U.S. labor petition targets China
(CNN) -- The largest U.S. labor organization is stepping up the battle over the outsourcing of American jobs to lower-wage nations such as China and India.
The AFL-CIO has called on the Bush administration to take "immediate action" to impose trade remedies against China, claiming the repression of workers' rights gives China an unfair trade advantage.
It says that if China did not violate workers' rights, the price of Chinese manufactured goods would rise by 12 to 77 percent.
It wants sanctions or tariffs on Chinese goods, and an agreement that links trade sanction relief with progress on workers' rights.
The AFL-CIO and the Industrial Union Council -- made up of 14 industrial unions -- filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative on Tuesday arguing for an investigation into China's labor practices, which it says has led to the loss of more than 727,000 U.S. jobs.
It also wants a freeze on any new trade agreements by the United States related to the World Trade Organization until the global group requires its members, including China, to abide by what it terms "basic international labor rights."
Outsourcing -- the relocation of jobs offshore -- has become a key issue in the leadup to the U.S. presidential election later this year, with Democratic candidate John Kerry promising to "crack down on the export of American jobs."
Already some U.S. state legislators have sponsored bills that would require the use only of contractors who perform their work within the United States.
Although China is a prime target because of the massive trade surplus it runs with the United States -- $124 billion last year -- India has also been in the firing line through its success as a low-cost "back office" processor for many large information technology (IT) companies.
The Bush administration has 45 days to decide whether to accept the AFL-CIO petition, according to a statement by the labor organization.
If it accepts the petition, it has 60 days to hold a hearing and one year to decide what action to take.
If the White House rejects the petition, according to Mark Barenberg, a Columbia University law professor who prepared the petition, it must find that China either does not repress workers' rights or that the repression does not adversely affect the U.S. economy.
'Chief violator'
In a statement on its Web site Tuesday, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka characterized China as a "chief violator of workers' rights."
"It's workforce is so large and its labor repression so comprehensive that it is dragging down standards for the entire world," Trumka said.
Friction over China-U.S. trade has been a political issue for some time, but it has been exacerbated by the huge trade imbalance in 2003 and a perception in the United States that China's fixed exchange rate regime keeps the value of its currency too low, giving it a further competitive advantage.
During a visit to the United States in December last year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told U.S. President George W. Bush that China was ready to settle disputes through high-level dialogue. (Full story)
In an address to the U.S.-China Business Council in Washington, Wen said China's economy would quadruple its 2000 size to exceed $4 trillion by 2020.
He said this would open up a "vast vista" for U.S. companies and investors looking at the China market.
Wen said opening up a country's economy was so much better than closing it.
But he said market opening was a two-way street. While China opened its market "ever wider," he hoped the United States would do the same, including in sectors such as high-tech industries.
Wen urged both sides to "keep cool and be sensible."
"We are friends, not adversaries," he said.
