Trumka says AFL-CIO will 'scorecard' trade-deal votes

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday that his labor federation will likely score lawmakers’ votes on three pending trade deals that the Obama administration is backing.

Labor leaders, typically staunch Democratic allies, have been angered by the White House’s push for congressional approval of trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea this year. With the nation’s largest labor federation planning to record members’ votes on the deals, it could make it more difficult for President Obama to secure Democratic votes for these agreements.

“We are going to fight it, yes,” Trumka said. “It's not going to be lip service. We are going to oppose it. And when we oppose something, it's a scorecard vote. These votes are going to be scorecard votes.”

Scoring lawmakers’ votes is a practice used by unions as well as business groups to determine which lawmakers earn endorsements and how much financial support they will receive for the next election. Scoring high on the AFL-CIO legislative scorecard is important for Democrats since many depend on labor for campaign help.

Despite labor’s distaste for the pending trade deals, the White House has moved aggressively on finishing them this year.

On Monday, the White House announced that Obama will meet with Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli next week to discuss the next steps for the trade deal. That follows progress made on both the Colombia and Korea deals, setting up all three agreements for likely votes on Capitol Hill this summer.

Trade associations have applauded the administration’s push on trade, seeing it as a boost for the economy as well as bolstering U.S. companies’ competitiveness across the globe. But Trumka questioned whether the trade deals will end up creating more U.S. jobs.

“Panama? Is that going to pull us out of the doldrums?” the labor leader asked.

Trumka also didn’t shy away from criticizing the trade deals with Colombia and Korea.

“Why the push? These are old Bush-era agreements that the president once said were antiquated, that they don't meet the needs of the country, and they don't,” Trumka said. “Even though he made some improvements in Korea, it's still a job loser. And even though he made some improvements in Colombia, they are still not ready to enforce their laws.” 

The administration has trumpeted some unions’ support, particularly the United Auto Workers (UAW), of the Korea trade deal. But saying labor opposition to the Colombia agreement will be “exceptional,” Trumka warned packaging all three deals together in one vote, as some Republicans have suggested, could threaten UAW’s support of the Korea deal.

“They very well could if they try to lump them together. Every union in the country, in fact every union in the world opposes what has happened in Colombia. Labor leaders are being targeted for assassination,” Trumka said.