstone for a new factory at Mitsubishi Motors Thailand.  The new plant has a production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year. In comparison, Mitsubishi’s Normal plant had a capacity of 240,000 vehicles per year, and was underutilized since 2004, running one shift of production. 

    The groundbreaking was right on the heels of the extortion of the Normal plant’s workers (i.e. the workers accepting a wage freeze for 5 years in order to keep the plant open and be awarded a vehicle to build). Many here questioned the business sense of the new plant at the time. For the record, Thailand is a Trans-Pacific trade partner. 

    More recently, on March 31, 2014, Mitsubishi announced the restructuring of production capability in the Philippines, and purchased a former Ford factory site on the island country. Though this facility has a limited output (30,000 annually), a picture was beginning to develop of future capacity and utilization plans in the Pacific Rim. Not surprisingly, the Philippines are also members of the Trans-Pacific trade partnership.

    Finally there was a February 27, 2015, announcement by Mitsubishi to build a new 160,000-production facility in West Java Province, Indonesia by Mitsubishi Motors. This announcement came a few short weeks after a plant wide meeting at the Normal facility in which the MMNA Manufacturing Division President and CEO Ryosuke Kagimoto expressed his sorrow for plant vehicle production cuts due to declining vehicle sales in Russian because on an economic downturn. 

    Many Normal, Illinois workers questioned the need for another new facility when an underutilized U.S. plant was still struggling and in need of new product to build. Of course, Indonesia is a member of the Trans-Pacific trade partnership

    In the final analysis, we can look back and see Mitsubishi Motors Corporation turned their back on the American worker, essentially pounding the nail in our coffin all over the Pacific Rim as the Trans-Pacific trade Partnership agreement negotiations took place. All the concessions workers agreed to at the Normal plant over the last 9 years mattered very little to Mitsubishi. 

    In the end, the Normal facility’s geographic position excluded us from any future product consideration. The workers efforts just bought Mitsubishi enough time to build all the production capacity they needed in Pacific Rim countries, which have substantially lower labor costs, few worker protections and subjective financial rules.

    Trades agreements are rarely equal in their design as they often pit workers in one country versus workers in another country based on low standards of living the workers are willing to accept. According to some reports, Mitsubishi has positioned the business to utilize the new facilities by taking advantage of anticipated easing of tariffs on vehicles between the Trans-Pacific trade Partners, includes the United States. 

    As for the fate of the Normal facility and the workers? Well, looks like another trade agreement is set to take hold that will foster more geographic discrimination of workers by multi-national corporations who seek to drive down workers’ wages worldwide by manipulating the rules. All I can say is Sayonara to good paying American jobs as another out of balance free-trade agreement is set to become law.

    by Ralph Timan, UAW 2488


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