New round of trade talks keep
public in dark, but not lobbyists
Oregon Democrats
united in demand for
transparency in Trans-
Pacific Partnership
All six of Oregon’s Congressional
Democrats sent letters to the nation’s
highest-ranking trade official last month
demanding greater transparency in the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade
negotiations. The TPP is poised to be-
come the country’s largest free trade
agreement ever.
Despite having proposed text for
some 26 separate chapters — affecting
everything from jobs and the environ-
ment to consumer safety and banking
regulations — U.S. negotiators have re-
fused to tell the public what they’ve
been proposing and have even limited
Congressional access to TPP proposals.
“The majority of Congress is being
kept in the dark as to the substance of
the TPP negotiations, while representa-
tives of U.S. corporations — like Hal-
liburton, Chevron, PhRMA, Comcast
and the Motion Picture Association of
America — are being consulted and
made privy to details of the agreement,”
said U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden in late May,
as he introduced legislation requiring
the U.S. trade representative to share
TPP texts with Congress.
JULY 6, 2012
In a letter sent to U.S. Trade Repre-
sentative (USTR) Ron Kirk on June 25,
Sens. Wyden and Jeff Merkley pointed
out that TPP “will create binding poli-
cies on future Congresses in numerous
areas where there is significant public
interest, including policies related to la-
bor, environment and natural resources,
land use, food, agriculture and product
standards, intellectual property rights,
state-owned enterprises and govern-
ment procurement policies, as well as
financial, health care, energy, telecom-
munications and other service sector
regulations.” The letter asked “that the
USTR provide the public with detailed
information and consistent updates on
what USTR is seeking in the TPP.”
Wyden chairs the Senate Trade Sub-
committee charged with overseeing
U.S. trade policy, and until recently, had
been barred from reviewing any TPP
proposals. Even now, he can only ac-
cess TPP documents on a “read and re-
tain basis” — meaning in a private
room without making copies, taking
notes or sharing text with staff (who,
themselves, have high-level security
clearances). Meanwhile, hundreds of
corporate lobbyists have been granted
“cleared adviser” status that gives them
online access to draft TPP texts at their
leisure from anywhere in the country.
“Not allowing the public to com-
ment on specific U.S. proposals for the
TPP until after the multi-year negotia-
tions have concluded and the deal is
signed is outrageously bad policy-mak-
ing procedure,” said Arthur Stamoulis,
director of the labor-backed Oregon
Fair Trade Campaign. “I’m proud that
Oregon’s Congressional delegation is
leading the calls for transparency. The
fact that approximately 600 corporate
lobbyists have access to the TPP nego-
tiating texts, while the public does not,
frankly reeks of corruption. It’s time for
USTR to release the texts.”
One-hundred-thirty-three members
of the U.S. House, including Oregon
Reps. Early Blumenauer, Suzanne
Bonamici, Peter DeFazio, and Kurt
Schrader, sent a letter to Kirk urging
greater opportunities for public and
Congressional oversight of the TPP.
Organizational and constituent requests
that GOP Rep. Greg Walden also add
his name to the letter went unanswered.
The House letter points out prece-
dents for transparency in trade negotia-
tions, including that the World Trade
Organization (WTO) regularly posts
draft texts on its website and that the
Bush Administration published draft
text of the Free Trade Area of the Amer-
icas (FTAA) back in 2001.
More than 42,000 Americans signed
a TPP transparency petition that was de-
livered to U.S. negotiators during the
12th major round of TPP negotiations
in May. The 13th major round of talks
began this week in San Diego.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Poker Run motorcycle winner
Larry Fisher of IBEW Local 280 holds the keys to his new 2012 Heritage
Softail Classic Harley-Davidson motorcycle autographed by Willie G.
Davidson, the grandson of Harley-Davidson co-founder William A. Davidson
and the company’s senior vice president and chief styling officer. Fisher, of
Lebanon, Oregon, was the grand prize winner of the motorcycle raffle, which
is the primary fundraising portion of the Motorcycle Poker Run and Chili
Cook-off sponsored by Unions for Kids. This year marked the 10th
anniversary of the event, which raised a record $55,000 for Doernbecher
Children’s Hospital. Since its inception, the Poker Run has donated $326,000
to Doernbecher. Handing over the keys to Fisher is Jamie Anderson, sales
manager at Columbia Motorcycle in Vancouver, Wash. Columbia was this
year’s top contributor with a donation of $3,000. Out of 297 riders, the
winner of the Poker Run — with a high hand of four 5s — was Dan Poczynek
of IBEW Local 48. The low-hand winner was a “wheel” (A, 2, 3, 4, 5), held
by IBEW Local 48 member Eugene Kramer. Each received a cash prize. The
Chili Cook-off champion was Gail Wolfe, representing the IBEW and United
Workers Federal Union. Wolfe is a member of Office and Professional
Employees Local 11. An award for “Farthest Rider” went to Russ McNally
of Antioch, Calif., He traveled over 600 miles each way, with a “mission” to
deliver a $1,000 donation from IBEW Local 302 in Martinez, Calif. The
Poker Run was held June 9 and was dedicated to the memory of Iron
Workers Local 29 member Mike Roche, Sr., a founding member of Unions
for Kids. For the past 10 years the event has been staged at the IBEW Local
48 union hall in Northeast Portland. Unions for Kids is a nonprofit and an all-
volunteer organization, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the kids at
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.
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