FW: Labor's China Syndrome

From "David Ewing" <ewinglaw@hotmail.com>
Date Wed, 20 Jul 2005 14:31:44 -0700


>Subject: Labor's China Syndrome
>Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 16:51:35 -0700
>
>
>Labor's China Syndrome
>AFL-CIO, Solidarity Center, NED and the Neocons‹The Unholy Alliance
>By: Lee Siu Hin
>
>Article URL:
>http://www.actionla.org/features/view.php?id=233&PHPSESSID=09d2f15fa88f0d6fe
>e60580743ff99ff
><http://www.actionla.org/features/view.php?id=233&amp;PHPSESSID=09d2f15fa88f
>0d6fee60580743ff99ff>
>
>
>"...the California Labor Federation [and the] AFL-CIO ... urge the national
>AFL-CIO and its Solidarity Center to exercise extreme caution in seeking or
>accepting funding from the U.S. government, its agencies and any other
>institutions which it funds such as the NED...and to accept these funds 
>only
>to further the goals of honest international labor solidarity, not to 
>pursue
>the policies of Corporate America and the United States governmentŠ"
>-  Resolution: "Build Unity and Trust Among Workers Worldwide" from the 
>25th
>Biennial California State AFL-CIO Convention in July 2004
>
>
>At the upcoming AFL-CIO convention in Chicago in July 2005, thousands of
>labor activists will stand up to question their president John Sweeney's
>failed labor leadership, and his policy of accepting money from the
>notorious National Endowment of Democracy (NED), a supposedly independent
>private organization which is fully funded by the U.S. Government and known
>for its clear ties to the CIA in many covert and overt campaigns against
>other countries.
>
>While many articles have been published previously focusing on NED's
>connections with U.S. covert operations around the world, few have 
>discussed
>NED's ties to U.S. labor, or the AFL CIO's American Center for 
>International
>Labor Solidarity (commonly known as "Solidarity Center") connections with
>NED funding, or NED-Labor¹s relations with the CIA's covert operations
>against Venezuela, or with their recent covert and overt campaigns against
>China.
>
>
>AFL and CIA: The Strange Bedfellows
>For many labor rank-and-filers, the connections between organized labor and
>the U.S. State Department are hard to put credence in; but behind the 
>scenes
>the AFL-CIO does have a very close relationship with certain high-ranking
>members of the U.S. diplomatic and intelligence communities, and has
>directly supported neoliberal/neocon policies since World War II, 
>regardless
>of who is in the White House.
>
>One such beneficiary of behind the scenes AFL-CIO support is the Advisory
>Committee on Labor Diplomacy (ADLP), a little-known agency of the State
>Department. It created in May 1999 during Clinton era, and became very
>active since Bush presidency, the ADLP has proudly proclaimed itself to be
>an  "advisor" for the Secretary of State and the President of the United
>States, on the "resources and policies necessary to implement labor
>diplomacy in a manner that ensures U.S. leadership is promoting the
>objectives and ideals of U.S. labor policies," according to their charter.
>
>According to their web page, they have several "Open to the public" 
>meetings
>a year. In addition to John Sweeney, their key committee members include
>some of the most right wing, neo-con and anti-communist elements of the 
>U.S.
>labor movement:
>
>Thomas R. Donahue: Vice-Chair of the NED, former secretary-treasurer of the
>AFL-CIO from 1979 to 1995 and AFL-CIO president in 1995. Donahue is known
>for his close association with the anti-communist right wing of U.S.
>organized labor.
>
>Ray Marshall: Board member of the League for Industrial Democracy (LID),
>which is comprised  mainly of intellectual members of the anticommunist,
>neoconservative coalition.
