Labor leader, business advocate will debate offshoring of U.S. jobs, at CU

By Linda Myers

A pre-election debate at Cornell Friday, Oct. 15, between labor leader Richard Trumka and business advocate Tom Donohue will help college-age voters decide if outsourcing of skilled jobs is good for most working Americans.

The event, which is free and open to the public, takes place at 11 a.m. in 305 Ives Hall.

The idea behind the debate -- one of a series at Cornell this fall sponsored by the student group Mock Election 2004 -- is to promote civic engagement among students and make sure they are informed on the issues. The series will conclude with an online mock election in which Cornell students can cast their votes for the candidate of their choice (see http://mockelection.cornell.edu).

Trumka, the youngest secretary-treasurer in the history of the AFL-CIO, is serving his third term as a leader of the federation of 60 labor unions and 13 million workers. Speaking before the Democratic National Convention this July, he called U.S. trade policies "suicidal" for shipping overseas 2.7 million jobs over the past three and a half years -- most of them "highly skilled jobs that pay decent wages, provide health insurance and pensions," he said. He called for strong workers' rights and environmental protections in all trade agreements, incentives to keep jobs in the United States and disincentives to companies' offshoring of jobs.

Donohue is president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest business federation in the United States, representing 3 million companies. He favors tax cuts, unrestricted trade and trade agreements with countries like China. Speaking before the Commonwealth Club of California recently, he said that exporting high-paid tech jobs to countries like Russia and India saves companies money that they will use to create new jobs for Americans.

The debate will be moderated by Jefferson Cowie, assistant professor in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and recipient of the Taft Prize for the Best Book in Labor History in 2000 for his book Capital Moves: RCA's Seventy-Year Quest for Cheap Labor.