Trumka blasts U.S.-South Korea FTA (WSLC Reports

June 29, 2010

June 28: Support Mott's strikers

June 25: I-1100 is a costly threat to public safety

June 23: Trumka on immigration

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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

"The last thing working people need"

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka once again expresses the federation's strong opposition to the proposed U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement: "This flawed agreement is the last thing working people need. With a fragile and incomplete economic recovery, and unemployment estimated to remain near 10 percent for the foreseeable future, we should not be putting in place new trade agreements that will speed up the offshoring of U.S. manufacturing jobs." Read more.

► This month at Huffington Post -- Why is free trade conventional wisdom? (by SPEEA's Stan Sorscher) -- For some reason, when we design rules for global commerce, we choose free trade policies that place highest priority on investor rights, and push the interests of civil society into the shadows. We should be more interested in the promised outcomes of free trade: mutual gain and improved standard of living in America and abroad.

► In The Nation -- We can fight, and we can win -- There is nothing inevitable about the current direction of globalization. In the United States and elsewhere, this decade has also been one of growing resistance to global corporations. Even among the elite stalwarts of trade and investment liberalization, the longstanding free-market consensus appears to be unraveling. The challenge for the future will be to push alternative agendas through this crack in the consensus.

Attend viaduct project groundbreaking today in Seattle!

Moving forward with the replacement of the dangerous Alaskan Way Viaduct is at a critical stage and support for this important project is needed now more than ever. The M.L. King County Labor Council urges all to show their support by attending a groundbreaking celebration TODAY at 2 p.m. in the construction staging area to the east of the viaduct between S. Royal Brougham Way and Railroad Way S. This is the start of the removal and replacement of the seismically vulnerable southern piece of the project. This portion of the project will help improve access to and from the Port of Seattle, and put more than 600 people to work beginning this summer. No RSVP is necessary -- just please come.

Jobs, jobs, jobs:

► In today's NY Times -- Wrong track distress (Bob Herbert column) -- Employment is the No. 1 issue for most ordinary Americans. Their anxiety on this front only grows as they watch teachers, firefighters and police officers lining up to walk the unemployment plank as state and local governments wrestle with horrendous budget deficits. And what do these worried Americans see the Obama administration doing? It’s doubling down on the war in Afghanistan, trying somehow to build a nation from scratch in the chaos of a combat zone. Despite the yelping and destructive machinations of the deficit hawks, employment and the economy are by far the public’s biggest concern. Obama is paying dearly for his tin ear on this topic.

► At Huffington Post -- Unemployment benefits: House to vote on standalone bill -- The House of Representatives will vote Tuesday on a bill to reauthorize unemployment benefits for people who've been out of work for longer than six months, potentially setting up another last-minute standoff in the Senate as the July 4 recess approaches.

Gubernatorial news:

► In today's Columbian -- Gregoire to lobby for federal dollars in Washington, D.C. -- Gov. Gregoire will travel to D.C. to plead with Congress not to leave Washington state with a new $480 million hole in its budget this year. The governor will fly today to the nation’s capital with a bipartisan group of governors who all counted on receiving a share of $16 billion in federal aid in the form of increased Medicaid payments to help plug large state budget deficits.

► In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire's health-care motion denied -- for now -- Saying their input wasn't appropriate at this stage, a federal judge has denied a request by Gov. Gregoire and three other governors to weigh in against the lawsuit challenging the new health-care law.

► In today's Seattle Times -- Gregoire says she didn't watch KING-TV series on ferry system -- The governor said she'd been briefed on the series, but the station said Gregoire told them "she doesn't have time to watch TV and hasn't seen any of our reports."

WSLC affiliates:
Download election materials

Download camera-ready fliers comparing candidates in various races and explaining ballot measures. Affiliated unions can also request customized versions of these fliers with their names and logos. Get more information.

Election news:

► At SeattlePI.com -- Distiller: Privatized booze sales won't mean lower prices -- "I believe the benefits of privatizing the system to the average person are minimal," says the owner of Spokane's Dry Fly Distilling. "Private enterprise is going to charge basically about the same as the state does. Those guys don't work for free."

► In today's Olympian -- 3rd District heats up -- Six candidates are running during a year of tea-party tempests, economic anxiety and double-digit jobless rates in most of the district. This is giving Republicans and outsiders a certain appeal while the Democrat-run Congress and administration try to coax the economy out of a recession, while trillions of dollars of government debt piles up nationally.

