The Economic Policy Institute reports that Minnesota is one of the hardest-hit states by offshoring and outsourcing, with more than 58,000 jobs displaced since 2001. As the Obama administration and Congress consider whether to push forward with the Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Minnesota's congressional delegation should seek out the opinions of Minnesota residents who have firsthand experience of how trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have impacted families and communities. 

The Minnesota Trade Stories Project, a project of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, collected the stories of several workers who were displaced at the Winona auto parts manufacturing plant, TRW. In 2008, TRW plant laid off 200 workers, moving its assembly lines to factories in Reynosa, Mexico.

Reynosa, near the Texas border, is home to more than 200 factories that employ more than 70,000 workers. The entry-level wages in Reynosa go from $1 per hour to, at worst, $6.50 per day. The TRW workers we interviewed, who were members of the United Auto Workers Local 958, made $11 to $12 an hour, with generous health benefits. Since the layoffs, those wages and benefits have been hard to find. In addition, workers shared difficulties in finding new jobs, making house payments, paying medical bills and even buying groceries. As one aptly put, "unemployment won't pay my mortgage."

One of 28 known in 2008
According to the Department of Labor's statistics for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), the TRW plant was one of 28 known Minnesota manufacturing companies in 2008 that offshored jobs to another country or closed down due to increases in cheaper imports from abroad. Since 2003, there have been at least 162 companies that have followed the same path. Certification for TAA means that workers whose jobs were  displaced by trade can receive assistance for retraining, some college courses and other benefits while they look for a new job or career path.

Unfortunately, the statistics regarding companies that offshore jobs reflect only the "known" companies who've been certified for TAA. Not all workers whose job is offshored know to seek out TAA, and some – if they were service workers up until this year – did not qualify for this assistance. There are no other current mechanisms for the state or federal government to keep track of outsourced or offshored jobs.

When the TRW workers were asked about what they would say to lawmakers about how trade impacts our community, here is what a few who were laid off in October 2008 had to say: 

"Why are these companies getting these tax breaks for shipping our jobs out of the country?  I mean, to me that's ridiculous.  How can I buy the product that's going to be shipped back into this country if I don't have a job?  They don't get this?  They're not helping the economy by making the rich richer, by giving them a tax break."  — Sherry Klein

"They need to keep businesses from moving out of the country. That's my main thing. I'm sick of people getting breaks for moving stuff to Mexico.  NAFTA … that was the biggest mistake they ever made. That's when everything started to go downhill. That would be my main issue. If we don't have jobs here, no one will have any money … then we don't have any money to support the [jobs] that are still here."  —  Penny Mormann

"Sending [jobs] to Mexico is supposed to mean cheaper wages, but is it cheaper in the long run?  I think our work should stay in the states. It's hard when you got kids. Their life still goes on, they still have activities. And it doesn't affect just one person; it's a domino effect. … it affects a whole chain of people."  —  Wanda Boehmke

NAFTA model is wrong direction
Expanding future trade agreements based on the same devastating NAFTA model is a step in the wrong direction. It will mean not just more job loss in manufacturing industries but increased risk to outsourcing of accounting, service and engineering jobs as well. Members of Congress should listen to the voices and stories of workers who are living the reality of trade agreements, and understand that while the current NAFTA model might benefit the wallets of a few CEOs, it devastates the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people in Minnesota and millions across the United States.

The Panama Free Trade Agreement is the wrong way forward; if members of Congress want to seek a new, more balanced model for expanding trade, they should support fair trade bills like the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act introduced in 2008. 

You can read and hear some of these stories and others at the National Trade Stories Project website www.tradestories.org and learn more about the TRADE Act at the MN Fair Trade Coalition website.

Alicia Ranney is director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, based in Minneapolis.