Kent Wong is director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, where he teaches Labor Studies and Asian American Studies. He previously was staff attorney for the Service Employees International Union in Los Angeles. Kent has also served as national president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, and the United Association for Labor Education.
The AFL-CIO and China
[keywords: union organizing, collective bargaining, AFL-CIO, WTO, U.S. jobs, All-China Federation of Unions]
In Spring 2005, the International Association of Machinists published a special journal entitled “China Dolls” with a full-page cover photo of Chinese women fashion models. Not only is the term “China Dolls” racially and sexually offensive, but the journal reflected a continuation of the anti-China policies of many American unions. The journal even quoted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the growing military threat posed by China, embracing the right-wing analysis of the Bush Administration.
For decades, the AFL-CIO has been a leading anti-China force within the United States. In the year 2000, the AFL-CIO launched an extensive national campaign to oppose Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China, and also sought to block China’s entry into the World Trade Organization. Both campaigns failed. In 2003, the AFL-CIO joined with the National Association of Manufacturers, a major antiunion corporate alliance, to demand that China revalue its currency, alleging that the undervalued Chinese Yuan is a having negative impact on U.S. trade. In 2004, the AFL-CIO requested that the Bush administration apply trade sanctions against China under section 301(d) of the Trade Act, charging that China was responsible for the loss of 727,000 U.S. jobs. The request was denied.