TPP Trade Deal Misses 2013 Deadline, Talks Continue

Ernie Pacheco, CWA District 9's environmental programs coordinator, rallies against the TPP at a Beverly Hills, Calif., protest.

Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiators missed their year-end deadline to complete the deal, giving activists more time to take down the massive, secretive agreement that could destroy workers' rights and jobs.

"We've been losing service sector jobs at the same pace now as manufacturing jobs," said CWA President Larry Cohen on a media call discussing the TPP. "Half a million call center jobs have gone overseas in the past five years. The 600 multinationals that are negotiating this deal are looking at net profits. We need to look at what would be the net results on jobs for workers – not just jobs created by exports but also those jobs lost to imports."

He added, "There's nothing in this for the American people."

Listen to the entire media call also featuring Reps. Rosa DeLauro and Louise Slaughter, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, Steelworkers President Leo Gerard and Teamsters President James Hoffa here.

And check out Cohen's discussion about the TPP with Ed Schultz on The Ed Show.

Opposition is growing.

This week The Huffington Post reported that the Obama administration "appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation." Read more here.

CWA activists continue to put pressure on lawmakers to vote no on "fast track," a process that would restrict Congress to an up-or-down vote on the TPP with no amendments. Most recently we joined with Citizens Trade Campaign, Moveon.org, Sierra Club and Trade Justice to protest Rep. Gregory Meeks's decision to join the Pro-TPP Caucus. Check out this video of the rally outside his New York office.