Help Prevent a NAFTA of the Pacific

As trade negotiators from around the Pacific Rim gathered in Chicago and southern California to hammer out the details of a massive new trade deal, CTC and our allies were there to demand a “Fair Deal or No Deal” on the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement.

The Trans-Pacific FTA is currently under negotiation between the United States, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and Peru — but is also intended as a “docking agreement” that is theoretically open to any country in the Pacific Rim.  The outcome of a deal this large will influence the types of jobs available in our communities; the wages and benefits that many jobs pay; tax revenues and public services; greenhouse gas emissions and the environment; access to medicine; consumer protections; financial regulations; the health of family farms; and global migration patterns.

Corporate lobbyists are pushing hard for their vision of the ideal trade agreement.  The window of opportunity is short for labor, environmental, family farm, consumer, faith, immigrant rights, indigenous and other social justice activists to make our voices heard.

In Chicago in September 2011, CTC worked with local, national and international partners to organize a Week of Action outside the Trans-Pacific FTA negotiations.  Check out the photos online here.  It’s also not too late to take action online here.

Endorsing organizations (for either part or all of the week) included the Chicago Federation of Labor; Chicago Jobs with Justice; Chicago and Midwest Regional Board of Workers United; Chicago Teachers Union; Citizens Trade Campaign; Communications Workers of America (CWA); CWA National Women’s Committee; Friends of the Earth; HealthGAP; International Association of Machinists; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; International Brotherhood of Teamsters; Public Citizen; Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Sierra Club; Stand Up! Chicago; United Electrical Workers (UE); United Steelworkers; and many others.

We organized similar actions in southern California in January 2012.  Check out the photos here.

Learn more about the Trans-Pacific FTA here