CWA Demands Public Trans-Pacific Trade Talks

Activists make signs ahead of the TPP rally in Dallas.

CWA and its progressive allies on Saturday will march on corporate America's latest power grab: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement.

As hundreds of international trade ministers and corporate lobbyists gather in Dallas for confidential, closed-door negotiations on May 12, activists will rally for a public debate on the potentially destructive trade deal.

CWAers and activists from all over Texas will be making the trip to Addison, Tex., for the 1 p.m. rally, with Local 6215 Executive Vice President Nancy Hall, among others, speaking at the event. Information on buses and carpooling is available at www.tppdallas.org.

"It is unacceptable that an agreement with such far reaching implications is being negotiated behind closed doors and in complete secrecy," said CWA District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings. "The only people with access to texts, in addition to the governments involved, are the nearly 600 corporate trade advisers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce can see the texts, but because none of the texts has been released to the public, workers who face the loss of their livelihoods and communities that face economic downturn are denied any input."

He added, "Every trade deal has resulted in a loss of jobs for U.S. workers. It's no surprise that a recent Wall Street Journal poll found 69 percent of Americans believe that free trade cost jobs. They're right."

On Wednesday, activists and Dallas area residents joined a telephone town hall to hear experts from the Sierra Club, Citizens Trade Campaign and CWA discuss what ordinary people can do to stop the TPP.

If ratified, the agreement will put an end to "Buy American" policies and other initiatives to keep good jobs in the United States. U.S. workers already have seen far too many good jobs go offshore, from millions of manufacturing jobs to at least 500,000 call center jobs that have been sent overseas from 2006 to 2010.

At stake are policies that will likely impact agriculture, the environment, health care, consumer safety, banking regulations and Internet freedom.

Currently, the TPP stands to be the largest free trade agreement in the history of the United States. It now includes Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Singapore, but Canada, Mexico and Japan also want to join.

Say no to backroom deals for the 1 percent by signing a Citizens Trade Committee's petition for the public release of all TPP proposals. "Americans deserve the right to know what U.S. trade negotiators are proposing in our name," the petition says. The signatures will be presented to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and other trade negotiators this week in Dallas.