« Sara bag made with knitPro by Sandra | Main | Hacking Machinima: "Read my lips!" the avatar said »
June 06, 2006
Dear Fair Trade Supporter
Yup, despite CAFTA only sliming through by a razor-thin 1-vote margin after a huge fight, the Bush administration is now gearing up to push OFTA-the Oman Free Trade Agreement-through Congress. The deal is word-for-word CAFTA, except where it's worse.
Experts are concerned already. Oman is listed by the U.S. State department for human trafficking. The OFTA would provide special access to U.S. markets for clothes made in sweatshops located in Oman-meaning more indentured workers will be trafficked from Bangladesh, China, and other countries to slave away in Omani sweatshops, and more jobs will be lost here at home. Plus, OFTA provides even more power than NAFTA or CAFTA for multinationals to attack our health and environmental laws.
The Oman FTA could be introduced for a vote at any time, but Congress, with elections just around the corner, does not want to have to vote on more bad trade deals, so we can stop Bush in his tracks if we flood Congress with calls right now!
Not sure who your member of Congress is? Find out here: http://action.citizen.org/getLocal.jsp
**********
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
Call his or her DC office and ask to speak to the person handling trade policy. Tell him or her that expanding NAFTA to Oman is a bad idea!
Gary Ackerman: (202) 225-2601
Timothy Bishop: (202) 225-3631
Joseph Crowley: (202) 225-3965
Brian Higgins: (202) 225-3306
Steve Israel: (202) 225-3906
Sue Kelly: (202) 225-5441
Nita Lowey: (202) 225-6506
Carolyn Maloney: (202) 225-7944
Carolyn McCarthy: (202) 225-5516
Micahel McNulty: (202) 225-5076
John McHugh: (202) 225-4611
Gregory Meeks: (202) 225-3461
Major Owens: (202) 225-6231
Charles Rangel: (202) 225-4365
Jose Serrano: (202) 225-4361
Edolphus Towns: (202) 225-5936
Anthony Weiner: (202) 225-6616
**********
New York is a critically important state, and Representatives Ackerman, Bishop, Crowley, Higgins, Israel, Kelly, Lowey, Maloney, McCarthy, McNulty, Meeks, Owens, Rangel, Serrano, Towns, and Weiner are still undecided, and need to hear from constituents today. You can use the talking points at the bottom of this email.
Posted by cat at 12:22 PM