Rep. Slaughter Stands Side By Side With Hickey Freeman Employees to Announce Bipartisan Trade Legislation to Protect U.S. Manufacturers and Workers

Press Release

Today, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) stood side by side with Hickey Freeman employees to announce bipartisan trade legislation to protect U.S. manufacturers and workers. Slaughter's legislation, titled the Reciprocal Market Access Act (RMAA), would strengthen the federal government's ability to enforce trade deals and hold foreign trading partners accountable. RMAA has bipartisan support from both Republicans and Democrats, and has been endorsed by both labor and business groups.

"If we want to build a better economy for the future, we need a smarter and tougher trade policy that benefits U.S. workers and manufacturers," Congresswoman Slaughter said. "Other countries have been eating our lunch when it comes to trade, and we need to stand up for ourselves before it's too late. If we are going to allow foreign companies to sell their goods here in the United States, then American manufacturers need to have fair access to foreign markets."

Congresswoman Slaughter also spoke about the dangers of a looming trade agreement before Congress: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP, an 12-country megadeal modeled after the job-killing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has been negotiated in secret. The trade agreement would give foreign companies increased access to the lucrative American market, forcing U.S. workers to compete with countries such as Vietnam, where the minimum wage is less than one dollar per hour and workers' rights are almost nonexistent. Backers of the trade deal want to "fast-track" it through Congress, with little debate and no opportunity for members of Congress to amend the deal to protect their constituents from job losses.

"When NAFTA came up for a vote in 1994, we were promised 200,000 jobs in the first year -- what we got was 1 million manufacturing jobs sent overseas in the last 20 years," said Congresswoman Slaughter, who is leading the fight in Washington to Fast Track and stop the TPP. "I voted against NAFTA because I wasn't elected to send my constituents' jobs overseas, and you can bet I will continue leading the fight to protect my constituents' jobs from this latest bad trade deal."

Hickey Freeman, one of the last American suit manufacturers, praised Congresswoman Slaughter for pushing the RMAA legislation and for standing up for American manufacturers and workers.

"With a level playing field, Hickey Freeman's iconic brand and hardworking employees can compete and thrive in a global economy and Congresswoman Slaughter's legislation will help ensure that the playing field is fair," said John Diacatos, vice president of manufacturing at Hickey Freeman. "I want to thank the Congresswoman for her leadership on this issue and for working to protect U.S. manufacturers and workers from trade deals that would send our jobs and wages overseas."

Today, Rep. Slaughter was joined by a longtime Hickey Freeman employee, Myrvete Adazaga. Myrete has been in the United States for 16 years and has been employed by Hickey Freeman for 15. With her husband and four daughters, she immigrated here from Kosovo. Myrvete works in Hickey Freeman sleeve section and is skilled in all products and designs requiring sleeves. She is a very motivated and hard working woman and with her husband, who works for Wegman's, they have put all four daughters through college.

"My family depends on my ability to work for a company that provides a decent wage, treats its workers well, and values us not just as employees, but as people," said Myrvete Adazaga. "Our country's trade policy should put American workers first. I'm glad that our congresswoman is someone who fights for local workers and local businesses."

Local labor leaders, which have been sounding the alarm on bad trade deals for decades, were also vocal about their support for Slaughter's legislation, and echoed Slaughter's warnings about the TPP.

"We want trade policies that support American innovation, American manufacturing and American jobs, and that's exactly what Congresswoman Slaughter's bill would do," said Jim Bertolone, president of the Rochester-Genesee Valley Area Labor Federation. "Given a level playing field, we can compete with anyone, as we have in the past. But weak enforcement of trade deals we already have, and fast-tracking even worse trade deals around the corner will lead to lost jobs."

One of the ways foreign countries exploit U.S. manufacturers and workers is by securing access to American markets through trade deals and then implementing policies that keep U.S. goods out of their markets. The result is that U.S. manufacturers face unfair competition at home and sell fewer goods abroad. Slaughter's legislation would require the U.S. trade representative to temporarily suspend provisions of a trade agreement if one of our trading partners implements barriers to keep U.S goods from being sold in their country. Once these issues are resolved between the two countries, the trade agreement could go back into effect.

Slaughter has voted against trade deals supported by Democratic presidents, including Presidents Clinton and Obama.

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