Today & Tomorrow: Tell Congress to Stop the TPP
By Rachel Warino
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a bad deal for working families in our country. We anticipated it would be when we fought against fast-tracking in through Congress and our worst fears were realized when the text was finally released to the public for the first time just a few months ago. This week, working people are standing together to urge Congress to stand with American workers and vote No on the TPP.
We know the TPP was written without the input of working Americans. And just like other massive trade deals written behind closed doors, the TPP will ship our jobs overseas, allow corporations to suppress workers’ wages even more, and give corporate CEOs even more power over our communities. Make no mistake in believing this deal will help our economy. Corporate gains made under this deal will not trickle down to ordinary Americans. Jobs in the auto, aerospace, aluminum and steel, apparel and textile, call center, and electronic and electrical machinery industries will be particularly impacted. And it won’t stop there. The TPP is likely to hold down wages for most of us.
We must stop Congress from ratifying this deal.
Despite all the predictions many politicians and the media are making about how good the TPP will be for our economy, more and more people are looking at the facts and it’s clear that this deal is just another NAFTA on steroids. Steve Smith noted this last week on Labor’s Edge:
You read that right. The report the administration likes says the U.S. will have 121,000 fewer manufacturing jobs as a direct result of the deal. And the report goes on to state that the deal will likely cause considerable hardship on workers who get booted out of good-paying manufacturing jobs and are told to retrain for lower-paying jobs. Ask any of the hundreds of thousands of displaced workers across the Rust Belt how that story ends.
Even though the TPP was signed last week by the U.S. Trade Representative and the other countries involved in New Zealand, we can still stop this deal.
There are two ways you can take action. The International Trade Commission is now accepting comments from the public, until Feb. 15, 2016 on the TPP. Thousands of working people already have spoken up by sending in comments to the U.S. Trade Representative. You can join them today.
The final step is for Congress to vote on the TPP, which will determine if it can go into effect. The time is now to call our representatives and insist they oppose ratification. This week, working people are flying to Washington DC to meet face to face with their representatives. For everyone who couldn’t make it to DC, there’s still a way to make a difference. Today and tomorrow, working men and women from around the country are calling their representatives to do exactly that. Join us!
Join other working women and men Feb. 8–9 and stand up for our jobs and wages. Click here or dial 855-856-7545 and urge your representative to oppose the TPP.
