April 2014
print Print  email Email Archive
header
www.ibew.org

 

Also In This Issue Solidarity in the South
Space center workers join IBEW read_more

Winning Back the Work
Business development
push wins big project for
Des Moines members read_more

Politics & Jobs
Benefits of grassroots political activism. read_more

TVA to privatize?
Historic entity at risk read_more

North of 49°
Canada's Highest
Court Upholds
Pensioner Rights read_more

Au nord du 49° parallèle
La plus haute cour d'appel du Canada maintient les droits des retraités read_more

NEBF Annual Funding
Notice
read_more

PDF

GoGreen

EWflipPDF

UnionSportsmensAlliance

FoundersScholarship

IBEWMerchandise


  Cover Photo

Bad News for Good Jobs?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership

If you liked NAFTA, you'll love the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That's the message a broad coalition of lawmakers, labor unions and health and safety activists is telling Americans about the largest trade agreement in more than a decade.

The TPP would govern trade between the United States and 12 other Pacific-rim nations: Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Vietnam. Supporters, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and President Obama, say the TPP will expand trade with some of the world's most vibrant economies, representing close to 40 percent of world GDP.

Gabe Horwitz, director of the think-tank Third Way, said that the TPP would open up doors to U.S. exports in Asia, boosting American manufacturing.

"For example, within the next 20 years, the Asia Pacific region will need 12,820 new airplanes, valued at $1.9 trillion," he said in a statement. "The question is who will build them?"

Critics of the deal question what good can come from a trade agreement where negotiations have so far been held in secret. Legislators, unions, environmental and other citizens groups have been excluded from the talks, while more than 600 corporate lobbyists have been inside the discussions from the beginning.

"The majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PHRMA, Comcast, and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The agreement took one step closer to becoming a reality when Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), along with House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) submitted legislation in January giving Obama "fast-track" authority to negotiate the TPP, leaving Congress only the authority to make an up or down vote on the trade deal. read_more

  Local Lines

Officers ColumnHill and Chilia: Standing in Solidarity with the UAW read_more

CircuitsManufacturing Member Makes Tapestry of Solidarity;

IBEW Urges Caution in Comcast-Time Warner Merger read_more

LettersOverwhelming 'Yes' Vote Wins Rights for Ill. Satellite Techs;

Fla. Bridge Workers Turn Activists, Join IBEW;

Minn. City Supervisors Promote Good Government, IBEW Values read_more

TransitionsRoy T. Noack;
James C. Sharp read_more

LettersScott Walker, True Patriot;

Walking with a Purpose;

Congrats, Electrical
Worker read_more

January 2014 read_more

February 2014 read_more

Who We AreMember Makes Olympic Appearance read_more

SaveJobsSaveLives