LATIN AMERICAN TRADE UNION STATEMENT ON
THE WTO NAMA NEGOTIATIONS
The below signatory trade unions have been following the WTO
negotiations, particularly the Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA)
negotiations. In previous statements to our governments and the trade
negotiators in Geneva, we expressed our support to the demand of the
Trade Unions of the NAMA 11 countries regarding the need to increase
developing countries’ “paragraph 8” flexibilities beyond the 5% and 10%
currently in brackets in the draft modalities. This demand is based on the
need to safeguard current and future employment in labor-intensive
sectors as well as the industrial development of our countries, which are
not protected by those percentages.
We are concerned that the current negotiation process continues to be
governed by the pressure exerted by the countries of the North on
developing countries, as reflected both in the recent communication
tabled by Canada, the European Community, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand,
Norway, Switzerland, and the United States (TN/MA/W/95) concerning the
revised draft modalities in NAMA, and in the latest communication tabled
by the European Union and the United States (TN/MA/W/96), which include
proposals to restrict the level of flexibilities that could be available to
developing countries.
We strongly reject the contents of these communications tabled by the
countries of the North, as they do nothing but disregard the serious
employment crisis prevalent in our countries, which is made evident by
growing levels of unemployment, casualization and informality, primarily
affecting women and youth. This situation, which has been caused, to a
large extent, by the policies derived from the Washington Consensus,
could be worsened by the industrial opening agreements made in NAMA,
and certainly further compounded by the social and labor impact of the
Free Trade Agreements already signed with the United States and other
similar agreements to be established with European Union and AsiaPacific countries in the near future.
Based on the aforesaid, we agree with the approach taken by our sister
organizations in the NAMA 11 countries, since we consider that their
diagnosis and proposals are consistent with the realities of our countries.
We therefore call upon our governments and trade negotiators at the WTO
to:

Ensure that developing countries can apply a tariff reduction that is
in line with their stage of development, in conformity with the
agreed principle of less than full reciprocity, and that should be
substantially lower than the cuts undertaken by developed
countries and the proposals for tariff cuts currently on the table.

Ensure that developing countries’ “paragraph 8” flexibilities, as
currently set out in the July 2004 framework, are expanded
substantially. The flexibilities should allow for both the exemption
of a percentage of tariff line cuts as well as lesser tariff cuts for a
number of tariff lines. Developing countries should not have to
choose between these two options.

These percentages should be increased to a percentage
considerably higher than the current levels (5% and 10%), and
criteria with regard to import value should be reduced. This would
help developing countries manage the adjustment of sensitive
sectors and prevent the social disruption caused by job losses and
closure of enterprises that would result from further liberalization.

These flexibilities should also allow for changes over time in the
tariff lines that will be selected to be covered by paragraph 8, so as
to respond to future industrial development needs.
Finally, we reaffirm that no proposals should be made in an attempt to
break developing country groupings as that of NAMA or any regional
integration groupings.
January 17, 2008
Signatories
Victor Báez Mosqueira
Secretario General de la
Organización Regional Interamericana de Trabajadores
CSI ORIT
Rodrigo Aguilar
Secretario General
Coordinadora Sindical de América Central y del Caribe
CSACC
Juan José Gorriti
Secretario General
Coordinadora de Centrales Sindicales Andina
CCSA
Adolfo Aguirre
Secretario de Relaciones Internacionales
Central de Trabajadores de Argentina
CTA ARGENTINA
Francisco Gutierrez
Secretario de Relaciones Internacionales
Unión Obrero Metalúrgica
UOM ARGENTINA
João Antônio Felício
Secretario de Relaçiones Internacionales
Central Única de Trabajadores
CUT BRASIL
Arturo Martínez Molina
Presidente
Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile
CUT CHILE
Carlos Rodríguez
Presidente
Central Unitaria de Trabajadores
CUT COLOMBIA
Rodrigo Aguilar
Presidente
Confederación de Trabajadores Rerum Novarum,
CTRN COSTA RICA
Israel Salinas
Secretario General
Confederación Única de Trabajadores de Honduras
CUTH HONDURAS
Salvador Medina
Subsecretario de Relaciones del Comité Nacional
Confederación de Trabajadores de México
CTM MEXICO
Roberto González
Secretario General
Central Sandinista de Trabajadores
CST NICARAGUA
Victor Torres
Secretario general
Convergencia Sindical
CS PANAMA
Juan José Gorriti
Secretario de Relaciones Internacionales
Confederación General de Trabajadores del Perú
CGTP PERU
Eugenio Pérez Cepeda
Presidente
Confederación Nacional de la Unidad Sindical
CNUS REPUBLICA DOMINICANA
Manuel Cova
Secretario General
Confederación Trabajadores de Venezuela
CTV Venezuela
Jorge Campos Miranda
Director Regional
FITIM
AMERICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE
Carlos Salguero
Representante Regional
ICM
AMERICA LATINA Y EL CARIBE