>
>John Joyce: Board member of The Friends of the Democratic Center in Central
>America, better known as PRODEMCA, founded in late 1981. According to its
>promotional literature, the organization was established in order to 
>support
>²incipient democratic processes² in Central America. Its projects have
>focused primarily on Nicaragua, especially on the construction of
>anti-Sandinista media and public relations campaigns and on support for the
>political opposition inside Nicaragua. In carrying out these campaigns,
>PRODEMCA relied on funding from Carl Channell's National Endowment for the
>Preservation of Liberty (NEPL).  NEPL was one of the important conduits for
>funds from the contra supply network coordinated by Oliver North. Joyce is
>also the chair of the AFL-CIO's Military Affairs Committee and is on the 
>USO
>World Board of Governors.
>
>Frank P. Doyle: Former executive vice president of the General Electric
>Company. He is also the board member of United States Council for
>International Business (USCIB), a powerful elite business trade group
>promoting neoliberal policies.
>
>Anthony G. Freeman: Washington Office of the International Labor
>Organization, or ILO. Between 1983 to 1992, he served as Coordinator for
>International Labor Affairs and the Agency for International Development,
>and was Special Assistant to three Secretaries of State, ILO was known for
>their close ties with the CIA in launching covert operations to overthrow
>foreign governments under the guise of "humanitarian aid" to Central
>America, Eastern Europe and Asia.
>
>William Lucy: Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME, an AFL-CIO Executive Council
>Member, and oversees the International Affairs Department (IAD) for the
>Executive Council. The IAD, along with the Free Trade Union Committee
>(FTUC), were historically known for their adherence to a militant
>anticommunism which aligned them neatly with the long-term political
>objectives of Washington [On last May, AFL-CIO had announced they will
>closed the IAD office in Washington D.C.]
>
>Labor writer Kim Scipes points out that labor leaders sitting down with
>hard-core right wing anti-communist organizers to talk about "labor rights"
>is an unholy alliance. Right-wing anticommunist labor leaders are in 
>cahoots
>with Bush's foreign policy officials, helping them develop a strategy with
>which to target foreign unions for political control.
>
>
>Labor Imperialism
>Throughout much of its history, the AFL-CIO and the U.S. labor movements 
>has
>carried out a reactionary anti-labor program around the world. They work
>with CIA and multi-national corporations to overthrow 
>democratically-elected
>governments, collaborating with dictators against progressive labor
>movements, supporting reactionary labor movements against progressive
>governments, working with Corporate America to organize racist and
>protectionist campaigns against foreign countries, and encouraging racist
>campaigns against immigrant workers.
>
>When John Sweeney became the AFL-CIO president in 1995, he promised to end
>former President Lane Kirkland's legacy of connections between labor and 
>the
>CIA, and created the Solidarity Center in 1997 to foster a new era of
>international labor solidarity. But Solidarity Center has merely continued
>to operate in the same way.
>
>Oddly enough, Solidarity Center, supposedly a pro-labor organization, is 
>one
>of the four major grant recipients of money from the NED, along with three
>other key right-wing neocon think-tanks. The others are: the Center for
>International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the International Republican
>Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute for International
>Affairs (NDI).
>
>These four groups make for a strange combination of purpose: labor rights,
>free enterprise, right wing Republican values, neocon and neoliberal
>economic policies. Yet, just like the anti-communist labor movement Cold
>Warriors of the past, this new generation's labor-far right alliance works
>against progressive labor movements around the world, supporting
>multi-national corporate interests while wearing a mask of "liberal-left
>labor activism." Solidarity Center then uses the NED grant money to create
>ideological guidance and logistical support for activist labor groups and
>anti-globalization movements across the country, promoting "international
>labor campaigns" with hidden CIA and U.S. government agendas.
>
>One such example: during the recent failed U.S.-backed Venezuela military
>coup in April 2002, according to an April 25, 2002 report by New York 
>Times'
>Christopher Marquis, the Solidarity Center received $154,377 from NED to
>give to the Confederation of Venezuela Workers (CTV), the union that led 
>the
>work stoppages that galvanized the opposition to Chávez¹s Government. The
>CTV 's leader, Carlos Ortega, is known to have worked closely with Pedro
>Carmona Estanga, the businessman behind the failed coup attempt to 
>overthrow
>President Chávez.
