[rad-green] We’re still waiting for a trade dea l that benefits working people

https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2019/still-waiting-for-a-trade-deal-that-benefits-working-people

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*UNITED ELECTRICAL WORKERS          DECEMBER 13, 2019*

We’re still waiting for a trade deal that benefits working people
Pittsburgh

*UE's officers released the following statement on the US-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA) this morning.*

The proposed replacement of NAFTA, now known as the US-Mexico-Canada
Agreement (USMCA), remains a tool for corporate interests and provides
insufficient relief to address the problems for working people embedded in
the original agreement. At their core, these trade agreements serve to
guarantee corporate investments in foreign countries and stop elected
governments from passing measures that might impact corporate profitability
while offering no real guarantees to workers in exchange.

The USMCA will still allow corporations to move their work to the locations
with the lowest standards for workers and the environment while limiting
the abilities of democratically-elected governments to uphold the interests
of working people. Unless we demand that the rights of workers to organize
and live in dignity are upheld everywhere, American workers will see no
relief from their fears of jobs moving overseas or to lower-wage
communities in their own country.

While guaranteeing protections for corporations, the USMCA does not
guarantee to workers job security, living wages, good benefits, decent
public services, a healthy environment in which to raise their families, or
the ability to form a union without employer interference.

Pressure from working people, environmentalists, family farmers and others
on the USMCA renegotiations over the past year did win small but
significant victories — labor provisions were improved and a section that
would have allowed pharmaceutical corporations to further expand their
profits from life-saving medications was scrapped. But the real way forward
can only be won through mobilization from below, combined with the kind of
visionary thinking about what’s possible in trade agreements contained in
the report “Beyond NAFTA 2.0: Toward a Progressive Trade Agenda for People
and Planet.”
<http://www.rosalux-nyc.org/wp-content/files_mf/beyondnaftaenglishfinaljuly17.pdf>

UE urges Congress to vote “No” on USMCA and instead pursue a new model of
trade and economics that will benefit working people and the planet,
starting with our own working, living and environmental standards. Congress
should pass the Raise the Wage Act
<https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2019/raise-the-wage-time-to-demand-mcconnell-allow-senate-vote>
to
put more money in workers’ pockets, the Protecting the Right to Organize
Act and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act
<https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2019/pro-act-public-service-freedom-to-negotiate>
to
expand the union rights of workers, the Medicare for All Act
<https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2019/bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all-single-payer-healthcare>
to
guarantee quality healthcare to all, and the Green New Deal
<https://www.ueunion.org/political-action/2019/green-new-deal-and-union-jobs>
to
put our country to work ending the climate crisis. As we pursue justice for
working people in the U.S., we can negotiate trade agreements that
guarantee those same rights to workers throughout North America and the
world.

Carl Rosen
General President

Andrew Dinkelaker
Secretary-Treasurer

Gene Elk
Director of Organization

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