Fast track stopped, but more votes expected

In what’s being called “a huge victory for Main Street over Wall Street,” the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block fast track legislation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal – but opponents say the issue is not dead.

“We have every expectation that those seeking to profit from offshoring American jobs will push for fast track again soon, just as we have every confidence their attempts will be defeated once more,” the Citizens Trade Campaign said in a statement on its website.

Fast track authority would allow the Obama administration to push the Trans-Pacific Partnership through Congress on an up-or-down vote with no amendments. Opponents, including many unions, environmental and citizens groups, said trade deals need to be subject to public debate.

Last week, the House separated the fast track bill passed by the U.S. Senate into two parts: Trade Adjustment Assistance for displaced workers and the fast track process. Both parts needed to pass for the bill to pass. The House voted down the TAA portion by a 126 – 302 vote, thus voting down the entire bill.

The Republican leadership in the U.S. House said it will attempt another vote on the measure this week.

Labor leaders, including United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, urged lawmakers to “stand strong” against the legislation.

“Rejecting fast track is an economic life-or-death struggle for American workers because past fast track votes have facilitated the so-called free trade regime during the past three decades that have cost communities tens of thousands of factories and millions of jobs,” Gerard said.

“Instead of trying to grease political wheels with pork and promises, the Obama administration and Congressional Republicans should concede defeat and begin the difficult task of fundamentally changing America’s trade policies to ensure they work for working families.”

Steelworkers’ materials opposing fast track feature Kori Sherwood, a worker at U.S. Steel’s Minntac plant in Mountain Iron, Minn., who was laid off this spring. Sherwood and the union said she lost her job due to unfair imports.

“I’m Kori Sherwood and I’ve worked as a millwright at U.S. Steel Minntac in Minnesota for two years,” Sherwood said in materials post on the USW website. “My life changed for the better for me and my daughter when I got this job but in late May that all came to a crashing halt. May 26, 2015, was my last day of work.

“You finally think you get your life in order — buy a truck, buy a home,” she said, “and it all falls apart.

Sherwood is one of 350 workers recently laid off at Minntac, the union said.