[CTC] Pittburgh: Sanders criticizes U.S. trade agreements before [8, 000]

[Dolan, Mike]

[I cannot explain the discrepancy between the headline and the reporting: "hundreds" vs 8,000. "with hundreds more turned away"]


Sanders criticizes U.S. trade agreements before hundreds in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Chris Potter
April 1, 2016
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2016/03/31/Sanders-tackles-trade-before-holding-rally-in-Pittsburgh/stories/201603310229

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders castigated American trade policy while pledging to end what he called an "oligarchy" running the country during a campaign stop Thursday in Pittsburgh.

"People are rejecting the options that the corporate media gives us," the Vermont senator and democratic socialist said near the end of an address to an enthusiastic crowd at David L. Lawrence Convention Center. "They are saying we can create an America that works for us, not just the few."

Ryan Hughes, the campaign's state director, estimated the crowd at 8,000 people, with hundreds more turned away, for a speech that lasted more than an hour. Those who got in were enthusiastic, intermittently breaking into chants of "Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!"

Mr. Sanders offered a stump speech similar to those he has given in other states, voicing not just a defense of progressive values but a vision in which progressives play offense.

Republican-proposed cuts to Social Security, for example, "ain't going to happen," he said. "We're going to expand Social Security benefits." He revisited his support for tuition-free education at public universities, paid by a tax on financial transactions: "We should not be punishing people for getting an education. We should be rewarding them."

But a focus was on trade agreements such as NAFTA and the contentious Trans Pacific Partnership, which would establish trade relations with Asian countries. Such pacts, he said, "were written by corporate America for one very simple purpose: to not have to pay American workers a living wage."

At an earlier news conference in which he was flanked by union members, Mr. Sanders told reporters that the North American Free Trade Agreement and stronger trade relations with China had cost more than 4 million U.S. jobs, including nearly 149,000 in Pennsylvania. Among the examples he cited were last year's layoff of 600 workers at Allegheny Technologies, which blamed Chinese imports.

"Not all of it is attributable to trade, but a lot of it is," he said of such cuts, later adding, "We have to rethink the economy [to be] a moral economy, not an economy based on greed and selfishness."

And he drew a sharp contrast with his rival, Hillary Clinton. He told reporters that as secretary of state, Ms. Clinton had favored the Trans Pacific Partnership, but "[w]hen a whole lot of people put pressure on her, she decided to oppose it."

Although global trade has become a key campaign issue - Republican Donald Trump has also criticized the pacts - many economists argue that its impact on American jobs has been overstated.

"It's undeniable that manufacturing employment has fallen somewhat precipitously since 2001," said Brian K. Kovak, an assistant professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College.

But even as manufacturing jobs declined, he said, manufacturing output rose. "That suggests that automation was a primary driver of declining manufacturing employment," rather than trade.

In Pittsburgh, at least, the hollowing out of local manufacturing took place in the 1980s, well before trade deals such as NAFTA were struck. And Mr. Kovak said income inequality has been rising since the 1970s.

That trend has deepened enough to be obvious to everyone, he said, and he agreed it "is a genuine concern that needs to be addressed. But it's very hard to argue that trade is the main cause."

And at least one Sanders supporter had some misgivings about the anti-trade message.

"Some of the plants [Mr. Sanders] mentioned were places where my relatives have worked," said Austin Milford-Rosales, a Carnegie Mellon University student from San Antonio. "I can understand being upset that the jobs are leaving, but people overstate the disparities" in wages and working conditions. "These aren't sweatshops."

Still, he and his friends agreed that Mr. Sanders' first Pennsylvania campaign stop was energizing.

"Last night I had 5½ hours of sleep - probably less," said fellow CMU student Inez Khan. "But he got me feeling really exhilarated."

And Mr. Sanders' message was welcomed by speakers such as Michael Smith, an employee at a Koppers chemical plant in Clairton. Mr. Smith said the plant's closure, announced in January, reflected "the decimation of our industry by foreign imports." He called Mr. Sanders "the only candidate who has never wavered on his support for hard-working, middle-class Americans."

With 289 delegates at stake on April 26, Pennsylvania will be "an enormously important state," said Mr. Hughes, who previously directed a come-from-behind win in Michigan. With 2,383 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination, Mr. Sanders trails Ms. Clinton 1,712 to 1,011, though Ms. Clinton's total is swelled by 469 "superdelegates" who could switch allegiances if Mr. Sanders can build on recent successes in Western states and the surprise come-from-behind win in Michigan.

Choosing Pittsburgh for the campaign's first stop here was partly a matter of logistics, said Mr. Hughes, who directed the Michigan effort. But with a still-active union presence in the region, the choice also reflected that "we're going to have a very strong message for labor unions. ... We're going to leave no part of the state untouched."




Michael F. Dolan, J.D.
Legislative Representative
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Desk  202.624.6891
Fax    202.624.8973
Cell    202.437.2254

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