U.S. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations – was one of only two members of Congress to join the AFL-CIO in its filing of a Section 301 petition with the United States Trade Representative (USTR) supporting worker’s rights in China. 

    “I am proud to join the AFL-CIO with this comprehensive petition; workers in China have no rights and no collective bargaining, and they are not afforded a living wage. In the years since the massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989 the noose has tightened, not loosened, in the area of workers rights,” stated Smith.

    The AFL-CIO petition calls for immediate action to aid workers in China, some of who make as little as 15 cents per hour, and charges that the Chinese government denies workers’ basic rights. 

    “We must support international trade with principle. Chinese workers are being exploited in the cruelest of factions and the wave of repression has increased, not decreased. This hurts not only workers in China but it disadvantages workers in the U.S. who cannot compete with these unfair labor practices.”

    Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 (as amended) gives the President of the United States the ability to impose trade sanctions against countries that obstruct U.S. commerce by violating trade agreements or engaging in “unreasonable trade practices.” Unreasonable trade practices are defined as a country’s failure to enforce “internationally recognized worker rights.” Such rights include:

• Workers’ freedom of association
• Rights of organizing and collective bargaining
• Freedom from forced or compulsory labor
• Freedom from child labor
• Standards of minimum wage, maximum hours, and occupational safety and health

“I have respect for governments that respect its own people,” concluded Smith.