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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">The attached USW news statement is a kick-off of our campaign to achieve a congressional rejection of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)<span style="color:#1F497D">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">A text copy with a link to the full IEB resolution is shown below, or you can access the USW release at:
</span><span style="color:#1F497D"><a href="http://usw.to/5u">http://usw.to/5u</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">gary/usw<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">><a href="mailto:ghubbard@usw.org">ghubbard@usw.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="color:#1F497D">
<hr size="2" width="100%" align="center">
</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">USW NEWS<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">December 10, 2015
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">CONTACTS:
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Wayne Ranick: (412)<b>
</b>562-2444<b>; </b></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> </span><u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:blue"><a href="mailto:wranick@usw.org">wranick@usw.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""> Gary Hubbard: (</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">202) 256-8125</span><b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">;
</span></b><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="mailto:ghubbard@usw.org">ghubbard@usw.org</a><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">USW Leadership Statement Urges Rejection of TPP Trade Deal<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Executive Board Resolution applies to U.S. & Canada action</span></i></b><span style="font-size:22.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Pittsburgh (Dec. 10) – The International Executive Board of the United Steelworkers (USW) today adopted a formal resolution urging rejection of the proposed 12-nation
Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal by both the U.S. Congress and the Canadian federal government.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">USW President Leo W. Gerard said the resolution is intended for wide distribution to the union membership in both the U.S. and Canada, setting forth the basis of a fully-engaged
TPP rejection campaign in each country.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The USW is the largest industrial union in North America representing 1.2 million active and retired members who would all be impacted by TPP,” Gerard said. “These workers
with family-supportive jobs are employed in virtually every tradable sector: mining, metals, glass, rubber, paper and forestry, automotive and aerospace products.”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Upon release of the USW policy statement, he said it exposes the TPP as bad trade policy with no real enforcement, misplaced priorities and that working families had already
suffered far too long from previous free trade deals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The USW resolution highlighted the union had an earnest expectation workers’ needs in any trade deal would be met. “When negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership
began, our union engaged with the negotiators and policymakers with the hope of forging a new approach.”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The statement said the USW sought a trade agreement for the U.S. and Canada “that would lift wages up, rather than pushing them down, one that would reduce our nations’
accumulated trade deficits that continue to mount, one that would promote domestic manufacturing and employment rather than more outsourcing and offshoring, one that would begin to reverse the widening gap of income inequality.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Citing in detail issues ignored that hurt American and Canadian workers, the USW resolution found the TPP didn’t address currency manipulation, accepted overcapacity in
global manufacturing, had insufficient rules for State-Owned Enterprises, provided weak rules of origin for autos and auto parts, plus showed a failure to ensure worker rights standards are implemented.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The TPP fails to meet the promise that it would be a high-standards, 21<sup>st</sup> Century trade agreement in the area of workers’ rights, representing not only a missed
opportunity, but also limiting the ability of workers to share in the very prosperity that they will be working so hard to create for multinational firms through their labor.”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">It added, “TPP countries would be required to adopt and maintain laws to provide for a minimum wage, but that wage may be only pennies an hour to be acceptable under the
TPP.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Saying the USW provided comprehensive proposals during the TPP negotiations about how to improve the implementation, monitoring and enforcement of U.S. trade laws, the
resolution declared: “The negotiators agreed to TPP trade rules that are far from sufficient, leaving the USW with little confidence that even those rules will be enforced.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The resolution concluded:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">“The TPP will only continue the failed trade policies of the past that have valued corporate profits, wherever obtained, over the interests of job and opportunity creation
here at home. The USW will put every effort into defeating the TPP.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";background:yellow;mso-highlight:yellow">The USW International Executive Board resolution rejecting the TPP can be viewed by
<a href="http://www.usw.org/news/media-center/releases/2015/body/12-10-15_IEB-Resolution-TPP_FINAL2.pdf" target="_blank">
<strong>CLICKING HERE</strong></a>.</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">A detailed report by the statutorily-created
<b><a href="https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/Labor-Advisory-Committee-for-Trade-Negotiations-and-Trade-Policy.pdf">U.S. Labor Advisory Committee (LAC) on the TPP</a></b> that Gerard served on was also publicly released Dec. 4 by the 19-named representatives
of working Americans. Among the LAC signatories were: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, UAW President Dennis Williams, Machinists President R. Thomas Buffenbarger and James Hoffa, General President of the Teamsters.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The TPP countries are: United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">An op-ed by Gerard, Hoffa and Williams critical of the TPP following release of the LAC report was published in the Huffington Post as:
</span><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-p-hoffa/labor-unions-tpp_b_8740856.html&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoUMTA1NTI5NzE0NjE5OTY4NDk1MDIyGjNiODA3MWQ5YWYyODY2ZWM6Y29tOmVuOlVT&usg=AFQjCNGOl4ukMwcW-xieISWz3XTB5ykU-g">It's
Time to Take a Stand for Workers on TPP</a></span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service and public
sectors. For more information: <a href="http://www.usw.org/">http://www.usw.org/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"># # #<o:p></o:p></p>
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