USW to campaign against TPP

PITTSBURGH (Dec. 11, 2015) — The United Steelworkers union is urging the U.S. and Canada to reject the proposed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

The USW's International Executive Board adopted a formal resolution to that effect recently and is distributing it to its members across the U.S. and Canada, in preparation for a TPP rejection campaign in both countries, according to USW International President Leo W. Gerard.

The USW fought against granting President Obama fast-track authority to get the TPP through Congress quickly, and denounced the agreement itself as a job-killer for U.S. workers.

“When negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership began, our union engaged with the negotiators and policymakers in the hope of forging a new approach,” Mr. Gerard said in a Dec. 10 press release.

However, the union's hopes were dashed quickly, he said. The TPP does nothing to counter currency manipulation by other countries, condones overcapacity in global manufacturing, has insufficient rules for state-owned enterprises, provides weak rules of origin for autos and auto parts, and fails to ensure worker rights.

“The TPP will only continue the failed trade policies of the past that have valued corporate profits, wherever obtained, over the interests of job and opportunity creation here at home,” the resolution states. “The USW will put every effort into defeating the TPP.”