Activists say "Hell No" to Fast Track

Fast Track is in hot water. More and more lawmakers are lining up against legislation that would speed NAFTA-style trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) through Congress.

And that has a lot to do with activists like you. CWA members around the country have been bombarding their senators and representatives with demonstrations, phone calls and handwritten letters. Their message, in the words of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, is, "Hell no!"

So far CWAers have generated 8,239 handwritten letters and 5,593 calls to targeted House members and Senators. Meanwhile, they continue their letter-writing, e-mailing and phone calls and visiting member of Congress offices as well as holding town hall meetings and rallies, including two Ohio events this week, one in Akron on Tuesday and another in Cincinnati today.

Labor, environment and community coalition came together at a rally on Tuesday in Akron, OH, to continue their fight to Stop Fast Track and the TPP. Joining CWAers and the coalition to urge Congress to Say No to Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority and No to TPP were Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH 13th District), Frank Matthews of CWA District 4, Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga, Ohio State Sen. Joe Schiavoni (D-OH 33rd District), State Representative from the 75th District Kathleen Clyde, Regional Representative for Senator Sherrod Brown Leah Jones, and others.

ABC Cleveland covered the Akron push.

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CWAers and other activists were on hand as New York joined a growing list of U.S. municipalities to reject bad trade policies. Anti-Fast Track and TPP-free resolutions have been passed by other cities including San Francisco; Los Angeles; Seattle; Pittsburgh; St. Paul, Minn.; Madison, Wis.; Berkeley, Calif.; Tompkins County, N.Y.; Fort Bragg, Calif.; Mahoning County, Ohio; Bellingham, Wash., Richmond, Calif.; Hollywood, Calif.; Oak Park Township, Ill.; Dane County, Wis.; and Guadalupe, Ariz.

The TPP, a massive trade agreement covering the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations, is a giant corporate power grab that has been negotiated in secrecy for five years. Executives of the country's biggest corporations and their lobbyists already have read the text and have had significant opportunities to shape the terms of this deal. The public, however, has been completely shut out.

Momentum is growing to stop this disastrous trade deal and negotiate an agreement that works for all, not just corporate interests.

The latest community to say No! is the City of Hallandale Beach in Broward County, FL, joining the Broward Democratic Party and the Broward AFL-CIO.

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U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY 5th District) is the only member of the New York State Congressional delegation supporting Fast Track and TPP and CWA activists have been letting him hear about it, like during this rally outside his office last week. More than 150 activists, including coalition partners such as Sierra Club, Trade Justice NY Metro, Health Global Access Project (HealthGAP), VOCAL-NY, NY Communities for Change and Working Families Party joined the protest outside Meeks' office.

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Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) joins northeast Ohio workers to stand up for American jobs and call for fair trade that puts American workers and businesses first.

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Union members, including CWA, Food & Water Watch and other community members met with Rep. David Price (NC 4th District) on Wednesday to ask him to vote No on Fast Track.

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Pacific Trade Deal is Bad for California

CWA District 9 Vice President Laura Reynolds and Dean Wallraff of Sierra Club wrote this opinion piece that appeared in the Sacramento Bee.

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AFA-CWA Calls on Senate to Deny Trading Status to Nations Involved in Human Trafficking

In a letter to Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid, Sara Nelson, AFA-CWA International President, called for "bipartisan leadership in support of stamping out modern day slavery around the world." Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced an amendment to the Senate Fast Track bill to deny expedited consideration of any trade agreement with a country on the State Department's list of Tier III human trafficking; that amendment was adopted by the Senate Finance Committee by a strong bi-partisan vote.

Click here to read the letter.

"Fast Track" is in hot water.