Although the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) does not explicitly approve the free movement of labour, the impact on the labour market will be extraordinary, through structural adjustment, downward pressure on wages and even the need to bring in more labour from other countries.
"In other words, free movement of labour through the back door, may be inevitable. In many cases, labour is coming through the front door right now. We have the strange situation of unemployment or underemployed nationals and at the same time, the massive importation of foreign workers," said Dr. Peter Maynard, President of the Bar Association.
Dr. Maynard was speaking on Tuesday about the FTAA and its legal framework at the International Labour Conference on the Free Trade Area of the Americas at the Nassau Marriott Resort and Crystal Palace Casino.
According to Dr. Maynard, the FTAA spells the end of diversification and the continued and extreme openness and vulnerability of the Bahamian economy. He noted that the logic of the free trade scheme, leads to tourism monoculture, as the Caribbean islands would specialize in sun, sand and sea.
"There would be an overabundance on that single sector. Not even the linkages in food and manufacturing, as we have seen to the present, would be exploited by national suppliers. It would be a free for all, regardless of national boundaries. Yet, another ineptly applied policy of driving the development of the rest of the economy through the main dynamic sector, tourism, would end up on the garbage heap," said Dr. Maynard.
Dr. Maynard, who used The Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) as an example, explained that The Bahamas did not join this grouping because it was not a producing country and would have only found itself as an importer of goods from the rest of the region. He said that this problem would be multiplied under the FTAA.
"If we had a problem with the 15 other Caribbean countries, imagine how much worse the balance of payments position will be in relation to 33 other countries in the FTAA," said the Bar Association president.
Dr. Maynard said that Freeport is better equipped than any other part of The Bahamas to benefit from the FTAA, having through the Hawksbill Creek Agreement, set out specifically to address the establishment of a light manufacturing and industrial base. He explained that Freeport is the obvious cutting edge of a viable contribution of The Bahamas, on the subject of the FTAA and yet, the island is almost completely unequipped.
"Freeport now more than ever needs an action plan. It does not provide a buffer for the rest of The Bahamas. Oil transshipment, the container port, and even a new natural gas pipeline may have bright prospects with increased hemispheric trade. However, the changes of bringing back oil refining, pharmaceuticals, cement, agriculture and even chicken farms in Grand Bahama, are even more remote," said Dr. Maynard.
Dr. Maynard said that the government has already made major concessions to attract investment and if it becomes a member of the FTAA, there will be less business and less government revenues. He noted that the government offers a waiver of customs duties in order to encourage construction and renovation of hotels and the establishment of new industries, but the tool to bring in new investment will no longer be available when customs duties are removed under the FTAA.
Meanwhile, Dr. Maynard said, free trade is not so free and the islands of The Bahamas will be colonies again by 2005. He said an action plan has to be adopted, in which the private sector must redouble its efforts to understand and contribute a Bahamian position on the nine negotiating issues and Bahamians can play a role.
The Bar Association president said that politicians have been led by a nose ring through the international obstacles and have been overwhelmed by international development. He said that instead of taking the bull by the horns, they find themselves swept aside by a raging stampede of developments they perceive as beyond their control. National interest, said Dr. Maynard, not global altruism or philanthropy, is the basis of the negotiation. He said the national interest of small developing countries has to be clearly articulated and incorporated in the FTAA greement.
"As a group, pick and choose your friends on individual issues. You are not going to be friendly with everybody on everything. Therefore, not signing the FTAA must still be an option. Also, 2005 is too soon. The groundwork must be laid now to diversify the economy," he stressed.
A concerned Dr. Maynard further suggested that politicians need to prepare the people not just for discussion with civil society, but for a dynamic plan to make export production more accessible to Bahamian entrepreneurs and take a more proactive approach to the negotiations involving local entrepreneurs, lawyers and other professionals.
"Of the more than 600 lawyers at The Bahamas Bar, many have focused on international trade, international law and foreign input. I should like to see more local private consultants. Heretofore, I have seen none. Where there is no vision, the people perish," stated Dr. Maynard.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
