Reply #5: Dean: pro-FAIR trade; Bush/Clinton: pro-FREE trade

[w4rma]

Free trade must equal fair trade. We are subsidizing the sometimes awful environmental practices of our trading partners, and we are subsidizing the profits of multinational corporations by not having international labor standards. If free trade allows General Motors to set up a plant in Mexico, free trade should allow the UAW to organize that plant under conditions similar to those in the US. This isn't wage parity; I am asking for shared ground rules.

Source: Campaign web site, DeanForAmerica.com, "On the Issues" Nov 30, 2002
http://www.issues2000.org/2004/Howard_Dean_Free_Trade.htm

How would paying a minimum wage for folks in other countries (when folks here in America make 10 times the minimum wage in America) help anything? An international minimum wage just means that mega corps have to pay IT professionals $6/hour, which still doesn't give an incentive to keep the jobs in America.