Gore explains trade record to labor leaders in N.H.

By Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, June 4, 1999

PEMBROKE, N.H. -- Trying to nail down one of the most important Democratic constituencies, Vice President Al Gore met privately yesterday with New Hampshire labor leaders, hoping to allay their fears that international trade agreements would lead to US job losses.

Gore has been a forceful proponent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which eliminated tariffs among the United States, Mexico, and Canada, but critics said it exported US jobs to low-wage Mexico.

About 30 members of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO questioned Gore for nearly an hour about trade and labor issues, including privatization, school construction, and Social Security. The questioning was polite and friendly, according to those inside the room, unlike other union meetings at which Gore has encountered outright hostility.

Nationally, the AFL-CIO is not expected to make a decision until late summer or early fall about endorsing either Gore or Bill Bradley, the former New Jersey senator, for the Democratic presidential nomination. Organized labor is a critical component in New Hampshire, where union members are numerous and often participate in campaigns. But union endorsements aren't a guarantee of votes by the rank-and-file.

While some members of organized labor have expressed unhappiness with Gore's advocacy of free trade, Bradley espouses similar views and voted for NAFTA while in the Senate.

"NAFTA never really went away, and it's fresh in people's minds," said Mark MacKenzie, president of the New Hampshire AFL-CIO. "We want to know where people stand on trade."

MacKenzie said several hundred workers lost jobs in the state shortly after the trade agreement went into effect.

International trade is the most controversial issue among union members when it comes to the two presidential candidates. "Neither Bradley or Gore, in terms of the steelworkers, are good on the trade issue," said Bill Klinefelter, legislative director of the United Steelworkers of America, based in Washington. "We have opposed NAFTA, they both supported NAFTA. We opposed granting fast-track authority for negotiating trade agreements, Gore supported that."

Ron Klain, Gore's chief of staff, said disagreement between the vice president and organized labor is a matter of principle.

"He believes pursuing fair-trade agreements creates jobs in this country," Klain said. Gore argued that very point yesterday, saying that trade helps US businesses and workers.

At the AFL-CIO in Washington, Peggy Taylor, the director of legislation, recently compared Gore's and Bradley's voting records in the Senate -- an analysis that will probably be used by the unions in the endorsement process.

"Gore has a consistently better voting record," Taylor said. "Bradley actually has a worse trade voting record than Gore. . . . Most of Gore's wrong votes are in the trade area as well, but there aren't as many as with Bradley."

Taylor also described organized labor's relationship with Bradley as "distant," and said there had been some frustration with the present administration.

"There's always been a serious trade tension between us and the administration, and that's not to be minimized," Taylor said. "But there's also been a huge amount of positive work from the administration on behalf of working families.

Another pressing trade matter concerns China, as Congress is about to consider renewing normal trading relations with that country. Gore said during an interview on WMUR-TV, "We deal with China with our eyes wide open."

But he said the United States has an interest in being involved with China because it is the world's largest country "and we don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot in the process of expressing anger about something else altogether."

Gore said the United States will insist on human rights changes in China and the respectful treatment of Tibet as normal trade relations are reauthorized.