New York, NY – Earlier this week, Congress narrowly passed the job-killing trade agreement, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), by a vote of 217 to 215. This unfair trade deal will further spread the damage of its predecessor, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

“Congress had an opportunity to act on behalf of workers here in the United States and across Central America by stopping CAFTA,” said Bruce Raynor, General President of UNITE HERE. “Instead, Congress voted on the side of multinational corporations that want to sell off U.S. jobs to the lowest bidder while doing nothing to improve the lives of workers anywhere.”

“CAFTA supporters prevailed only by resorting to cheap tricks, including buying off lawmakers with pork projects and threatening others with cuts in funding for infrastructure projects. Many members of Congress who voted for CAFTA did so out of fear and threat of retribution, not because they believed this agreement was good for the U.S. or workers throughout the Americas.”

“I would like to thank those Representatives who were true leaders in this battle and voted against this job-killing trade deal,” Raynor said. “For those members of Congress who abandoned American workers by voting for CAFTA, we tell them that we will remember their votes come election time.”

UNITE HERE is committed to continue working with our allies in the fair-trade community to make trade work for working families in the US and all over the world.

UNITE HERE is an international union of nearly half a million active workers in the hotel & hospitality field, as was as the gaming, laundry, apparel and textile industries.