Several years ago my father lost his job. Raising a family in this day and age is extremely expensive, and even short-term unemployment has huge impacts and can be traumatic. As a result of the WTO agreements many jobs are being outsourced so that companies can save by paying lower wages internationally. This greatly impacts many jobs, including my dad’s. As companies can hire workers globally the need for workers has decreased. This made it increasingly hard for my father to find work. Although my father, thankfully, is currently working, he says the topic of jobs being outsourced is a weekly conversation at work. Even when jobs aren’t outsourced, specific parts of products are produced globally for cheaper prices. Unemployment and lower wages for American jobs are the beginning of a chain reaction. As unemployment and lower wages increase, people spend less, companies can’t sell products and the economy declines.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) focuses on trade and commerce issues around the world with the main objective of reducing tariffs and barriers to trade. The WTO holds huge enforcement power and can impose trade sanctions against any other countries that they perceive to have breached rules. The WTO membership includes over 151 countries and influences over 90 percent of international trade. Taking a closer look into the WTO though, can give insight to the negative effects, specifically on American working families. The WTO undermines democracy, disregards environmental issues, and further impoverishes the poor, while benefiting the rich. To ensure the economic health of America, the issues and problems of the WTO must be taken into account immediately.

            One of the largest defects of the WTO is the secrecy in which they run, and the way they shut the voices of Americans out of the process. “WTO lacks democratic accountability, in that its hearings on trade disputes are closed to the public and the media”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[1]<!--[endif]-->. In doing so, the WTO creates a system that can lead to corruption. Officials do not have to report back to the public until the agreement is already made. What goes on in the meetings is not transparent but rather concealed. The average working American has no voice. Although the U.S. negotiators consult with advisory committees that are not composed of government members, the flaw in this is that most advisory committees are made up of corporate lobbyists. “Labor unions and environmental groups have only token representation, while family farm, consumer, health, and other citizens groups are completely shut out”². Worker’s rights was placed on the agenda of the WTO but was wiped out, as it was said to be a trade barrier of low-income countries. The WTO claims almost anything benefiting the people to be a trade impediment, such as higher standards for health and food safety.  “The shift in power to a global-level bureaucracy undermines one of the cornerstones of democracy—the practice of citizens working with public officials to develop laws that protect the public welfare.”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[2]<!--[endif]--> The WTO keeps proving to the working family how big corporations benefit from the agreements made under the WTO while small business, farmers, and other workers are suffering from the effects.

            The few that benefit from the WTO trade agreements use statistics to show that the WTO is benefiting the working class. Statistics show that the “volume of food trade is up”³, but the problem with this is that both “farmers in rich and poor countries see their income decline, with many losing their farms and livelihoods while consumer food prices have not fallen.”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[3]<!--[endif]--> Unemployment has gone up, while many jobs have been lost, proving how the WTO has not been to the advantage of the working class. “U.S. export growth between 1994 and 2000 created an estimated 2.7 million jobs, but faster import growth eliminated 5.8 million, creating a net loss of three million jobs”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[4]<!--[endif]-->. And the jobs that the WTO did create were not high ranked jobs as promised. Instead manufacturing jobs have declined while service-sector jobs have significantly risen.  Wages meanwhile have dropped significantly.  Companies make more money by hiring professionals, such as doctors, engineers, and other high ranked jobs, internationally rather than within. They outsource these jobs, and can pay employers less in other countries for the same amount of work. This is not only a problem for those whose jobs have been outsourced to other countries but for people who still hold these jobs here. Unions have lost their bargaining power dramatically. With the larger global supply of workers companies can easily fire and exploit American workers. This makes workers and workers unions lose power. Meanwhile the U.S. “trade deficit went from $97 billion in 1994 to $436 billion in 2002”⁴ which “continues to limit economic growth at home”⁴. All of this is changing the income inequality in America for the worse. “The globalization era of the 1990s has brought greater inequality, with the bottom fifth stagnating while the top fifth continued to increase its share of total income. While median family income increased by approximately 0.5% a year through the 1990s, U.S. corporate profits were up 88% and corporate CEO pay rose by 463%”⁴. The WTO further impoverishes the poor, empowers the rich, and is leading to the downfall of American working class.

            Under the WTO the NAFTA and CAFTA agreements have been made. NAFTA was an agreement to eliminate tariff barriers on agricultural trade and investments between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. CAFTA was an agreement incorporating Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rich, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Passing the CAFTA agreement raised much controversy in congress, and it passed by only one vote in the House of Representatives.  The provisions of the NAFTA and CAFTA “grant foreign investors a remarkable set of new rights and privileges that promote relocation abroad of factories and jobs and the privatization and deregulation of essential services”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[5]<!--[endif]-->. As companies relocate to other countries, where they can pay employees lower wages, Americans begin to lose not only their jobs, but their ability to bargain with their employer as well. The average American is suffering. “Farm income has declined, and consumer prices have risen while some agribusinesses -- which lobbied hard for NAFTA and now are avidly promoting its expansion -- have seen record profits.”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[6]<!--[endif]--> The farmer in the U.S. has to adhere to paying workers certain wages, adhere to certain health regulations and adhere to the use of only certain types of pesticides. Since a farmer, for example in Mexico, would not have to adhere to these restrictions, it makes it harder for a U.S. farmer to compete. While exports have increased, the imports have increased even more. This gives America an overall net loss. Farmers are not the only ones losing jobs though, many other jobs are being taken away by the NAFTA and CAFTA agreement, and the replacement for these jobs are low end jobs. “The Department of Labor has certified that well over half a million U.S. workers lost their jobs due to NAFTA, and the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI) estimates the skyrocketing NAFTA trade deficit contributed to the loss of more than 1 million jobs and job opportunities”<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->[7]<!--[endif]-->. The lost jobs have been replaced with lower wages and less skilled jobs. “AFL-CIO Policy Director Thea Lee noted that “rather than encouraging sustainable and equitable growth, NAFTA has contributed to the loss of jobs and incomes of workers, while enriching the very few.”⁷ To ensure a better future for America working families the NAFTA and CAFTA agreements must be reconsidered.

            In order to ensure the stability of our nation, make certain that the gap between the rich and poor will not widen, and guarantee the safety of American jobs, measures must be taken. The United States should take key action in order to ensure that the WTO benefits everyone. In order for this to happen the WTO needs to be more transparent, in that it releases documents faster to the public, the meetings are not held in secrecy, and nongovernmental groups should be able to observe the WTO meetings. By doing so it will ensure that corruption does not take place, and restore faith. Furthermore, the WTO needs to respect workers around the nation. Small business, and farms need to be protected as well. Wages, and high standards that are employed by American workers, should be employed by workers elsewhere. If agriculture comes from different countries such as Mexico, the agricultural standards used to grow it here should be the same there to ensure fair competition and safety. There needs to be laws set, to protect jobs here from being outsourced, and ensure that unions and workers receive the same benefits and bargaining rights as previously. New rules and procedures that protect the American working people, and our way of life need to be put at the top of the agenda, to ensure the safety and security of our grand nation.