Early reports say that Kirk is a free trade advocate who has supported NAFTA.  This position could definitely conflict with some of the commitments Obama made on the campaign trail to renegotiate NAFTA and change the US trade model to bring greater protections for workers and the environment.

My issues with the new regulations don't take the protectionist bent that others bring up. US farmworkers deserve jobs that pay a living wage and allow workers to unionize along with migrant farmworkers.  Incoming migrant workers are especially in need of work, thanks to the US corporations that dominate our food system, exploit farmworkers abroad and unfairly prevent subsistence farmers from making a living.  Immigrant farmworkers who have been displaced by US farm subsidies and exploited by US corporations such as Wal-Mart, Dole, Del Monte and Nestle who pay poverty wages have no choice but to migrate.

Throughout their tour of the Northeast, CIW delivered letters to many major supermarkets as well as food distribution companies like Aramark and Sodexho.  On December 4th, the workers visited DC.  ILRF, the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights and the Institute for Policy Studies co-sponsored a discussion with some of the campaign representatives at SEIU.  It was a great opportunity to celebrate the Subway agreement, learn more about the struggle of agricultural workers in the US

Well, since
groups such as “Americans for Free Choice”  and the Chamber of Commerce are so concerned
about corruption, I thought I would help them out by pointing out that in fact,
it’s not the labor unions that are corrupt. It’s their friends in corporate America who
seem to be in the most trouble recently for corruption. And since these
business associations are so interested in pointing out corruption, I thought
we could give them a hand and point out where the real corruption is occurring.

(Unless
this campaign isn’t about corruption at all? Unless it’s really about trying to
increase profits by attacking working families and unions?)