>
>And according to another New York Times article of March 11, 2004 by Juan
>Forero, prior to leading the coup NED channeled nearly $350,000 to the
>Solidarity Center, the international wings of the Republican and Democratic
>parties, the International Republican Institute, and the National 
>Democratic
>Institute for International Affairs. These organizations ran workshops and
>training sessions and offered advice to three Venezuelan political parties 
>­
>Democratic Action, Copei and First Justice -- as well as the CTV union.
>
>Solidarity Center's operations in Venezuela, far from benefiting labor in
>any way, are focused solely on overthrowing the democratically elected
>President of Venezuela, who is seen by the U.S. as an enemy, and on
>protecting the interests of U.S. multinational corporations (in this case,
>oil companies), with the covert help of the AFL-CIO. So long as no U.S. 
>jobs
>are lost, Solidarity Center maintains silence with regards to its role in
>the Venezuela debacle.
>
>
>U.S. Labor's Repeated Attacks on China
>In contrast with the secretive AFL-CIO Venezuela operations, attacks on
>China are open and above-board. Many union leaders have pandered to the
>protectionist sentiments of their members instead of educating them on the
>need for international solidarity against corporate rule. At a time when
>U.S. corporations are shipping jobs overseas, instead of holding the
>corporations and the government policy accountable, Big Labor chooses to
>work with the very corporations responsible for the American job losses, 
>and
>participates in blindly attacking China as a job stealing, union busting
>monster, at the expense of members of the working class on both sides of 
>the
>ocean.
>
>Big Labor's China bashing campaign is nothing new. Historically, with a few
>notable exceptions, most union and federation leaders do not base their
>policies and actions on furthering class solidarity but instead follow the
>path of least resistance to achieve dubious short-term goals. Their 
>periodic
>outbursts of racism and protectionism, such as direly-worded warnings
>against immigration and the industries abroad that dare to compete with
>American companies, follow in a direct line from America's 19th century
>anti-China campaigns and the Chinese Exclusion Act, both brought to you
>courtesy of American Big Labor (See: Supplement One)
>
>A new right wing/labor alliance against China is emerging, and this 
>alliance
>is hijacking the labor and anti-globalization movements in order to attack
>China.
>
>Even today, the AFL-CIO and its president, John Sweeney, maintain a policy
>of refusing to meet and talk with the All-China Confederation of Trade
>Unions (ACFTU, which has approximately eight times as many members as does
>the AFL-CIO), on the grounds that it is a puppet of the Chinese Communist
>Party.
>
>And, as labor activist/writer Jim Smith points out, in matters of labor and
>human rights the United States does not have clean hands. The U.S. has the
>largest prison population in the world, has by far the largest military in
>the world, is in the midst of the brutal invasion and occupation of two
>countries‹Iraq and Afghanistan, and goes about its daily business ignoring
>racism in its own society, its own hundreds of thousands of homeless, the
>decline of its union membership and its workers' real wages, its millions
>without health care, and one of the worst income distributions in the
>developed countries. Critics of China in the U.S. labor movement would do
>well to look to their own backyard.
>
>As many labor activists are aware, the biggest problem of labor's cold war
>against China is not labor's failing effort to protect U.S. jobs: it is 
>that
>labor has been co-opted into becoming a front for U.S. multinational
>corporations to control China, with grants from NED to achieve it.
>
>According to the latest information on the NED website, in 2003 it gave
>$3,413,163 to 26 projects related to China (See: Supplement Two). 
>Solidarity
>Center receives only a tiny portion of these funds ($65,160, or 1.91%); the
>majority of the funding for labor's China campaign comes from different
>AFL-CIO member organizations. However, the biggest current project in
>labor's campaign against China is not an attempt to protect U.S. jobs: it 
>is
>the formation of a mysterious coalition to protect U.S. currency.
>
>
>It's the Money, Stupid
>Talk about strange bedfellows!  Another key ally of Big Labor in its
>campaign against China is those good buddies of workers everywhere: the
>multi-national corporations. The China Currency Coalition is "an alliance 
>of
>industry, agriculture, and worker organizations whose mission is to support
>U.S. manufacturing by seeking an end to Chinese currency manipulation, and
>forcing China to devalue its currency,"  according to their webpage.
