Labor movement is united in opposition to "Fast Track"

First time ever unions are publicly unified on Trade

To paraphrase Vice President Joe Biden, this is a big deal.

For the first time ever, the leaders of every major union in the United States - including unions in both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win federations - have united in opposition to "fast tracking" dangerous trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In a full-page ad running in today's edition of Roll Call, sixty-seven leaders of America's unions signed a letter ask Senators and Representatives "to join us in opposition to “fast track” trade promotion authority (also known as TPA)."

Fast track trade deals mean fewer jobs, lower wages, and a declining middle class. Fast track has been used since the Nixon Administration to advance deals, like NAFTA, that are sold to the American people as job creation measures. But these deals, written largely by and for the world’s largest corporations, don’t create jobs: their main purpose isn’t even related to trade, it’s to enshrine rules that make it easier for firms to invest offshore and increase corporate influence over the global economy.

Fast track is an undemocratic, unaccountable and completely unacceptable way to develop economic policies that affect us all. America needs a new version of trade negotiating authority that brings the process out from behind closed doors and prioritizes making life better for people, instead of just making life easier for corporations. Working people have heard enough broken promises about the benefits of fast track. It’s time to stop believing the fairy tale that passing one more fast track trade deal is going to have different results.

"If you stand for higher wages, more jobs, and greater opportunities for America’s hardworking families," the letter concludes, "you must oppose fast track."

Read our Fast Track ad in Roll Call (PDF)