[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 87 (Thursday, June 29, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H4798]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       OMAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in opposition to the U.S.-Oman 
Free Trade Agreement.
  The U.S. government, as you know, is prepared to open our market and 
risk our workers' jobs for a country which fails to respect workers and 
human rights. Oman not only bans unions, but it has been reported by 
our own State Department to have human trafficking and forced labor 
abuses.
  The wage gap between men and women in Oman is one of the widest in 
the world, with women earning less than 22 percent of their male 
counterparts. Oman even bans night work and hard labor for women unless 
the sultan states otherwise. Yet the free trade agreement does not 
require Oman to protect women workers' rights and does not even require 
Oman to bring its domestic anti-discrimination laws into line with our 
international standards.
  Oman will face no consequences if it chose to allow employers to 
violate existing maternity leave provisions or the ban on pregnancy 
based dismissals or continue to permit job discrimination based on sex.
  We need a fair trade agreement, one that will help prevent the 
exporting of our workers' jobs. Let us turn down the Oman Free Trade 
Agreement.

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