NAFTA
Despite sustained opposition by environmental groups, human rights advocates, and labor unions, the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed August 12, 1992. Its stated goals were to reduce tariffs and trade barriers between the US, Canada, and Mexico. Unions feared losing jobs to Mexico, declining collective bargaining power, and lower wages for workers in the manufacturing jobs that would remain in the US. Some pointed out that wages and working conditions in Mexico and Central America would also drop in order to cultivate the transfer of American manufacturing jobs.
Members of the ILGWU felt that the press was not even-handed in their investigation and reporting on the issues. 6000-024p
ACTWU members pointed out that American jobs would be lost, sweatshop conditions could return, and Mexican workers would also suffer under NAFTA. 6200p
An unidentified speaker points to copies of two ads touting the superior work ethic of of Salvadoran employees including quality, industriousness, and reliability. The 1990 version indicates that they would do this valuable work for 57 cents per hour, and in 1991 their advertised wages had dropped to 33 cents per hour. 6000p