Bernie in Pittsburgh talking about job-killing trade deals.
Flanked by local labor leaders [President Mike Smith of the United Steelworkers Local 1557-2 and President Scott Slawson of the United Electrical Workers Local 506] and Pennsylvania workers, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday said trade deals he opposed and Hillary Clinton supported have devastated Pennsylvania manufacturing and hurt working families.
“Over the last 35 years, our trade agreements have been rigged by corporate America to shut down manufacturing plants in Vermont, in Pennsylvania and throughout this county,” Sanders said. The result, he added, has been that Pennsylvania workers lost jobs that went to Mexico, China and other low-wage countries.
“On this issue,” he added, “Secretary Hillary Clinton and I have very strong differences of opinion going way, way back.”
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He cited examples of how bad trade deals have hurt Pennsylvania.
In 2013, General Electric announced that it would eliminate 950 jobs at its Pennsylvania locomotive plant in Erie moving many of these jobs to Mexico.
Allegheny Technologies shut down two steel plants in western Pennsylvania last year, laying off 600 workers due to a surge in cheap imports from China.
Hershey in 2009 shut down its York Peppermint Patties plant in Reading. Three-hundred jobs were lost when the plant was moved to Monterrey, Mexico, where workers are paid a fraction of what they were paid in Pennsylvania.
Sony closed the last television manufacturing plant in the United States in 2008 when it closed a Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, plant that employed 560 workers and moved the plant to Baja, Mexico.
Sanders has a consistent record in Congress fighting job-killing trade deals. In Congress, he has led opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal that Clinton, as secretary of state, called the “gold standard” for trade agreements.
Clinton recently signaled that she might seek modifications in the pact, but Sanders said that’s not enough. “I will not renegotiate the TPP, I will reject it. I will not send any trade deals to Congress that make it easier for corporations to shut down in this country and move abroad.”
berniesanders.com: Job-Killing Trade Deals Hurt Pennsylvania Workers
There is a clear difference on trade. Bernie stands with working people.
Without Bernie in the race, this issue would not be discussed by Democrats.
Update I: More Bernie from Pittsburgh:
“My message for corporate America is your greed is going to end. You are not going to continue to deindustrialize the United States of America. You are not going to be able to shut down plants here and move to cheap labor abroad. You’re not going to cut wages and benefits of American workers and give CEO’s huge compensation packages. Together, we are going to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the one percent,” Sanders said.