Letter to the Editor: Congress is currently considering a trade bill that, if passed, will be another huge blow to working people in this country. Fast Track trade promotion (also known as TPA) will permit only an up or down vote on trade agreements. Congress would eliminate its own ability to strike a better deal for American workers because they would no longer have the ability to propose changes to trade bills. This effort is tied to a trade deal that will include 40 percent of the world’s GDP and 12 different countries.

Fast track makes it easier to send American jobs overseas, and undermines our ability to compete with working people in other countries who make as little as 56 cents an hour. These bad trade policies have cost us more than 1 million jobs and resulted in over 60,000 factories closing across the country. We had seen the result of NAFTA right here in the Greater Cincinnati area .Since NAFTA went in effect 21 years ago, our trade deficit with other nations has grown, U.S. wages have stagnated and millions of jobs have been lost. Supporters of NAFTA said it would lift Mexican workers out of poverty but this hasn’t happened for many reasons. Mexican workers have no real ability to improve wages in a country where their labor agreements only safeguard the employers’ interests. Now Congress should look to what we learned and suffered under NAFTA – and vote no on fast track.

TIM MEADORS
UAW LOCAL 863
PRESIDENT
513-563-1252