TPP FREE TRADE AGREEMENT IS GOOD FOR UNIONS

Ed Schultz, the host of a talk show on MSNBC, often rants and raves about the TPP or the Trans-Pacific Partnership sometimes to the point of being an embarrassment. As a liberal, he considers himself a champion of Labor Unions. Union leaders join Ed on his show; thus, giving him credibility in his criticism of President Obama, who is working hard to promote TPP counter to the wishes of all unions, not just some but all unions. The office of the president tells us the trade agreement is dedicated to expanding economic opportunity for American workers. The aim is to promote trade with some of the most dynamic and fastest growing countries in the world. This is a big deal. Obama has been and is a champion of labor, so what is the basis of what seem to be a serious conflict? Republicans join President Obama in supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership while union leaders are uniformly opposed to the President. This is a complete role reversal. A Republican spokesperson, Genevieve Wood was a guest on the Ed Show last night. She represents the Heritage Foundation, thus is as far right as you can get. Her nature of her defense of TPP surprised me and she apparently surprised Ed because she left him speechless when she was talking about the impact of international trade deal on world labor. Most republican speak of how good those deals are for business and manufacturing interest because of access to cheap labor, avoidance of environmental regulations etc. On April 26th of this year, I posted a blog on Firetreepub.blogspot.com titled, TPP, OBAMA, WARREN, UNIONS, AND WORKERS. The thrust of that blog was exactly what Genevieve Wood’s main point; what free trade agreements do is open up United States Market to the world, from which international workers benefit. Among things such as child labor laws and environmental concerns that have gotten better in those countries, wages in Korea, Mexico and South America have all gone up as well because of past trade agreement the union leaders are now condemning and using as examples of what will happen with the successful passage into law of TPP. Trade agreements are far from perfect, but they are moving in the right direction. Over the course of my life, I had to deal with an organization with the name of International Labor Organization (ILO). I lived in Belize, Central America and in Java, Indonesia. I feel I know a little about the sorry state of international labor as well as environment, and standards of living. In most countries, the ILO has littler or no power. The thing about this TPP is that President Obama now has had some experience in trade agreements and is a champion of labor is at the helm, and not Bush or Reagan, who let an unfettered business world write the agreements. This agreement is not perfect, but it is the best one we have ever had by far, thanks to him. Like me, he is a free trader interested in the will being of workers around the world. As I often say, we are all a little bit greedy, some more than others, which is what divides Republicans from Democrats. Our labor union leaders are letting their selfishness get the better of them. They want everything they can get for American workers and to hell with the workers of the world and the ILO—more power to the conservative nature in them. On the other hand, President Obama is not only a leader of the United States, but also he is the first true world leader this nation has ever had, and best of all, he is a liberal. I oppose union leaders and Elizabeth Warren and stand solidly with our President on this, after all this is a little blue planet. I see it as a great opportunity for the labor movement to expand internationally, but also know that the labor union leaders will not take advantage of this opening as long as they allow their conservative leanings blind them to the realities of the world. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated