How Building Our Movement Helps Us Beat TPP

Activists from CWA and allies are working together to stop fast track and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In Des Moines, Iowa, CWAers built a great crowd for a TPP “teach-in.” About 65 people joined the discussion that focused on how to get the word out about just how bad TPP is for workers, jobs and communities.

Steve Abbott, president of the CWA Iowa Council, said that participants are committed to contacting their members of Congress and writing letters to the editor to their local newspapers to spread the word. “Don’t be afraid to grow a coalition. Don’t be afraid to get others to help. We can’t do this by ourselves. That’s why it’s so important to have partners in this because collectively we can do much more than we can as a single group. When you bring facts to the masses, you’re going to see outrage,” he said.

A key CWA partner is Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, an affiliate of National People’s Action. Hugh Espey, executive director, said, “free trade is about corporations – of, by and for the 1 percent. Fair trade is more about people. So it wasn’t hard to step into that space. We got into that space because of CWA.”

CWA Local 1103 and Westchester, N.Y., grassroots community groups organized a terrific “People’s Town Hall: Why You Should Care about TPP” meeting. The goal was to put a human face on what TPP really means, and it was a big success, said 1103 Secretary-Treasurer Joe Mayhew. “I knew we had a winning issue when I saw the outrage people had when they found out corporations can actually sue our country,” he said.

A community panel, featuring members of Concerned Families of Westchester, Food and Water Watch, the Hudson River Presbytery, Lower Hudson Valley Chapter of the Sierra Club, Westchester Putnam Central Labor Body and WESPAC discussed the impact of the TPP on local jobs, our environment, food safety, healthcare and democracy.

In Santa Rosa, Calif., about 50 people attended a meeting to learn more about the TPP and why activists are pressuring Rep. Mike Thompson (D) to stop this disastrous trade deal. The discussion included members of CWA Local 9400 members and Sierra Club activists.