Take Action

Ask your Congressmember to cosponsor the TRADE Act!

These Action Alerts were written by the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, of which CAGJ is a member organization

Finally – some change we can believe in! On June 4, 2008, Sen. Sherrod Brown and Rep. Mike Michaud introduced groundbreaking new legislation to reform U.S. trade policy. The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act represents months (years!) of work by people committed to fixing the failed NAFTA model. It creates a positive and pragmatic vision for fair and sustainable international trade.

The TRADE Act addresses both how we need to fix existing trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA, and also what should be the criteria for developing new agreements in the future. The TRADE Act puts the needs of people, communities, and the planet front and center in our trade policy - as they should be. While continuing to promote trade, it also includes attention to labor rights, sustainable and just agriculture, environmental quality, and democratic sovereignty. In other words, it makes trade work for people, not the other way around.

The TRADE Act already has over 60 Congressional co-sponsors. It also has strong organizational support from a wide range of fair trade groups, including the AFL-CIO, Change to Win, the Sierra Club, and Citizens Trade Campaign.

But, to make the TRADE Act reality, we need your help!

Please contact your Members of Congress today, and ask them to cosponsor the TRADE Act. Here are some action tools:

Demand that your representative oppose the Colombia FTA!

News from Colombia continues to be troubling. An assassination plot was discovered that threatens a witness who claims Colombian government officials are linked to death squads. President Uribe’s cousin was arrested for allegedly supporting right-wing paramilitaries. Even President Uribe himself is under investigation for connection to a massacre. Meanwhile, 22 union organizers have been murdered so far this year, continuing the disturbing pattern in which 2,500 unionists have been killed since 1986.

And yet, despite these abhorrent circumstances, not one member of Congress from Washington State has taken a stand against this violence and corruption by declaring opposition to the pending US-Colombia free trade agreement (FTA).

Read the WFTC press release from May, and then please call your representative to demand they declare their opposition NOW to this dreadful deal (tell them the Colombia FTA is the past and the TRADE Act is the future!)