>
>Members of the Coalition hail from organized labor, business and trade
>groups, and neocon/neoliberal think-tanks (See: Supplement Three). Forcing
>China to raise the value of the Yuan and thus make it more costly to buy
>Chinese products, in order to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, 
>will
>obviously not have the desired effect of forcing manufacturers to relocate
>manufacturing jobs back to "cheaper" U.S. factories. Such a strategy is
>completely unrealistic; but the few voices in the Western media who
>recognize this seem unable to prevent leaders of big unions from joining
>with big business to lobby Congress.
>
>Who will be the beneficiary if China is made to revaluate its currency?
>Certainly not the American and Chinese working people. Many economists 
>point
>out that the biggest winner in such a scenario would be the Wall Street
>currency speculators, who have been sending billions of dollars in "hot
>money" to Hong Kong and China, waiting to profit handsomely form the
>possible revaluation. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, it is
>estimated that currency speculators like George Soros and others pocketed
>millions, even billions of dollars from the Asia currency devaluations, at
>the expense of Asian people's life savings.
>
>
>So Who Is Solidarity Center Really In Solidarity With?
>All this is not to say that Solidarity Center doesn't do some meaningful
>good work; but with its acceptance of NED money and the AFL-CIO's racist
>right-wing policies, it's not  helping the working class across the world
>advance labor rights or fight for a better life for workers. Rather,
>Solidarity Center's activities, covert and overt, serve the opposite goal:
>to prolong the oppression of working people and to promote the interests of
>multinational corporations and U.S. government.
>
>In the final analysis, it's very arrogant for U.S. labor bosses to tell
>other countries what to do when they cannot solve their own country's labor
>problems.
>
>
>Related Links:
>
>National Endowment of Democracy (NED): http://www.ned.org
>
>
>Advisory Committee on Labor Diplomacy (ADLP):
>http://www.state.gov/g/drl/lbr/c6732.htm
>
>
>China Currency Coalition: http://www.chinacurrencycoalition.org
>
>
>The Solidarity Center: http://www.solidaritycenter.org
>
>
>
>
>
>Supplements
>
>
>
>Supplement One: History of US Labor¹s China Bashing Campaigns
>
>
>The China bashing campaign had deep roots in U.S. labor movements for over
>100 years, beginning from Chinese exclusion acts (which was the first major
>political action taken by US labor movement, and AFL). Chinese workers in
>U.S. historically had been stereotyped as "job stealing" "union busting"
>people (during the labor strikes on late 19th century, many bosses will 
>ship
>Chinese workers to replace the striking workers). It created a huge
>anti-Chinese feeling within the labor movement and lead to the labor
>supports the racist Chinese exclusion acts. And many anti-Chinese race 
>riots
>led by poor White inner-city workers throughout out the U.S. between 1880s
>to 1910 destroyed dozen Chinese settlements and killed hundreds of
>Chinese-Americans.
>
>It¹s true that the phase out of the MFA (Multi-Fiber Arrangement) by the 
>end
>of the 2004 will affect the global garment industries. The less capable
>countries will be loosing their productions to the countries with better
>production efficiency and cheaper labor costs, most analysts agrees that 
>the
>biggest ³losers² will be the garment industries from central America, east
>Africa, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the biggest ³winners² will be China and
>India.
>
>It¹s an important issue that anti-globalization and labor movements should
>raise their concern. However the top of the U.S. labor movements, instead 
>of
>fighting against the multinational corporations and the government 
>policies,
>they decided to work with right wing forces looking for an easy boogieman 
>to
>the blame the problems to China, with "labor rights" as a sexy message. 
>It¹s
>a same old racist protectionism campaigns during 1980's against Japan for
>their automobile and steel imports, at late 1980's against Korea and Taiwan
>for their cheap imports, and 1990¹s blaming Mexico for the NAFTA job loss 
>in
>the United States.
>
>=====================================================
>Supplement Two: NED 2003 Grants to China
>
>China: $2,842,299.00
>China (Hong Kong): $239,999.00
>China (Tibet): $330,865.00
>
>Total: $3,413,163.00
>
>Solidarity Center Grants Total: $65,160 (1.91% of total China grants).
>
>*Indicates funding source other than annual Congressional appropriation
>
>China
>American Center for International Labor Solidarity
>$65,160
>To support the work of an online center for the collection and 
>dissemination
>of information relating to workers' rights in China. The center will also
>distribute an email newsletter containing information about developments in
>China's labor community.
>
>Beijing Spring, Inc.
>$90,000*
>To publish the monthly Chinese-language magazine Beijing Spring, which
>carries analysis and commentary by authors inside and outside China
>regarding political developments, social issues, and the prospects for
>democratization in China.
>
>Center for International Private Enterprise
>$88,610
>To support advocacy activities on a variety of reforms related to rule of
>law and privatization; through public discussions, speeches, publications,
>and a conference.
>
>Center for International Private Enterprise
>$531,532
>To engage with Chinese groups on six projects designed to enable
>entrepreneurs, economists, and corporate actors to play an enhanced
>transparent and democratic role in public policy development, as well as to
>publish a new Chinese-language online periodical, Journal of Private
>Enterprise.
>
>Center for International Private Enterprise
>$85,760
>To work with the China Center for Economic Research to support an 
>electronic
>economics information network and to facilitate greater exchange of
>reform-oriented ideas and proposals among Chinese economists.
>
>Center for International Private Enterprise
>$53,151
>To support the Unirule Institute of Economics¹ bi-weekly symposia with
>private entrepreneurs, academics, government officials, and journalists on
>China¹s reform process. Unirule will also disseminate symposium papers to
>private entrepreneurs, academics, and government officials interested in
>economic reform.
>
>Center for Modern China
>$148,000*
>To publish Modern China Studies, a quarterly Chinese-language journal of
>economic and social science research concerning liberal, democratic
>solutions to contemporary policy questions in China; and to maintain a
>website and publish books on democratization in China.
>
>China Information Center
>$404,105*
>To disseminate news and independent analysis of developments in China and
>important international events through two Chinese-language websites and an
>e-mail list.
>
>Democratic China
>$135,000
>To produce a Chinese-language monthly Internet magazine on politics,
>society, and culture, promoting democracy and pluralism in China. 
>Democratic
>China will additionally pursue an experimental program providing subsidies
>to enable publication and distribution in China of books that would
>otherwise not be publishable due to their political sensitivity.
>
>Foundation for China in the 21st Century
>$160,000*
>To support the Chinese-language Internet periodical, China E-Weekly, and to
>carry out a multi-faceted program of publications and conferences on
>questions of rural governance, political reform, and paths to 
>constitutional
>democracy in China.
>
>Human Rights in China
>$350,000
>To support human rights documentation, reporting, publicity, and advocacy;
>direct support for victims of political persecution; and production and
>circulation of materials informing Chinese citizens about their rights.
>
>International Republican Institute
>$350,000
>To support a program to promote the broadening of Chinese elections; to
>promote electoral reform at the village and urban levels; to support the
>training of rural women in political participation; and to develop 
>materials
>on civic education.
>
>Laogai Research Foundation
>$292,981*
>To support a research and publication program on Chinese forced-labor 
>prison
>camps (laogai) and to investigate and document other human rights 
>violations
>occurring in China.
>
>Press Freedom Guardian
>$88,000*
>To support a Chinese-language newspaper that covers politics, current
>events, human rights, democratization, and the activities of the Chinese
>democracy movement, that is disseminated in China and abroad through print
>copies, e-mail subscriptions, and a website.
>
>China (Hong Kong)
>Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor
>$60,000
>To carry out human rights reporting, casework, campaigning and public
>education, drawing local and international attention to civil and human
>rights developments in Hong Kong.
