Labor & Employment Law

Call-In Day, July 13: Tell Congress to Pass Currency Legislation

By James Parks

Now that the Treasury Department once again has refused to label China as a currency manipulator, it is more important than ever for Congress to pass strong legislation quickly to stop the unfair and illegal advantage against U.S. producers that China and other nations gain by undervaluing their currency.

On July 13, tens of thousands of manufacturers across the country?members of the Fair Currency Coalition and the Coalition for a Prosperous America?will join with union members and citizen trade groups in a National Currency Call-In Day to ratchet up the pressure on the Obama administration and Congress to hold currency manipulators accountable.

A bipartisan group of senators is considering attaching S. 3134, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2010, to legislation that may pass at anytime. Introduced by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the legislation would give our government the tools it needs to address currency manipulation.

Tomorrow, call your senators and representatives at 202-224-3121 and tell them to support legislation to reign in currency manipulators or visit www.metalworkingadvocate.org/action to act now.

China and other countries routinely undervalue their currency to create a trading advantage. Their actions have robbed U.S. workers of jobs and undermined the nation’s manufacturing productive capacity and innovation. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who co-chairs the Fair Currency Coalition, has said it is time to enforce our trade laws and look out for the interest of American workers and their communities

Last month before the G-20 summit, China announced it would allow its currency?s value to increase, a move former Labor Secretary Robert Reich called hokum. The University of California, Berkeley, professor further warned that China

isn?t really changing anything. It?s only doing the minimum to prevent Congress from listing China as a currency manipulator, leading to a squeeze on Chinese imports.

 Call your member of Congress on July 13 and stop currency manipulation.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 12, 2010 (boomark / email).