Unions object as U.S. Senate passes fast track on second try

In a virtual rerun from two weeks ago — and a win for corporations and the 1 percent — the U.S. Senate voted 60-38 Wednesday to pass so-called “fast track” legislation to grease the skids for future free trade pacts without changes or worker rights.

And this time, Senators backed fast track without even attaching to it aid to workers who lose their jobs due to subsidized imports such pacts allow. The aid to the workers, Trade Adjustment Assistance, is another matter, because the ruling Republicans oppose it.

President Barack Obama lobbied hard for fast-track authority as he pursues negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest-ever free trade deal encompassing nations representing more than 40 percent of the world’s GDP.

The rerun vote upset union leaders, who brought together a broad coalition of workers, environmentalists, religious groups, civic groups and even the NAACP to oppose fast track. They said they don’t trust the Republicans to approve the aid for workers who lose their jobs – the “fig leaf” Democratic fast-track backers and Obama demand.

“Hopefully, Republicans will keep their word and honor their promises” to pass TAA, said Steelworkers President Leo Gerard.

 “This vote applies grease to the wheels for the administration to rush to complete negotiations on the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade agreement. Workers calling for fair trade are echoed across the globe. Free trade ideology has met the reality of today’s trade system that has left too many behind as corporations and the wealthy have harvested the profits. We need a new approach to trade.”
 
“Too many senators decided to trust big business and the House instead of standing up for American workers,” said Teamsters President Jim Hoffa. “The last time the Senate considered fast track, it at least included Trade Adjustment Assistance that would provide support for the thousands of U.S. workers likely to lose jobs because of trade deals like the TPP.

“But this time, there is no such provision and there is certainly no guarantee House Speaker John Boehner will take up TAA again,” Hoffa said. Boehner is an Ohio Republican.

National Nurses United co-President Jean Ross said fast-track and the TPP would endanger public health, here and abroad.Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro added NNU would continue its public protests of fast track and the TPP.

“The Senate, eliminating the ability to amend a deeply flawed trade deal written in secret by corporate lobbyists, sent an unmistakable message that access to life-saving medications and food safety are less important than the profits of the wealthiest corporations in the world,” Ross said. “Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce hardly need more handouts.”

Ross explained the TPP would give giant pharmaceutical firms “extensions of monopoly control for high priced brand name drugs – and the ability to block access to cheaper generic drugs that can mean life and death for low and moderate-income patients, many of whom already face un-payable bills for meds and other healthcare.”

“In this entire fight… it was evident the White House and congressional leaders from both major parties were acting as corporate assets to Wall Street while ignoring the widespread opposition of American workers and the public,” said DeMoro.

The Senate vote reflected a mix of political support for the measure.

Thirteen Democrats and 47 Republicans voted yes. Thirty-one Democrats, including Minnesota’s Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, as well as five Republicans and two independents voted against fast track.