>
>National Democratic Institute for International Affairs
>$179,999
>To provide technical assistance and training to Hong Kong political parties
>to strengthen the role of parties in Hong Kong, and to support 
>pro-democracy
>civil society organizations in their efforts to draw attention to the
>deterioration of political rights in the territory.
>
>China (Tibet)
>International Campaign for Tibet
>$45,000
>To support publications and a series of meetings designed to improve
>communication between Tibetans and Chinese concerning a democratic future
>for China and Tibet.
>
>Social and Resource Development Fund
>$50,000*
>To support the Fund for Democracy and Human Rights Education, a
>Tibetan-managed mini-grants project that provides modest support for 
>Tibetan
>organizations working to educate their communities about democracy and 
>human
>rights and to increase participation in the political process.
>
>Tibet Information Network
>$80,000*
>To disseminate independent news analysis and reporting on Tibet.
>
>Tibet Institute
>$40,000
>To purchase an offset printing press to facilitate the Institute¹s
>capacity-building and civic awareness efforts; and for the distribution of
>books, magazines, and brochures on Tibet within Tibetan communities in
>Nepal.
>
>Tibetan Literary Society
>$25,000*
>To publish and distribute throughout the Tibetan community in exile and in
>Tibet Bod-Kyi-Dus-Bab (Tibet Times), a Tibetan-language newspaper published
>three times per month.
>
>Tibet Museum
>$15,000
>To collect, preserve and present material relating to modern Tibetan
>history, to commemorate the loss of Tibetan culture and lives as a result 
>of
>the Chinese occupation, and to project the hopes and aspirations of the
>Tibetan people for a brighter future.
>
>Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
>$14,000*
>To conduct a week-long workshop for Tibetan leaders to discuss the human
>rights situation in Tibet and ongoing efforts to start a democratic
>government in exile.
>
>Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre
>$18,865*
>To hold two15-day working group sessions to explore potential forms of
>Tibetan autonomy. In preparation for the workshops, the TPPRC will
>commission an expert to prepare a briefing book that provides relevant
>documents and comparative models of the distribution and division of powers
>among governmental institutions.
>
>Tibetan Review Trust Society
>$23,000*
>To publish Tibetan Review, a monthly English-language news magazine that
>covers Tibet-related news and analysis.
>
>Voice of Tibet
>$20,000*
>To support an independent Tibetan-language shortwave radio station 
>providing
>regular news about Tibet, the Tibetan exile community, and the Tibetan
>government-in-exile for listeners in Tibet and in exile in neighboring
>countries.
>
>======================================================
>Supplement Three: Who¹s Who In China Currency Coalition
>
>
>Members of China Currency Coalition includes a variety range of business
>trade groups, think-thanks and labor unions, lists as follows:
>
>Business trade groups:
>American Iron and Steel Institute
>American Textile Machinery Association ­ ATMA
>Associated Industries of Massachusetts
>The Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports
>The Copper & Brass Fabricators Council, Inc.
>Metal Treating Institute
>Metals Service Center Institute
>National Council of Textile Organizations
>National Tooling and Machining Association
>Precision Metalforming Association
>Specialty Steel Industry of North America
>Spring Manufacturers Institute
>Steel Manufacturers Association
>Tooling & Manufacturing Association
>Vanadium Producers & Reclaimers Association
>Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America
>
>
>Corporations:
>EXEL Industrial
>
>
>Think-tanks:
>MADE in USA Coalition
>Manufacturers for Fair Trade
>Non-Ferrous Founders' Society
>Rescue American Jobs
>U.S. Business and Industry Council
>
>
>Organized labors:
>The AFL-CIO
>The Industrial Union Council (composed of Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco
>Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM))
>International Union of Electrical Workers/Communication Workers of America
>(IUE/CWA)
>International Association of Machinists (IAM)
>International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB)
>International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
>International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
>Graphics Communications International Union (GCIU)
>Paper Allied-Industrial Chemical & Energy Workers International Union 
>(PACE)
>Sheet Metal Workers International Association
>United Automobile Workers (UAW)
>United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
>United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)
>United Steelworkers of America (USWA)
>Union of Needletrades Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE)
>