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Statement by UAW President Stephen P. Yokich On China PNTR Vote

24 May 2000

Statement by UAW President Stephen P. Yokich On China PNTR Vote

    DETROIT, May 24 The following is a statement by UAW
President Stephen P. Yokich:

    On behalf of the 1.3 million members of the UAW, I want to thank the 197
members of the U.S. House of Representatives who, under tremendous pressure
from the White House and the business community, stood with us in our fight
for human and workers' rights and for a new approach to trade -- one that
lifts working people up instead of pushing them down.
    Needless to say, we are deeply disappointed that a majority of House
members were on the other side in this critically important fight.
    As we have said throughout the debate on China trade policy, we believe
the China WTO deal and PNTR are not bold steps forward, but simply the
continuation of a severely flawed approach to trade that has produced a huge
and rapidly worsening trade deficit, American jobs lost, and the
unconscionable exploitation-for-profit of millions of workers in China and
other developing countries.
    But while we are disappointed by the outcome of today's vote, we are
encouraged that the debate on the China WTO deal and PNTR has focused long-
overdue attention on the Chinese government's brutal repression of labor
activists, democratic dissidents, and religious minorities -- and on the
impact of globalization on working people worldwide.
    President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Speaker Hastert, Congressman
Levin, and other proponents of PNTR for China claim that the China trade deal
will lead to a more free and open Chinese society and benefit American workers
as well.  We intend to hold them to their promises.
    In that spirit, the UAW calls on President Clinton to demonstrate his
commitment to human and workers' rights by demanding that the Chinese
government immediately free Wang Changhuai, Yue Tianxiang, Guo Xinmin, Guo
Qiqing, Zhang Jingsheng, Liu Jingsheng, Hu Shigen, Yao Guisheng, Wang Guoqi,
Peng Shi, and the thousands of other Chinese citizens who today are in prison
cells for the "crime" of trying to form free trade unions.