WASHINGTON (PAI) - The Senate on May 23 passed Fast Track legislation, 66-30, rejecting most pro-worker amendments along the way.

Passage disappointed the AFL-CIO, which lobbied hard against the law. Fast Track grants the president special authority to negotiate trade deals and denies Congress any opportunity to correct flaws, including lack of worker or environmental protection.

But the pro-worker rejections on May 21-23 were overshadowed by one big labor win the 
previous week - a win that raised the possibility of an eventual congressional stalemate on Fast Track or a presidential veto, both outcomes that labor desires.

"This bill represents a giant step backwards even from present trade laws," 
because it bans U.S. negotiators from including enforceable workers' rights 
provisions in the text of future trade treaties, AFL-CIO President John J. 
Sweeney said.

He called it "a shortsighted decision which again places Big Business 
interests over workers' rights...thus setting up working people to be 
uniquely disadvantaged in trade deals."

Nevertheless, labor won when lawmakers adopted an amendment by Sens. Mark 
Dayton (D-Minn.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho) to mandate separate votes on 
sections of future trade treaties that weaken existing U.S. trade laws, 
especially anti-dumping laws.

That flies in the face of what GOP President George W. Bush and the GOP-run 
House want: Unfettered "Fast Track" trade treaty negotiating authority for 
the president, with no amendments and no voice for workers or their 
legislators.

On May 22-23, workers picked up two more wins. First, Sen. John Edwards
(D-N.C.) increased trade adjustment assistance - federal financial aid - for 
textile workers who lose their jobs when plants close or leave. The vote 
was 66-33.

Then, Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) added "protecting internationally 
recognized civil, political and human rights" to U.S. negotiating objectives 
for future trade treaties. The week before, he mandated detailed labor 
impact statements about the effect of those pacts.

The Senate bill now goes to a conference to iron out differences between it and the House bill that narrowly passed, 215-214, in December. The House version of the bill is considered even weaker on workers' rights and environmental protection than the Senate bill.