On the Fast Track to sweatshops

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Melanie, Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch" <gtwinfo@citizen.org>
Date: Sep 10, 2014 4:59 PM
Subject: On the Fast Track to sweatshops
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>
Cc:

September 10, 2014 Daniel, U.S. officials were in Vietnam recently to continue secretly scheming for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Vietnam, of course, is where Big Business goes when even China's labor conditions and costs aren't abysmal enough to satisfy its greed. Independent unions are banned in Vietnam. And the country was recently red-listed by the U.S. Department of Labor as one of just four in the entire world where both child labor and forced labor are part of apparel production. And, for extra irony, this all happened over Labor Day weekend — when we honor the sacrifices and dedication of America's working people. Email your representative to say "no" to sweatshops, "no" to child labor and "no" to Fast Tracking the TPP. Members of Congress have asked: How could we be negotiating a trade deal with a country that has such terrible labor rights conditions — especially after the utter failure of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement's (FTA) Labor Chapter and Labor Action Plan? Since that FTA, conditions have gotten worse in Colombia: Threats of violence and assassination have increased. So have forced displacements. Forced labor, child labor and horrific conditions in sugar and palm oil plantations continue. Attempts to organize are routinely met with threats, violence and assassinations. And, now with the FTA in place, the pressure is off the Colombian government and business elite to make improvements, because they have preferential access into the U.S. market no matter what happens to their workers. Somehow, despite this shameful history, the administration and some in Congress have the gall to push for Fast Track — an extraordinary procedure that takes Congress' constitutional authority over trade and gives it to the president — so the TPP, with Vietnam included, can be rammed through Congress. Fast Track would let President Barack Obama sign the TPP before Congress votes on it and then railroad it through Congress with limited debate and no amendments. The reprehensible labor conditions of current and proposed trading partners deepen the moral imperative that Congress maintain its constitutional powers to prevent such tragedies in future trade agreements. Thankfully, some representatives refuse to tie their hands when there is so much at stake. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and others are working on a Fast Track replacement known as "Smart Track." But will it just be Fast Track in disguise? Or will it give Congress a steering wheel and emergency brake on runaway "trade" deals like the TPP? Write your representative to demand a real replacement to Fast Track and put an end to unfair trade deals. Thank you for all you do. In solidarity, Melanie Foley Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch About GTW | Contact Us | Write Your Rep | Support Us Stay informed and speak out when it counts. Sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network or other online announcements. If you do not wish to receive e-mail messages from Public Citizen in the future, please click here. Public Citizen employees are members of SEIU Local 500. We support the right of workers in the United States and around the world to organize freely. Union Yes! Copyright © 2014 Public Citizen. All Rights Reserved 215 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, 3rd Floor Washington, DC 20003