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September 2, 2016 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
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Why, Kate, why?
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Paula
Oregon governor declares support for Trans-Pacific Partnership
SALEM—At a time when both
Hillary Clinton and Donald
Trump say they’re against the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),
Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Kate
Brown has come out in favor of
it. TPP is a NAFTA-style pact
between the United States and
11 Pacific Rim nations, includ-
ing three that have poor human
rights records and no current
trade agreement with the United
States. Unions are strongly op-
posed to it.
TPP negotiations concluded
last October, but to take effect,
the pact must be approved by
Congress.
A spokeswoman for Gov.
Brown told The Oregonian/Ore-
gonLive editorial board in an
early August email that Brown
supports ratification of the deal.
It may be the first time Brown
has supported such an agree-
ment. Brown is a former state
legislator from Southeast Port-
land who became secretary of
state and then governor when
John Kitzhaber resigned. She’s
up for election this November.
“I’m disappointed by Gover-
nor Brown’s support of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership,” said
ANTI-TPP BLIMP IN SALEM: Members of the United Steelworkers Legislative
Committee fly a 25-foot protest blimp over the State Capitol Aug. 23 to de-
nounce Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain in an official
statement. “Oregon’s unions
continue to stand united in our
opposition to the TPP, because
it’s a bad deal for working peo-
ple in our state. We are still reel-
ing from the impact of previous
free trade agreements. Since the
passage of the North American
Free
Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) over 50,000 Oregon
workers lost their jobs, and those
lost jobs are certified by the De-
partment of Labor as the direct
result of free trade agreements.”
On Aug. 23, the United Steel-
workers Legislative Committee
held a rally on the front steps of
the State Capitol to protest
Brown’s support of the TPP. Af-
terward, they met with the gov-
ernor for nearly 45 minutes.
“She apologized for not in-
forming labor before she an-
nounced her support,” said Bob
Tackett, a member of Steel-
workers Local 335 and execu-
tive secretary-treasurer of the
Northwest Oregon Labor Coun-
cil.
“She said she took her lead
from Sen. (Ron) Wyden,” Tack-
ett told the Labor Press. “We
told her that she ought to talk to
Sen. (Jeff) Merkley.”
Wyden, a Democrat, helped
push a fast track vote through
the Senate, and he strongly sup-
ports the TPP. Fast track, also re-
ferred to as trade promotion au-
thority, allows for an up-
or-down vote with limited de-
bate and no amendments.
Merkley, the only Democratic
senator from Oregon and Wash-
ington to oppose the TPP, says it
puts American workers in direct
competition with people earning
a dollar an hour or even less
overseas.
In a letter to a constituent that
was sent to the Labor Press,
Merkley said “such an unbal-
anced trade agreement would be
devastating for many workers,
families, and communities and
put an inevitable downward
pressure on incomes for ordi-
nary Americans.
“The TPP has not meaning-
fully changed from past trade
deals that have cost Americans
good-paying jobs in several im-
portant areas,” Merkley wrote.