Detroit Free Press - Dingell, Labor Leaders Seek to Stop Trade Deal

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Rep. Debbie Dingell and labor leaders throughout southeast Michigan today urged their members to urge their congressmen and women to vote against granting President Barack Obama fast track authority to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The Senate has already approved fast track authority. If the House follows suit, the president will sign it and the trade agreement with 11 other nations will take effect.

Both the UAW and the domestic automakers oppose the deal in its present form. They want the Obama administration to insert enforceable restrictions against currency manipulation and require participating countries honor a set of labor standards.

"We keep being asked to vote on trade agreements that are hurting American workers," Dingell said while speaking on the lawn in front of UAW Local 600 in Dearborn.

Jeff Donofrio of Ford's government affairs staff in Washington also spoke against granting fast-track authority.

"We can't compete against currency manipulation by other governments," he said.

Ron Bieber, newly elected president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, said the TPP is a "huge, huge deal" because it could impact countries that account for 40% of the world's gross domestic product.

"You don't have to go very far from where we are standing today to see the devastation caused by NAFTA," Bieber said in reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement that was passed about 20 years ago.

Many of the agreement's details have been shrouded in semi-secrecy. Certain congressional leaders have been able to read it in a special location from which they can't take copies.

Companies like Nike support it because it will reduce tariffs on shoes it imports from Vietnam. Opponents fear that the partnership will encourage companies to shift even more American manufacturing jobs to low-wage nations.

The Obama administration contends that without the Trans-Pacific Partnership, China will set most of the rules governing trade in the rapidly growing Asian market and make it harder for American companies to grow their exports, including exports of goods and services created in the U.S. China is not one of the 12 countries that are part of the TPP.

"If we are not there helping to shape the rules of the road, then U.S. businesses and U.S. workers are going to be cut out," President Obama said earlier this week in a radio interview. "There's a pretty big country there, called China, that is growing fast, has great gravitational pull and often operates with different sets of rules."

Opponents cite the hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs lost during the 20 years after NAFTA took effect.

The UAW and the AFL-CIO say TPP lacks strong enough enforcement tools to protect workers and the environment, especially in countries such as Vietnam and even Mexico, where, they argue, governments strongly discourage democratic unions.

Dingell said the House will vote on fast-track authority in the next two weeks. The White House and House Speaker John Boehner are still trying to line up enough votes to pass it.

All five Democrats in the Michigan House delegation -- Dingell, Sander Levin, John Conyers, Dan Kildee and Brenda Lawrence --- are expected to vote no.

"Some of my Republican colleagues haven't said how they will vote," Dingell said, mentioning Candice Miller, David Trott and Tim Walberg. "Let's make sure that in the next week workers are communicating with them."

Countries that are part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership: U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei.

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