► In the Bellingham Herald -- Dino Rossi is new political "establishment" (Peter Callaghan column) -- Political writers and watchers love narratives. The most popular narrative so far is "Tea Party vs. Establishment," not just the Democratic establishment but the Republican establishment as well. Into this narrative walks Clint Didier, a farmer from Eltopia in Franklin County. Playing the role of the establishment is Dino Rossi.

Boeing news:

► In today's (Everett) Herald -- Can't ignore illegal subsidies (editorial) -- The House passed a measure, by a vote of 410-8, to require the Pentagon to consider “any unfair competitive advantage” held by a bidder for the Air Force refueling tanker contract. Reps. Jay Inslee and Rick Larsen were among its six co-sponsors. The Senate could vote on the amendment after its Fourth of July recess. Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) are co-sponsors there. The Defense Department is part of the U.S. government, funded by U.S. taxpayers. It's not Switzerland. It can't be allowed to remain neutral on this critical point.

► From AP -- Airbus wants international talks on subsidies -- Airbus calls for talks between the United States and the European Union to end the trans-Atlantic fight over subsidies to aircraft manufacturers, saying it was the only way to end the costly six-year dispute.

Local news:

► In today's Seattle Times -- McGinn again tries to make state pay for tunnel overruns -- The Seattle mayor's latest maneuver appears to leave him more alone than ever in his position on the tunnel planned to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. He still is at an impasse not only with the Legislature, but with Gov. Chris Gregoire and most members of the City Council.

► In today's Kitsap Sun -- Metal workers working, eating at new times -- Shipyard workers from the Bremerton Metal Trades Council have new work and lunch hours beginning July 6 after an agreement approved between labor and PSNS management.

► In today's Bellingham Herald -- BTC president leaving for Wisconsin job -- Bellingham Technical College President Thomas Eckert is leaving for Blackhawk Technical College in Wisconsin.

National news:

► At Huffington Post -- States' responses to health care law mixed -- With the messy politics of health reform, the burden of balancing state budgets and the goal of expanding health coverage, state lawmakers have had mixed reactions. A handful of states have passed laws attempting to nullify portions of the health care act, but they would be subject to court challenge under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which requires states to comply with federal laws.

► Ay Politico -- Senate agenda imperiled without Sen. Byrd's vote -- Democrats acknowledged not only the institutional loss of the longest-serving senator in U.S. history but also the loss of a reliable vote for their election-year agenda. “It is a tougher road, believe me,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says. “A 58-vote majority is not as good as a 59-vote majority.”

► At TPM -- Republicans slam Thurgood Marshall, but don't know why -- Republicans raised eyebrows when they criticized the first African-American Supreme Court justice, Thurgood Marshall, as a way to attack nominee Elena Kagan, his former clerk. But when asked which of Marshall's opinions best exemplified his "liberal activism," the top Republicans on the Judiciary Committee couldn't name a single case.

► In today's Washington Post -- Pentagon looking for $100 billion in cost savings -- Over the past few decades, the number of government employees overseeing contracting has shrunk as defense budgets have rapidly grown. That led to little oversight on the costs of weapons systems, industry experts say. The Obama administration has pushed for hiring more contracting experts to help improve the acquisition process.

► From AP -- AFGE: Air Force wrong to privatize food jobs -- Dozens of picketers at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage protest a move by the military to privatize food service jobs. According to AFGE, more than 300 food service workers will be affected by privatization being tried at six Air Force bases in Alaska, California, Arkansas, Florida and Washington state.

TUESDAY, JUNE 29, 2010
'The last thing working people need'

The following statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was released this morning:

We remain deeply concerned about and strongly opposed to the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement as negotiated by the Bush Administration. The agreement would exacerbate our already lopsided trade relationship with South Korea, putting at risk thousands of good U.S. jobs in the auto, steel, and other industrial sectors.

The agreement phases out tariffs on goods and services between the two countries, but does not go nearly far enough in eliminating the non-tariff barriers that currently prevent American products – especially autos – from entering the South Korean market fairly.

This flawed agreement is the last thing working people need. With a fragile and incomplete economic recovery, and unemployment estimated to remain near 10 percent for the foreseeable future, we should not be putting in place new trade agreements that will speed up the offshoring of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Our negotiators should go back to the table to address the imbalanced market-access provisions in the agreement and to revisit the flawed investment, procurement, and services provisions as well.

President Obama promised a "smart, fair and strong" trade policy.

The KORUS FTA does not meet this standard, and we will work closely with the Administration and Congress to improve this agreement on behalf of American and Korean workers. Unless and until the agreement is amended to address these concerns, we will strongly oppose passage of the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement.