APRIL 13th is the NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY
TO STOP CAFTA

Join STITCH and thousands of people around the U.S. and Central America who are calling for trade agreements that recognize the rights of workers, women and the poor and reject profits over people. Take action and call your members of Congress to encourage them to vote against CAFTA. Below these short overviews are a number of steps you can take to stop this bad agreement.

What is CAFTA?
CAFTA is a "free" trade agreement that includes the United States, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. This trade agreement was modeled after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has been a disaster for small farmers and working people in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Hundreds of thousands of jobs lost, family farms foreclosed, and public interest laws overturned or challenged in secret NAFTA courts. Most experts agree that CAFTA will have much of the same, if not worse, impacts on the United States and Central American countries. [i]


How are Workers Impacted?
Currently, thousands of workers in Central America face harassment, discrimination and violence when they try to organize for better lives. CAFTA does not recognize basic international labor standards that have been agreed upon by the majority of the world. CAFTA is pushing a model that will allow each country to “enforce their own laws” even though the majority of labor laws in Central America are inadequate. In just one example in Honduras, companies that fire workers for organizing unions can be fined as little as $12. [ii] CAFTA will also take away one of the major procedures that allow international worker’s rights groups to pressure Central America governments. These international challenges have led to some of the only improvements in labor laws in the last ten years.

How are Women Impacted?
CAFTA will negatively impact the agriculture sector in Central America, which will drive thousands of people, many of the women, to the cities to find work. The majority of work available for women will be in maquilas or sweatshops producing clothing and other goods for export. Work in the maquila factory is often dangerous where women are exposed to chemicals, harassed physically and sexually by managers and where there is little training and safety equipment. Women workers will also have to contend with working long hours on unpredictable schedules which makes it nearly impossible for them to find adequate child care. And after all of this, the salaries of these women earn will not be enough to provide food, basic clothing, and a home for the average family. And these low wages not only impact women in Central America, they will impact workers in the United States. Companies eager to increase the profits of their shareholders will find it easier under CAFTA to move jobs to Central America where they will pay poverty wages. Workers in the United States will suffer as they are forced to find low-paying, un-unionized jobs as corporations like Wal-Mart.


Take action to help stop CAFTA. Call your elected officials in the House of Representatives and Senate on April 13, 2005.

Step 1. Find Out Who Represents You.

In the U.S., you are represented by 3 elected officials (unless you live in the District of Columbia): 1 Member of the House of Representatives and 2 U.S. Senators.

To find out who they are, go to the House of Representatives website at http://www.house.gov and enter your zip code. Next go to the Senate website at http://www.senate.gov and enter in your state. Both the websites can give you the contact phone numbers to call.

If you don’t have access to the internet, go to the blue section of your phone book and their contact information will be listed.

Step 2. Make those phone calls!
Although it may seem like a lot of time to make 3 phone calls, it will really make a difference for women throughout the region!

Sample Script:

My name is ____________ and I live in your district/state. I am very concerned about protecting the rights of workers, especially women, both in the United States and Central America. I think that CAFTA will harm workers in both places and I want to urge the Representative to vote against it. Please send me information on her/his stance on this important treaty. My address is_______________

Thank you for your time.

Step 3. Spread the word!

Let others know about the national day of action on April 13th! Encourage your friends, family, fellow unionists, co-workers, etc. to call and oppose CAFTA. The passage of this trade agreement is far from certain and the more phone calls we can generate the more likely Members of Congress and Senators will be to vote against this dangerous trade agreement!

Step 4. Let STITCH know what action you took.

STITCH will report your actions to our allies to let them know that women in the United States are standing with them in our struggle for fair trade and workers rights for everyone. You can email STITCH at stitch@stitchonline.org



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[i][i] Stop CAFTA Website, www.stopcafta.org

[ii][ii] AFL-CIO, “The Real Record on Worker’s Rights in Central America” http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/globaleconomy/upload/CAFTABook.pdf

Other Sites to go to for more information:
AFL-CIO
Stop CAFTA Coalition
International Gender and Trade Network