Protesters in San Francisco say border walls, trade deals reduce economic, social justice
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)— A group of people protested economic and social injustice in the U.S. and abroad with signs outside the Federal Building in San Francisco this morning.
Calling themselves the Alliance for Social and Economic Justice, members who are also part of other groups such as the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition came together outside of the building at 90 Seventh St.
Representatives argued that trade and immigration policies are behind income inequality and a lack of wage growth in the U.S. and Mexico.
"It's not that they can't be paying workers more in Mexico," San Francisco Living Wage Coalition campaign co-director Karl Kramer said.
One Michigan automaker moved a plant from Flint, Michigan, to Mexico so it could make a greater profit, Kramer said.
"We believe that NAFTA is a failure," San Francisco Labor Council delegate Rodger Scott said of the North American Free Trade Agreement signed by the U.S., Mexico and Canada that went into effect in 1994. "We think the TPP would make things worse."
The TPP, or Trans-Pacific Partnership, is a proposed trade deal with some Asian, Latin American and South American countries that proponents say will increase American exports. However, the protesters today said it will lower wages for American and foreign workers.
The protest comes after about 25 people with the alliance traveled to Nogales, Arizona, earlier this month to see the border wall and participate in a gathering with about 430 others who claim that the U.S. is militarizing its southern border with Mexico.
The U.S. is planning to build 15 more towers along the border, for example, San Francisco Living Wage Coalition member David Frias Jr. said.
The aim of that policy is to keep people seeking asylum in the U.S. from doing so. The military-style border is creating violence, furthering social injustice, the group said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A few days following the gathering at Nogales, some protesters traveled to Mexico to meet with factory workers from several companies and found that firms are firing workers who try to organize into unions.
Kramer said one company fired 76 workers for forming a union and another firm fired 100 workers and then blacklisted them.
Alliance members also claim that the government is not protecting workers' rights. Kramer said the top concerns of Mexican factory workers are low wages, supervisor abuse, sexual harassment and safety.
He said managers at Mexican factories tell women they must perform sexual favors to get a raise.
"That was routinely told to us," Kramer said.
"I think they should go slow on these trade deals," Emeryville resident James Chikonamombe, 46, said.
Chikonamombe said he's seen NAFTA up close and trade deals only benefit a minority of people.
He said the deals should be between individual countries instead of ones between multiple countries like NAFTA or TPP.
"That just doesn't work," he said.