[CTC] IUE-CWA LTE: Rep. Joe Heck should oppose TPP trade pact

[Dolan, Mike]

Opinion: Rep. Joe Heck should oppose TPP trade pact
Reno Gazette-Journal
By Jeff Martens
April 5, 2016
http://www.rgj.com/story/opinion/voices/2016/04/05/one-view-rep-joe-heck-should-oppose-tpp-trade-pact/82670448/

Shared opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact may be the single issue on which Donald Trump<http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/05/08/exclusive-donald-trump-disaster-trade-deal-empowers-americas-enemies-another-sign-country-is-going-to-hell/>, Ted Cruz<http://www.rgj.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/11/20/ted-cruz-steve-king-campaign-stop/76059514/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=>, Hillary Clinton<http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/hillary-clinton-says-she-does-not-support-trans-pacific-partnership/>, and Bernie Sanders<http://www.sanders.senate.gov/download/the-trans-pacific-trade-tpp-agreement-must-be-defeated?inline=file> each agree. Opposition to the TPP, a massive trade pact between 12 nations comprising approximately 40 percent of the global economy, is a rare source of bipartisan consensus and one fitting the current mood of voters on both the left and the right.

The rare bipartisan opposition to TPP begs a question: Will Nevada's Rep. Joe Heck distance himself from his 2015 pro-trade vote and come out against the TPP as he runs for Nevada's open Senate seat?

Last June, Congress narrowly voted to provide fast-track trade authority for the TPP. The bill passed by just five votes and with the support of Rep. Heck. By granting fast-track authority, Rep. Heck gave up his ability to amend the TPP should it come up for a vote. While Rep. Heck has not indicated whether he will support the final version of the TPP, it could become a prominent campaign issue due to the larger mood of the electorate and given the public opposition to fast-track expressed by Rep. Heck's probable Democratic opponent, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto.

The growing anti-TPP consensus seems to reflect the larger views of the electorate. People are railing against business as usual. Voters are angry with the sense that no matter which party is in power, what's good for Wall Street always seems to win the day.

Trade policy embodies this mood, and for good reason. Under presidents of both parties, we've advanced big multinational trade deals that have been chock-full of promises about how they would benefit the American worker alongside the benefits to corporate America. Yet despite the rosy predictions, these promises haven't borne out in reality. A report from the Communications Workers of America (CWA) examined the broken promises of past recent trade deals<http://bit.ly/1KiKAwX>, describing how past trade pacts with Mexico, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, and Bahrain failed to live up to the hype and how assurances made at the time regarding American jobs, trade surpluses, human rights and labor standards did not bear out.

Meanwhile, across the political spectrum, there is rare agreement that addressing income inequality and rebuilding the American middle class is one of the central challenges of our time. This means that the onus should be on backers of the TPP to prove that this agreement will help, and not exacerbate, these trends. Unfortunately, the TPP is built on the same, failed model as the past deals which helped to accelerate the offshoring of middle-class jobs and the shuttering of American factories.

While past trade deals benefited those who were already prospering, such as big corporations and the elite financial sector, those gains seemed to come at the expense of American workers. There's no evidence that this time, and this trade deal, will be different.

We hope that Rep. Heck will join the growing ranks of those expressing opposition to the TPP. And we expect that the political candidates of both parties who are now saying "no" to the TPP are planning to follow through on their campaign promises once in office.

Jeff Martens is the president of IUE-CWA Local 89119 in Fallon, Nevada.




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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