[CTC] AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka laughs at Trump’s suggestion unions love new trade deal

[Arthur Stamoulis]

Two articles below…

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/18/afl-trumka-trump-unions-trade-1535282 <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0019lN59xGgaddo_ovEzpy8fvIBOhbwhqNvJ-6hIKDTU1jNOpm5RT12z-dj5mZZuWDe6UBVTGyvcrAM34N9cmUl2wy7I8v_BmWIElAv-aRutMIGGXbn_8RbnFDPm6u4yOgbZ1FR6HxIusbX7KZXT91L0pe9tZO73xv-fpH6_y07Z4P6NNl6Ii-tQDBgvQxTWJKbeddRACBRHQG3OLDuAmfgXKQZdPXWIvg7Bqc16TS9mlE=&c=WpzwZoqZxT_5f3I5S6VqBjs8aSd-NQweqeJAItw3J9iziwLl3Euyng==&ch=cKheM9JTp62HBaUe-aNlY8u72QxyUuP3RiprP4Vftc_xzrK65nlYuQ==>

AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka laughs at Trump’s suggestion unions love new trade deal

By Sabrina Rodriguez
June 18, 2019
 
President Donald Trump has repeatedly said unions are supportive of the new North American trade pact, as he ramps up his push for Congress to approve the deal this summer.
But the head of America's largest labor organization thinks Trump's claim is laughable.
 
"Maybe he’s talking about the unions in some other country?” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told POLITICO, laughing at Trump’s suggestion that unions are “in favor” of the deal his administration negotiated with Mexico and Canada to replace NAFTA.
 
“I don’t have a clue” where Trump gets that from, Trumka said, “because we’re pretty united.” Unions in the U.S., he warned, will not support the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement in its current form.
 
The AFL-CIO and other major unions like United Automobile Workers have said the USMCA features some improvements for workers compared with NAFTA, but the Trump administration still has work to do to earn their backing.
 
And while ratification of the USMCA is Trump's top legislative priority this year, getting the deal approved in the Democrat-controlled House could hinge on the administration's ability to address the shared concerns of House Democrats and organized labor, such as securing changes to bolster enforcement of the pact.
 
Trumka emphasized that labor unions want to support USMCA, but he cautioned the administration to allow time for negotiations with House Democrats to play out.
 
“We still have a lot of work to do and rushing this thing or trying to push it through to a vote will backfire, because if people were forced to vote on the current text, they would have to vote 'no,'" Trumka said in an interview Monday, ahead of a three-day NAFTA town hall series the AFL-CIO is hosting in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.
 
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats have made clear that the administration must make changes to the deal’s provisions on enforcement, labor, the environment and drug pricing before a final vote can be held. Last week, Pelosi appointed nine House Democrats to four committees that will negotiate proposed changes on those topics with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
 
Lighthizer has been active in courting congressional support for the deal. He has expressed a desire to get the pact approved with backing from a large number of Democrats and held numerous meetings with Democratic lawmakers in an effort to listen to their concerns.
 
The U.S. trade chief has repeatedly told Democrats he does not want to send Congress legislation to implement the trade deal until Pelosi gives her blessing.
 
But in recent weeks, House Democrats and insiders tracking the deal increasingly believe that other administration officials are growing impatient and want to move more quickly by sending the bill to Capitol Hill without Pelosi’s support.
 
“There are people in the Trump administration that are trying to rush this thing through and I think it’s a terrible, foolish strategy because it will blow up in their face,” Trumka said.
“I think the reasonable people in the Trump administration know it’s more important to get this right than to do it tomorrow.”
 
If the administration decides to make a pressure play, Pelosi could short-circuit consideration of the deal by removing it from the so-called fast-track procedure Congress agreed to under the Trade Promotion Authority legislation. That process allows the deal to be approved in an up-or-down vote by a simple majority in both chambers, in an effort to provide for speedier approval of trade deals.
 
