AFGE Rallies to Stop the Fast Track on the TPP
April 17, 2015
AFGE joined more than a thousand other labor and environmental activists Wednesday in a rally to stop the Fast Tracking of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
The trade deal, written in secret by lobbyists of wealthy corporations, would lead to millions of lost jobs and destroy communities across America through economic and environmental deregulation. As if the deal itself weren’t bad enough, advocates want to pass the proposal into law using an obscure procedural rule known as “fast track.” Fast tracking the TPP means Congress can only vote “yes” or “no,” without the opportunity to make any changes.
If passed, the TPP would give big corporations the power to sue whole countries to dispute laws that hurt their profit margins. The deal would give big pharmaceuticals the power to extend patents on their medications and prevent less expensive generics from being created – making life saving drugs more expensive. It would deregulate environmental protections placed on manufacturers and companies, allowing them to dump more pollution into our land and water and force those communities to pay for the cleanup. And instead of creating jobs, the TPP would allow wealthy corporations to outsource those jobs to other countries with no worker protections and poverty wages.
That’s why AFGE joined our sisters and brothers on Capitol Hill this week. We will not stand idly by while our government sells the American dream to the highest bidder.
In attendance at the rally were Senator Sherrod Brown, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Al Franken, Representative Rosa DeLauro, Representative Keith Ellison, Representative Tim Ryan, Representative Mark Pocan, Representative Dan Kildee, Representative Alan Grayson, Representative Brad Sherman, Representative Donna Edwards, AFGE President J. David Cox, Loretta Johnson (AFT), Fred Rolando (NALC), Tefere Gebre (AFL-CIO), Debbie Sease (Sierra Club), and Leo Gerard (USW), who organized the rally.
