WTO conference

The United States government has betrayed the workers of the world through its tool, the World Trade Organization (WTO).

From Dec. 9 to Dec. 13, 1997 the Ministerial Conference of the WTO was held in Singapore and it was there that the American authorities stabbed the laborers of the globe in the back.

Prior to that meeting, the Clinton Administration had double crossed the dissidents of our planet, leaving them to the whims of their respective repressive governments. This had happened when Bill and Hillary had separated human rights from trade.

Now they, through WTO, have made fair labor practices and trade individual issues.

Countries in which scrooge-like, slave-labor wages, such as 20 U.S. cents per hour, are paid were applauded for having a "competitive advantage".

Nations in which there are union leaders who challenge these unfair practices, and for doing so are raped, murdered or jailed on totally false or trumped up charges, have no reason to fear any sanctions from the American-led WTO.

The entire fourth floor of the Singapore Convention Center was used for offices for delegates from the member countries of the WTO.

However, the delegation from the United States was holed up on the second floor of the Pan Pacific hotel, across the street from the convention center, and guarded by their own tough security personnel. This, of course, was an insult to the elaborate security arrangements provided by the host country. I was refused an interview with any member of that delegation after I told them that I wanted to ask them why they had supported separating fair labor practices from trade, a question no one wanted to answer.

JACK WEST