DISPATCHES
Corporate Shell Game
Opponents of plans to expand corporate power were celebrating the apparent
impasse in negotiations on the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI)
in Paris, only to see elements of the investment liberalization proposal
crop up in other bills and trade accords.
MAI, a project of the secretive Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, suffered a blow in March when the European Parliament urged
its member nations to oppose the pact, which was supposed to be unveiled
at the end of April.
But the House passed a bill on sub-Saharan Africa trade (HR 1432) which
has some elements of MAI in it, according to free trade critics. Senate
action is expected to gear up in May.
There also is an effort to extend the reach of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) from trade to investment. The Senate's supplemental appropriations
bill for emergency disaster relief included language that would support
the IMF's attempt to obligate its 180 member countries to remove all barriers
to international capital flows. This would preclude any country from protecting
its economy by taking measures against speculative capital. "What's
more," said Brent Blackwelder, chairman of the Citizens Trade Campaign,
"it would take important national decision-making authority out of
the hands of elected officials and hand it to the unelected international
bureaucrats at the IMF."
Rep. Ron Klink (D-PA) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL, chair of Subcommittee
on International Economic Policy and Trade) have proposed an amendment that
would condition IMF funding on the U.S. Treasury's certification that it
vote against any change in the IMF's charter in favor of capital account
liberalization. The U.S. has effective veto power of IMF action.
There is also some concern that if the OECD fails to complete the MAI, the
World Trade Organization may adopt similar multilateral investment rules
for WTO members. If adopted, investment rules would automatically bind its
132 industrialized and underdeveloped member-nations.
Oakland OKs Living Wage
Passage of an ordinance in Oakland, Calif., requiring companies doing business
with the city to pay a "living wage'' has organizers figuring out where
to take their campaign next, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The Oakland City Council voted unanimously March 24 to adopt the Jobs and
Living Wage Ordinance -- a mandate that businesses receiving service contracts
or subsidies from the city pay their workers at least $8 an hour with benefits,
or $9.25 without. Oakland became the 17th city nationwide to enact such
a law.
Organizers of the campaign -- a coalition of labor and community groups
and churches -- say the idea is sure to spread. Organizers are discussing
initiatives in San Francisco, San Jose, Berkeley, Fremont and Hayward.
"Every time one of these passes, the buzz moves across the country
and it becomes an inspiration to other cities,'' the Chronicle quoted
Jen Kern, a spokeswoman with the national office of the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now, which spearheaded the movement.
Oakland's ordinance is considered one of the strongest in the nation. It
requires companies doing more than $25,000 a year in business with the city
or receiving more than $100,000 in subsidies to pay workers substantially
above the state minimum wage of $5.75 an hour. It is expected to benefit
as many as 400 workers.
Businesses with fewer than five employees and nonprofit organizations are
exempt. The requirement also does not apply to businesses in the private
sector.
Indy Politics Summit Set
National Independent Politics Summit/98 is set for the weekend of June 12-14
at Laney Community College in Oakland, Calif. "We must build, from
the bottom up and over a protracted period of time, an alternative to both
the Republicans and the Democrats," said Ted Glick, national coordinator
of the Independent Progressive Politics Network.
For more information call the IPPN, P.O. Box 170610, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217;
phone 718-624-7807; email ippn@people-link.com; website www.ippn.org.
Graduates Pledge Responsbility
In 1987, Humboldt State University in California initiated the Pledge of
Social and Environmental Responsibility for its graduates. The pledge states:
"I pledge to investigate and take into account the social and environmental
consequences of any job opportunity I consider." Since that time, dozens
of colleges and universities have enacted that pledge, which allows students
to define what "responsible" means to them.
Manchester College in Indiana now coordinates the effort, which has taken
different forms at different institutions. At Manchester, it is a community-wide
event coordinated by a diverse committee. For more information write GPA,
MC Box 135, Manchester College, North Manchester, IN 46962; email Neil Wollman
at NJW@Manchester.edu; or see the website at www.manchester.edu.
Slander Suit Slaps Prof
ACornell University labor professor has been named in a lawsuit claiming
that she defamed the nation's largest nursing home company. Beverly Enterprises
Inc., which operates more than 700 nursing homes, said Professor Kate Bronfenbrenner
defamed it last year when she said at a town meeting in Pittsburgh that
her research on anti-union tactics showed Beverly was "one of the nation's
most notorious labor-law violators." In addition to $225,000 in damages
sought, Beverly demands, in the pretrial discovery process, that Bronfenbrenner
turn over details of more than a decade of research, including confidential
interviews with union organizers and workers. More than 500 professors from
around the country have rallied to her side in defense of academic freedom
and free speech.
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