Senator Casey Joins with the USW to Fight Back Against Fast Tracking the TPP

On May 1, outside the United Steelworkers union hall in Braddock, PA., U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and USW International President Leo W. Gerard met with supporters and reporters to state their opposition to Fast-Track legislation which, in a few weeks, is up for a vote in Congress.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is an agreement linking the U.S., Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam together in a free trade agreement  that could allow countries with low wages and poor labor rights records to undercut labor norms in the United States.

 “On so many of these agreements, it seems that every time, despite a lot of promises a trade agreement is proposed, Pennsylvania gets the short end of the stick,” said Casey, “the short end of the stick when it comes to wages and the short end of the stick when it comes to worker protections.”

“These agreements are not about trade,” said Gerard. “These agreements are investment agreements so multi-national corporations and multi-national finance can go in and invest anywhere they want with the least interference to do whatever the hell they want.”

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