Dems are fighting to see the Fine Print. Dems are fighting to add some Fine Print of their own -- specifically concerning the banning of "child labor" and the banning of "forced labor." And then ensuring the means of enforcing those bans, to boot. What nerve!
Trans-Pacific Partnership advocates think those demands are 'a bridge too far'. Do that, and workers will be demanding "rights" and stuff -- if you're crazy enough to put some real worker protections into the TPP Agreement.
Sen. Sherrod Brown: Common sense, not obstruction
by Sherrod Brown, USAtoday.com -- May 13, 2015
[...]
Demanding trade enforcement legislation at the same time that we consider fast-track authority for the largest trade deal ever isn't obstructionism — it's common sense.
[...]
USA TODAY's Editorial Board may argue that export opportunities through TPP could create American jobs. But the same promises were made during the South Korea free-trade agreement, and we've seen $12 billion in new imports to the U.S. from Korea for only $1 billion worth of new exports for American companies.
By demanding increased trade enforcement in conjunction with fast track for TPP, we can crack down on countries that manipulate their currency to give their exports a price advantage over American-made products. We can give the steel industry and others new tools to fight back when foreign imports undercut their business. And we can put an end to the import of certain products made with forced or child labor.
We can't have trade promotion without trade enforcement.
-- Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is a member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Learn more about the systematic "forced labor" problem,
here.
It's
an issue very much on
Bernie Sanders radar screen too.
How is this even debatable: the need for including a "ban on child labor" in the TPP Agreements?
Long as it's poor foreigner's kids, then condoning turning a blind eye to "child labor" is A-OK?
Senate sidetracks fast-track for TPP - for now
by Mark Gruenberg, peoplesworld.org -- May 13 2015
[...]
"The AFL-CIO, working with union federations from the other TPP countries" sought to improve the pact's labor chapter "and address the failures of prior trade deals," he explained.
Its proposals included the right to submit "a single egregious violation" of worker rights -- such as a mass firing or killings -- to the trade courts, "clear rules and deadlines for action on meritorious cases," a ban on child labor, protection for migrant workers and new standards for labor inspections and decent work. All would be enforced by "an independent secretariat."
The administration's response has been silence. "We don't know whether any of our proposals made it into the TPP, since the text has not been made public. The administration has given no indications that our suggestions have been incorporated into its own negotiation text" much less the TPP itself, he said.
[...]
No worries Nestle et al, someone will get you your dirt-cheap "cocoa" -- just as soon as the President's team papers over this "temporary glitch" -- with some more arm twisting, more integrity
smearing ... whatever it takes.
Senate Democrats Foil Obama on Asia Trade Deal
by Jonathan Weisman, NYTimes.com -- May 12, 2015
[...]
The White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, tried to play down Tuesday’s vote as a “procedural snafu.”
The vote is not necessarily the final word.
[...]
Beyond the currency issue, a provision attached to the trade promotion authority bill to block trade preferences to countries involved in human trafficking would effectively exclude Malaysia, which is on the State Department’s list of worst offenders. Another provision to crack down on child labor could stop American candy makers from importing cocoa from Africa.
[...]
Democrats have united around demands that trade promotion authority — which would allow the White House to present the trade deal for a straight up-or-down vote, without amendments — be paired with a series of other measures, not only to crack down on currency manipulation, but also to assist workers displaced by globalization, tighten child labor law and fortify the government’s response to unfair trade practices. White House officials have said the Pacific trade accord cannot be completed without that authority.
[...]
Learn more about the systematic "child labor" problem, here:
U.S. Department of Labor’s -- List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
So what is "Fast Track" Authority about again?
What is Fast Track? -- foodandwaterwatch.org
President Obama has asked Congress for “trade promotion authority,” a legislative mechanism that would force Congress to quickly approve or “fast track” the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other future trade deals. Fast Track authority would only give Congress an up or down vote on these critical trade deals, essentially eliminating congressional oversight of the devilish details included in the trade agreements.
And why is Fast Track Authority
so important? -- nbcnews.com
President Barack Obama has asked Congress to pass a measure granting him "fast-track" authority so that he can negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership without the risk of a filibuster in the Senate, or any added amendments in Congress.
That's a couple of great reasons, eh?
Why can't we pass ALL Bills this way?
You know, without those pesky "amendments" banning stuff, and then providing the means for enforcing those bans.
Oh the In-Humanity of it all!