The Failure of the North American Free Trade Agreement
In December of 1992, Presidents Salinas (Mexico), Bush (U.S.) and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Mexican legislature ratified NAFTA in 1993 and the treaty went into effect on January 1, 1994, creating the largest free-trade zone in the world.
NAFTA's promoters promised 200,000 new jobs per year for the U.S., higher wages in Mexico and a growing U.S. trade surplus with Mexico, environmental clean-up and improved health along the border. The reality of the post-NAFTA surge in imports from Mexico has resulted in an $14.7 billion trade deficit with Mexico for 1998. By adding the Mexican trade deficit to the deficit with Canada, the overall U.S. NAFTA trade deficit for the year 1998 is $33.2 billion dollars. In the last five years we have gone from a pre-NAFTA trade surplus of $4.6 billion with Mexico to a $14.7 billion deficit. Using the Department of Commerce trade data in the formula used by NAFTA proponents to predict job gains, the real accumulated NAFTA trade deficit would translate into over four hundred thousand U.S. jobs lost.
A number of companies that specifically promised to create new jobs actually laid workers off because of the agreement. Allied Signal, General Electric, Mattel, Proctor and Gamble, Scott Paper and Zenith all made specific promises to create jobs, and all have laid workers off because of NAFTA as certified by the U.S. Department of Labor?s special NAFTA unemployment assistance program (NAFTA TAA). (1) These are not the only companies who broke their promise of new jobs. In February 1997, Public Citizen?s Global Trade Watch conducted an investigation ...
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...ises. Public Citizen Publication, p.10
2. International Trade Commission, Production Sharing : The Use of U.S. Components and Materials in Foreign Assembly Operations, April 1997.
3. Louis Uchitelle, ?The Economy Grows. The Smokestacks Shrink,? New York Times, 11/29/98
4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Division of Foreign Labor Statics, ?Comparative Hourly Compensation Cost for Production Workers in Manufacturing Industries, Selected Countries: 1997.)
5. Bronfenbrenner, Kate. Final Report : The Effects of Plant Closing or Threat of Plant Closing on the Right of Workers to Organize, Submitted to the North American Commission for Labor Cooperation, September 30, 1996.
6. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, ?US Agricultural Consumption Imports,? January 1993 to December 1997.
7. ? New Dangers Make Way to US Tables?, Boston Globe, September 20, 1998.
The case study of GMFC provides an example of a company attempting to avoid unionization of its workers. GMFC is expanding by building a new U.S. plant which will manufacture motorized recreational equipment. The company plans to hire about 500 production workers to assemble mechanical components, fabricate fiberglass body parts, and assemble the final products. In order to avoid the expected union campaign by the United Automobile Workers (UAW) to organize its workers, GMFC must implement specific strategies to keep the new plant union-free. GMFC’s planning committee offers suggestions with regards to the plant’s size, location, staffing, wages and benefits, and other employee relations issues in order to defend the company against the negative effects of unionization and increase...
United States Department of Labor. "U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division - U.S. Department of Labor-General Information on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)." U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division -
Employees had to endure poor pay and unsafe working conditions. As described by Raynor (2009), the company J.P. Stevens paid poverty wages and provided deplorable working conditions in the mills; workers lost fingers, had to inhale cotton dust, and some lost hearing because of the constant drone of the deafening machines. Norma Rae knew that she, her family, and her coworkers deserved more out of their employer for the work they were doing (Raynor, 2009). As Fossum (2012) points out, “employees are more likely to unionize as job dissatisfaction increases” (p. 9). This becomes the case in the movie; dissatisfaction continues to grow, and with some leadership, the union finally gets voted in. The miserable working conditions, and leadership, were clearly portrayed in the movie. One worker said at point he had a window at his station but it was sealed off to have that feeling of being closed in. The biggest concern/example seemed to happen when Norma Rae’s father was having problems feeling his arm but was told by the floor supervisor to continue working; he subsequently passed out and died. An important part to remember about union representation is that “dissatisfaction alone does not automatically mean a union organizining campaign will result or a representation election will be won” (Fossum, 2012, p. 10). As
This was not my first time viewing Dial ‘M’ for Murder. This is another Classic film that I viewed in my high school English class and enjoyed it very much. Dial ‘M’ for Murder’s main plot was placed in London, where the wealthy Margot Mary Wendice, played by Grace Kelly, had a brief love affair with the American writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings) one year before the present plot while her husband and professional tennis player Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) was traveling in a tennis tournament. Tony quits playing tennis to dedicate his life to his wife and finds a regular job after he found out about the affair. He then blackmails an old college buddy into murdering his wife, when things go south.
