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December 5, 2011

Dear friend,

It has been an exciting and challenging year of transition for the Maine Fair Trade Campaign. MFTC is 61 coalition members strong: 61 Maine organizations are working together to change the rules of the economy so it benefits workers, the environment, and small farmers here in Maine and around the world.

Although we were greatly disappointed that the Obama Administration decided to push through three Bush-era trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama, our Congressional delegation refused to stay in lock step with their party leaders by casting multiple votes against the deals. Once again, we put Maine out in front in the fight for trade justice.

We know that the work we’ve done together at MFTC helped set the standard in fighting theses unfair NAFTA-style deals. In 2011, we:

• Worked closely with Congressman Mike Michaud and Congresswoman Chellie Pingree to build opposition in the Democratic caucus against the deals with Korea, Colombia and Panama.
• Helped persuade Senator Olympia Snowe and Senator Susan Collins to vote against some of the pending free trade agreements, making them the only two Republican senators to oppose any of the agreements.

We also fought hard in the Maine Legislature in the continuing struggle against corporate power and for a just economy at the local level. In Augusta in 2011, we:

• Advocated for the establishment of a state bank in an effort to keep Maine money invested in Maine communities, Maine businesses, and to provide a funding mechanism for innovative democratic economic development.

• Pushed back hard against the LePage Administration’s repeal of the Informed Growth Act which prevented its complete elimination and kept it on the books as an option for local communities.

We couldn’t have done this without your support. Thank you.

Can you make a donation to MFTC this year so we can continue this critical organizing?

2012 is going to be another hugely challenging year. Gov. Paul LePage will likely continue his attacks on the working people and less fortunate in our state. The Obama Administration is poised to move forward on a new Trans Pacific Free Trade Agreement that directly threatens Maine’s small farmers, and manufacturing facilities including New Balance Shoes. Corporations are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into maintaining the NAFTA status quo and lobbying for the passage of more unfair trade agreements.

The only way we can push back is by educating, organizing, and mobilizing people to advocate for a fair economy pressure our members of the Maine Legislature and the United States Congress to do the right thing.

As we have seen in recent months, people are fed up by the inequality in our economy. The 99% is our coalition and we have been bringing people together to build their power and amplify their voice for over seven years now.

MFTC offers a unique niche in the fight for social justice in Maine. We are a small organization with large goals and effective strategies. But we depend on your donations to keep us going.

Please help us win this fight by donating to MFTC today.

Please use the enclosed envelope to send a donation today. Your gift will ensure we continue to build a strong movement for fair trade and a just and sustainable economy.

In solidarity,

Stephan Donnell

President, Maine Fair Trade Campaign

P.S. Become one of our fair trade sustainers! You can give a little bit every month online at www.mainefairtrade.org. Thank you!

500 people rallied in Portland yesterday for immigration reform.

Kudos to our friends at PICA who made sure the message of trade made it into the news coverage in the Bangor Daily News.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/142488.html

“Activists from People in Community Alliances — a Bangor organization that advocates for human and worker rights — attended the march and rally. They said effective immigration reform needs to begin with a reassessment of trade policies such as NAFTA.

“I think the perspective for many people is that this topic of immigration seems to begin at the border. It begins with a crime and the only alternatives we have are to give amnesty or punish the crime,” said Chinoy, who is also a PICA volunteer. “That’s obviously not where the story of immigration begins. The same forces that are displacing U.S. jobs south are displacing Latino people northward and there’s a lot of desperation involved. You can’t really reasonably think that simply beefing up security at the border is going to put a finger in the dike of that kind of desperation.”

“Those same free trade arrangements have wiped out the ability of many people to make a living south of the border,” said Jonathan Falk of Carmel, the director of PICA. “People need to make a living, so they go where they have to go to work.” “

November 30- December 5, 1999 was the start of something big. That was the week when protesters shut down the World Trade Organization Meetings in Seattle, Washington. New alliances came together- workers, farmers, environmentalists, and faith leaders- to say NO to the WTO and YES to a new vision for a just and sustainable global economy.

This was a turning point in the fair trade movement. This year, being the 10th anniversary, Mainers gathered together to celebrate the Battle in Seattle and look ahead to continuing the fight.

We marked the anniversary with a rally and march in Bangor on the 30th. We paid a visit to Rep. Mike Michaud’s office to thank him for his leadership on fair trade, and continued to Senator Snowe’s office to ask her to co-sponsor the TRADE Act. Thanks to everyone who came out in the rain, it was a great event!

We held the first ever Annual Meeting of the Coalition at the Waterville UCC Church on Saturday the 5th. A local foods luncheon prepared by the worker-owned cooperative Local Sprouts, followed by speakers who were in Seattle and presentations of the Fair Trade Champion awards- given to Rep. Mike Michaud and Matt Schlobohm for their fair trade leadership.

We also held a number of film nights and delivered presentations around the state. Thank you to everyone who participated!

On Thursday, Nov. 5th a delegation of Maine Fair Traders went to D.C. to meet with Senator Snowe about The TRADE Act. Although we were disappointed she canceled on us, we did get to meet with her Legislative Director Ron Lefrancois, and had a good talk with him about why Maine needs the TRADE Act.

Stephan Donnell (USW 1188), Sandy Amborn (Sierra Club), Deb Kendall (USW 11, laid off worker) and myself for MFTC went to the meeting hoping Senator Snowe would be ready to sign-on, since we had basically heard as much from her staff last summer. She did not commit to being a sponsor, yet.

The TRADE Act is a bill written and sponsored by our own Mike Michaud in the House. It requires a review of existing trade agreements, lays out what must and must not be in future trade agreements, like enforceable labor and environmental standards, and calls for renegotiation of NAFTA, CAFTA, and the WTO if they don’t meet those standards. This is what we have been waiting for!

All in all it was a good day- we had to go to find out where things stood. We met with folks from Global Trade Watch, from Senator Sherrod Brown’s office, from Rep. Mike Michaud’s office, and said hello to Rep. Chellie Pingree’s staffer Cassie who handles trade. We got a lot more clarity on where the Senate version of the bill stood.

We will continue to fight for Snowe to be a co-sponsor of the TRADE Act!

I will post again soon with stories from Jay, that Deb Kendall told in the meeting about what has happened since the mill shut down (due to unfair trade policy).

Welcome to Maine’s leading source of fair trade news and discussion, the Maine Fair Trade Campaign Blog!