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https://www.post-gazette.com/business/money/2019/06/17/AFL-CIO-President-Trumka-town-hall-NAFTA-negotiations/stories/201906170100 <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0019lN59xGgaddo_ovEzpy8fvIBOhbwhqNvJ-6hIKDTU1jNOpm5RT12z-dj5mZZuWDe6s-ZZQf914TEdyytPFqWxz6V4VZAjXEBjbfWeTkWSe-W1BgBEYYAp-hbM9Qh3EDfCy5ULfBszbbUslZT0cvqidKK-K9COKibxWLoL8kA1o1Ia1oMUkAFSerzboRCnYtoYu9eSSiC-veBXMe8zyukGp4CW0KPwoH5s7_ZS6tXsQo8gIL4TVsvlD-p3-ayZ4-taKa4DiE8pyx_z_Xm57TKxauOb2KF5ELscvHEPBwA0ZR4O_hbGs0w9g==&c=WpzwZoqZxT_5f3I5S6VqBjs8aSd-NQweqeJAItw3J9iziwLl3Euyng==&ch=cKheM9JTp62HBaUe-aNlY8u72QxyUuP3RiprP4Vftc_xzrK65nlYuQ==>

AFL-CIO president says current NAFTA deal is unenforceable

By Amanda Parrish
June 17, 2019
 
It’s a debate about people.

That was the message presented at AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s first stop on his NAFTA Trade Tour. Mr. Trumka, a southwestern Pennsylvania native, led a town hall Monday evening at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers on the South Side.

Along the topics discussed Monday was what is needed from the current NAFTA negotiations to benefit working Americans.

NAFTA is an agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico to reduce trade barriers between the three countries. In 1993, President Bill Clinton signed it into law and it went into effect January 1994.

“We need something that benefits all Americans, not just those at the very top,” Mr. Trumka said. “Something better for our working people. Something better for our economy. Something better for everyone.”

Beth Mikus, a 30-year member and employee of Service Employees International Union, asked if it might be beneficial to accept the agreement if it’s better than the original and then fix it as time goes on. Mr. Trumka responded by saying that it is not better because it’s not enforceable. He said if they can’t enforce it, it’s useless.

The current deal falls short of what American workers need, Mr. Trumka said, noting major points, such as how it lacks ways to enforce higher labor standards and includes more benefits to “Big Pharma.”

In September, the U.S., Mexico and Canada agreed to replace NAFTA. President Donald Trump and his administration have been promoting the renegotiated trade terms called USMCA — United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Vice President Mike Pence visited a manufacturing facility in York County earlier this month to promote the new deal.

Congress has not ratified the new trade deal due to its similarity to NAFTA.

Mr. Trumka said that the labor movement supports trade and would support NAFTA if it benefits working Americans, which is why the AFL-CIO submitted a list of more than 130 changes to NAFTA. He said AFL-CIO has been present in meetings.

“They know exactly here we stand. They know exactly what an agreement should be,” he said.

Mr. Trumka said the U.S. spends much more on immigration enforcement than on labor standards — about $24 billion on immigration and $2 billion on labor, such as working rights, pension rights and health care rights.

The 25-year-old trade deal has largely helped the average North American, but economists said that a small portion of blue-collar workers in manufacturing industries have suffered. Thirty-eight thousand jobs have been lost in Western Pennsylvania due to NAFTA, Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council, said.

Rick Bloomingdale, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, said that if you drive around Western Pennsylvania you can see the effects of NAFTA.

“They devastated the economy. They have devastated Western Pennsylvania,” Mr. Bloomingdale said.

Lindsey Disler, who works in the organizing department for the United Steelworkers, said as someone who was born the same year NAFTA went into effect, she and her peers have witnessed first-hand the effects of NAFTA.

“I know no other life than dealing with the ramifications and fallout of NAFTA,” she said. 
“Many of us watched our peers’ parents lose their jobs to having them to move down to Mexico.”

Fred Redmond, international vice president of United Steelworkers, said that NAFTA has caused the wages and benefits for workers to decrease.

“The system is not designed benefit workers in the U.S. or Mexico,” Mr. Redmond said. “It is designed to maximize corporate gains.”

Mr. Trumka said that the U.S. need to take its time and create an agreement that works.
“It’s more important to get it done right than get it done tomorrow.”

Trumka will also make stops in Ohio and Michigan on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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