Trade protesters set for next round
Spokane steelworkers to join rallies, vigils in capital

Hannelore Sudermann - Staff writer

Spokane _ The activists are back, and they're still focused on world trade.

And this time part of the action will take place in Spokane.

The World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle ended in acrimony in December, and many of the issues that drew nearly 30,000 protesters to clog the city's streets remain.

Now activists are targeting Capitol Hill, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Steelworkers in Spokane and in Washington, D.C., are planning vigils to draw attention to the issues surrounding increased international ties.

For the protesters, it's all about jobs, trade and economic control.

This week, thousands are converging on Washington, D.C., to protest China's impending permanent normal trade relations with the United States, as well as the coming meetings of IMF and World Bank finance ministers.

Other rallies are scheduled across the nation and in France to draw attention to international lending organizations that control much of what happens with the Third World.

The protesters plan to block the streets and attempt to disrupt the opening sessions of the IMF, using both legal means and civil disobedience.

Several dozen of Spokane's Steelworkers have flown to the nation's capital to join the action.

"We're going to be having big rallies," said Carol Ford, a Trentwood Steelworker. "It's another WTO thing."

Ford, who was among the 20,000 union workers who marched at the WTO protests in Seattle, said nothing could keep her away from Washington this week. "I was going to be here one way or the other."

She and the other Spokane Steelworkers plan to visit the offices of Washington state's congressional delegation to talk about the dangers of losing business to China, where workers are paid less and are often subjected to unsafe working conditions.

The drive for improved trade status for China comes from "greedy multinationals capitalizing on Chinese labor at dirt-cheap wages," George Becker, president of the United Steelworkers of America, said recently.

The Steelworkers in Washington, D.C., will start their protests tonight with a candlelight vigil organized by United Steelworkers of America to draw attention to the United States' growing business connection with China. A similar vigil will be held in Spokane Thursday at 7 p.m. in front of the federal courthouse downtown.

"We're hoping the community will show up," said Dan Sampson, a Steelworker from Trentwood who is helping organize the vigil. "It's basically about the WTO. It's kind of an offshoot."

Sampson and other organizers anticipate a turnout of at least 200 people.

This is likely the first world trade demonstration in Spokane. City Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers said many in town don't recognize how the city is affected by globalization.

"It does impact us here," she said. "We don't look at it that way because we're isolated."

Many companies, including Key Tronic and Hewlett-Packard, have relocated some of their assembly plants to other countries because of greater regulatory freedom and lower wages.. Meanwhile, jobs here have disappeared, Rodgers said.

"The other side of the issue is that China has a history of human rights violations," Rogers said, referring to violence against women, restricted worker rights and a lack of civil rights. "We need to all have a moral conscience about things."

She and Ken Pelo, chairman of the Spokane County Democratic Party, will speak at the Spokane vigil.

Similar vigils will be held tonight and Thursday at 7 p.m. in cities across the country, including Portland and Seattle.

The hundreds of events in Washington, D.C., are expected to culminate Sunday and Monday with large rallies and protests at the opening of the World Bank and IMF meetings.