Since the implication of free trade between the three countries of North America back in 1994 the effects of that agreement are just now becoming apparent, both short term and long term. There was little doubt as to how both Canada and most definitely Mexico would benefit from Nafta. What was yet to be seen was the impact it had on previous concerns of the United States.(Contesting Globalization) Most economists and even ordinary citizens could understand Canada and Mexico’s enthusiasm when free trade, destroying tariffs, was proposed. After all, the United States has long been the major consumer of exported goods in both countries. No longer having to pay taxes on goods imported into the United States meant larger sales and more profits for all Canadian and Mexican businesses. These profits were foreseen as perpetual economic boosts in their respective country. These boosts created opportunities for more workers to be hired, lowering unemployment and helping to improve the quality of life of citizens in both countries.
Since before NAFTA was even created, discussions about trade agreements among North, Central, and South America were on the table. The United States would like to pull them together to form a super trading enterprise call the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA). It would fall somewhere between a regular free trade agreement and the European Union. Negotiations are slow, but many remain hopeful that it can be accomplished.
...and analyst that will work the RFI is put in direct liaison with the requester to coordinate the parameters and focus of the analysis. At completion, the RFI is reviewed by the senior analyst or ROC chief and transmitted to the RM&D for format quality control and formal release to the serviced unit.
Formative Assessment – Card 2 – informal observation; Cards 3, 4 – informal observation, asking questions, conducting discussions; Card 5 – asking questions
In order for teachers to use formative assessment effectively there must be these components: it must be incorporated into each lesson, must have student involvement, must collect information on student performance to determine if outcomes are meet, must give the teacher feedback to help shape and guide student learning, and must give the student feedback to help them reflect upon their learning. Anecdotal Records, Quizzes, Portfolios, and Student-Led Conferences all meet the components of an effective formative assessment and are applicable within a Social Studies classroom.
Although people in favor of same-sex marriage will make the argument that they want to be granted the legal right to same-sex marriage because they want to be in caring, stable relationships, and they want to start a family with someone. I think their argument can be considered to be a flaw for the simple reason that they are not able to come up with convincing reasons as how same-sex marriage will not just be for their benefit, but it impact on children and marriage in the society as a whole. If legal rights to same-sex marriage is granted to gays and lesbians it would weaken the traditional family values. Marriage is considered as the building blocks of our society and the traditional marriage of man, woman, and children is what make our society strong and keeps it going. For the fact that marriage is an institution that all the States inherited rather than created, the states should therefore not create new or different laws for an institution that predates even before the creation of Americ...
The purpose of formative assessment is to monitor where students are in their learning, what they need to learn next and which teaching strategies in future (Hodgson, 2010). Formative assessment takes place over a period of time and occurs while students are learning (Raban, 2010). There are many types of formative assessment that can be used, questioning, observation, checklists, brainstorming and card sorting (DET, n.d.). Questioning and observation were formative assessment strategies used throughout the explore and explain lessons. Questioning is an important strategy in eliciting students understanding of a topic, it is also a valuable tool that can be used to provide guidance, feedback and if higher order questions are used engage and motivate students (Overall & Sangster, 2006). It allows the teacher to provide feedback that is timely, individual, and effective which will lead to improved learning and performance (DET, n.d.). Observation is an important assessment strategy as it allows teachers to assess a diverse range of evidence (Maxwell, 2001). Observation also has the advantage of being able to assess students while they are naturally engaged in the learning, it is not external to or separate to the learning (Maxwell,
Bakula, N. (2010). The Benefits of Formative Assessments for tteaching and Learning. Science Scope , 37-43.
As of today 14 out of 50 states allow same sex marriage, all other 36 states have banned same sex marriage or doesn’t have any laws against it or for it. For years same sex couples have fought for their right to be able to get marry, and for years they have been shut down due to many reasons: religion, traditions, it’s abnormal, it’s not natural, it defeats the concept of marriage, children needs both a male and female role model in their life to be successful and many more.
While there exists a myriad of teaching strategies, approaches and assessment, the most crucial feature of good assessment is that it is student centered. Additionally I will show that feedback in assessment is the primary means for making assessment student-centered and most effective.
The role of the student in formative assessment is twofold ‒ they can be a resource to other students and they can be involved as assessors of their own learning. The concept of student self-assessment is supported by credible research and near unanimous support from the educational community (Stiggins & Chappuis 2005). However, assessment is still largely considered a teacher-centred task done for and by teachers. For example, the commonly cited purpose of formative assessment is to provide information about student learning that guides teachers in adjusting instruction. Although an important function, this simplistic rendition of formative assessment does not take into account the powerful and equally valuable