Local union official says Obama should keep campaign pledge to fix NAFTA

[Joanne98]

Matthew K. Beaver praised President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, but there was one crucial part missing for the local union official.

The leader of the Free World never mentioned restructuring the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The then Illinois Democrat campaigned in 2008 that he would modify NAFTA, which many blame for costing thousands of Michigan jobs and hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs. But Obama, a free trade advocate, made no mention of it in his prime-time address Wednesday to the nation and Congress.

“He promised that, and it needs to change,” said Beaver, vice president of United Auto Workers Local 699, which represents about 2,000 hourly workers at Nexteer in Buena Vista Township.

“We’re not going to have an economy if we don’t have good paying jobs,” he said. “You can talk the talk, but you need to walk the walk.”

Beaver said he has the same concern about “unfair trade” with China, which he said sends over huge ocean cargo freighters that dump Chinese-made products on U.S. shores and leave empty.

“Without manufacturing,” he said, “you’re not going to have an economy. We’re going to be a Third World nation.”

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http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2010/01/he_promised_that_local_union_o.html

[lib2DaBone]

1. Fix NAFTA and repeal tax breaks for offshoring...Should have been done a year ago..

[yourout]

2. +1....Manufacturing has taken major damage due to NAFTA, CAFTA, GATT.

You will get some drivel from the free trade freaks around here about the global economy when all that will come out of these crap agreements is the lowering of our living standards and the whole sale polluting of third world country's.

[Rapanui1]

3. In his SOU speech Barrack OBush promised more of the same unfair trade

In his SOU speech Barrack OBush promised more of the same unfair trade. Clinton created the NAFTA/CAFTA perhaps Obama will create IAFTA to kill off the remaining good paying jobs. Remember for every good paying job that we outsource we create two minimum wage jobs.

[endless october]

4. stop outsourcing.

bring back manufacturing. if that means protectionism, it means protectionism. this has become a national security issue. our middle class is important to our national future.