Seattle Press on Line - How NAFTA Could Affect Our Schools

Teacher Ted

How NAFTA Could Affect Our Schools

By Ted Lockery

Mar 07, 2001 -- Teachers say it all the time: "We learn from our mistakes," and "failures are opportunities in disguise."

A great learning opportunity for teachers is the "failed lesson." The ideal is to catch it before the entire class is saying they don't get it, and to do a quick self-examination as to why they don't understand, instead of plowing ahead with the lesson plan.

Recently, I found myself in that familiar position, only this time it was with my union, the Seattle Education Association (SEA). The "lesson plan" involved convincing my colleagues in the union's Representative Assembly to adopt a resolution in opposition to a soon-to-be-negotiated trade agreement, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

No big deal. Seattle is home to the WTO protests. I'd just think globally and act locally. No sweat.

Well, as it turned out, I was thinking globally and acting locally (notice the pronoun), when the true goal of the lesson was for all of the union representatives to be thinking and acting in concert.

The learning opportunity revealed itself the moment it was voted to table the resolution "until we can find out more about the FTAA."

Simply put, the FTAA would be an extension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to include South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. It would, according to FTAA Negotiating Group's position papers, open up markets and services to transnational corporations, giving them and their investors the right to sue governments directly for their "fair share" of the pie--greater market access to goods and services or compensation for profits "unrealized" as a result of local, state, or federal regulation.

Such a treaty would prescribe the privatization of such public services as education, health care and utilities, where government subsidies could be construed as a "non-tariff barriers to trade."

Does this sound alarmist?

Add to that the fact that while trade representatives are meeting April 18-22 in Quebec City to begin hammering out the agreement, draft texts of the FTAA treaty have not been released to the public, and Congress is poised to grant the President fast-track authority on FTAA approval, limiting congressional debate and virtually silencing public discourse.

To be fair, it's no wonder that I felt under the gun to get the SEA to take a stand against the FTAA. And without public disclosure of the FTAA drafts, and without the media paying attention to the drastic implications of such a trade agreement, its not surprising that my union colleagues "didn't get it" when I presented with them my resolution. How can they be expected to take a stand on something they know nothing about?

Now I understand.

This month's homework assignment for SEA union representatives is to return to the next Representative Assembly prepared for debate, having done their research on the FTAA.

My homework assignment has just been turned in.

To find out more about the FTAA, visit: www.ufenet.org (United for a Fair Economy), www.stopftaa.org (Activism), and www.alca-ftaa.org (Official FTAA Website).

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