New York Times February 25, 2000 Labor Leaders Leave Panel on China Trade By JOSEPH KAHN
WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 -- Dealing another blow to the Clinton administration's hopes of building broad support for a China trade measure, three labor leaders today quit a presidential panel set up to advise the White House on global trade policy.
Union officials said the three leaders -- John J. Sweeney of the A.F.L.-C.I.O.; Jay Mazur of United, the big textile workers' union; and Lenore Miller, head of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a leading retail workers' union -- resigned to protest the panel's narrow focus on persuading Congress to grant China permanent normal trade relations. American unions strongly oppose the plan.
The officials said the resignations were also intended to signal their frustration with the administration, which they said has failed to ensure that labor voices are heard when developing trade policy. The union leaders said that Mr. Clinton talks about protecting workers' rights internationally, but that in practice the trade deals that he negotiates do little to advance that agenda.
The setback for the administration occurred as Congressional leaders continued to warn that Congress might defeat the China trade proposal. Several senior pro-trade lawmakers have warned in recent days that Vice President Al Gore's apparent coolness toward the agreement and China's threat to use force against Taiwan had made the measure a tough sell in an election year.
The administration is lobbying hard to persuade Congress to give up its annual review of China's trade status. Congress has to agree to do that if United States companies are to take full advantage of a market-opening accord it negotiated as part of China's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
The Senate minority leader, Tom Daschle of South Dakota, said today that prospects for passage were declining daily. "I think everybody has to recognize this is going to be a tough sell, especially given current circumstances involving China," Mr. Daschle said.
He said he thought that the vote should be held as soon as possible, implying that members are less likely to vote for the measure as Election Day approaches.
"The sooner we do that, in my view, the better the prospects, as bad as they are," he said.
Also today, Mr. Clinton called the accord a "once in a generation" opportunity that should not be rejected because of Beijing's human rights problems or threats against Taiwan. "Failure to pass the measure would be a devastating setback," he said.
The vote is made tougher for Democrats by the unions' increasingly hostile relationship with the administration. Although the presidential panel has no power over trade policy, Mr. Clinton had used it to forge a dialogue between business and moderate labor leaders on trade. But other labor leaders, including those who represent steel and transportation workers, have attacked the idea of cooperating with the administration on trade.