Retirees Discuss Fair Trade

People in Central America, just like people here, are worried about secret “trade” deals that steal their jobs and lower their living standards. Sister Patricia Ridgley, a nun of the Order of St Mary’s, Local 848 retirees at the July 10 luncheon about what she had learned during her recent trip to El Salvador. She carried a big, inflatable, globe so that people could locate the tiniest country in the Americas.

Ridgley said that people in her delegation were shocked to see McDonald’s, KFC, Domino’s Pizza, and other signs of U.S. influence all over the main city, San Salvador. More surprises followed. When they met with members of a tiny parish in a suburb by a dirty river, they found many impoverished workers. But, among the hovels and potholes, they found bulldozers constructing a six-lane highway! “Apparently,” she said, “They are extending Hi-way 35 from here through Central America! Who is paying for this? Who is going to use it? We learned that the people of El Salvador are borrowing from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to build a highway that few of them will ever use. The highway won't help the working people, but they will be paying for it for years to come!”

She went on to relate a few Salvadoran success stories about poor people who had formed co-ops and established modestly successful farms and fisheries. But those people told Ridgley’s delegation that their enterprises would soon be ruined when the “Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)” goes into effect, because big corporations will take over the economy. The corporations will take the money, and the Salvadorans will sink into even more poverty and desperation. The “free trade” agreements such as CAFTA, NAFTA -- and the FTAA that is coming -- destroy jobs on both sides of every border. The poorest people are left with only two choices: leave home or die!

The good news came at the last of Sister Patricia’s presentation. She said that Central Americans are organizing against the secret “trade” deals such as FTAA, and that they are calling on us to join the fight. When her delegation of religious leaders returned to our country, Ridgley said, they started to get active in the fight against the FTAA. They will be joining in battle the UAW and millions of others around the world! Ridgley was glad to see the many anti-FTAA postcards that Local 848 members are signing.

The July 10 meeting also nominated retiree officers for a partial-term election, celebrated birthdays and anniversaries, and settled in, with Sister Patricia Ridgley, for a fine fried chicken luncheon.