Hoffa: China's currency manipulation should serve as a warning about TPP

Editor's Note: The following column by Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa is also appearing on the Huffington Post website.

Currency manipulation has long been a drag on the U.S. economy and our jobs. But China’s decision last week to devalue the Yuan shows the kind of damage such tinkering can bring to America. And it’s why Congress cannot approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) until something is done about it.

The Teamsters for years have talked about how the issue is a cancer for trade deals like the 12-nation Pacific Rim pact. It makes imports cheaper to buy in the U.S. but drives up the cost of goods workers make here and export to the world. That, in turn, increases our trade deficits and forces U.S. manufacturers to either move overseas or close up shop.

The practice creates an unfair trade advantage that has already cost millions of jobs in this country and shuttered thousands of U.S. factories. And it will only get worse if America proceeds with the TPP. Japan, Singapore and Malaysia, for example, are part of the trade agreement and have a long history of engaging in currency manipulation. China’s decision to lower the value of the Yuan after four years of relative stability will likely cause others nations to do so as well.

The failure to address currency manipulation and undervaluation has been a major cause of the U.S. trade deficit and manufacturing decline. Yet there is no provision in the TPP to do so, even though policymakers understand how devastating it can be to America’s economic health.

It is even more startling when the U.S. already has proof that the lack of currency manipulation language is a major failing in modern trade deals. The three-year-old U.S.-Korea trade agreement, known as KORUS, is the model that the TPP is built upon.  While supporters said it would create upwards of 70,000 jobs, it instead has led to tens of thousands of lost American jobs and an 84-percent increase in this country's trade deficit with Korea. In fact, the U.S. rung up its highest monthly trade deficit ever with Korea in January, reaching $3 billion.

Those job losses are not low-wage jobs, either. As the Economic Policy Institute surmised earlier this year, increased trade deficits push jobs out of better-paying industries. And at a time when income inequality is running rampant in the U.S., workers don't need even more "free" trade agreements that will further strip this nation's economy of middle-income jobs.

Currency manipulation is serious enough that a bipartisan collection of lawmakers have aired their concerns about the issue. That’s a rarity in today’s bogged down Capitol Hill environment. But they know what the Teamsters are other advocates are saying is true – our existing currency policy has failed.

China’s latest actions highlight the importance of addressing this issue. Currency provisions must be placed in the TPP that could be enforced through trade sanctions. But just as importantly, any additional nations that wish to sign onto the pact in the future must also be approved by Congress.  That way, China won’t be able to continue its current practices that leave American workers behind with no way to compete going forward.

Today's Teamster News 03.31.15

Teamsters
Techs At St. Vincent Hospital Seek To Unionize  Worcester Telegram   ...Approximately 200 technicians have applied to the Boston bureau of the National Labor Relations Board for an election to join Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester...
As Dark Money Monsters Torment Investors, Shareholders Need SEC Chair To Be Superhero; They Ask: ‘Where Is Mary Jo White?’  Public Citizen   ...Jim Hoffa, general president, Teamsters. The Teamsters invest more than $100 billion in the capital markets through affiliated pension and benefit funds...
Trade
U.S.-Korea Trade Deal Resulted In Growing Trade Deficits And More Than 75,000 Lost U.S. Jobs  Economic Policy Institute   ...March 15th was the third anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). President Obama said that the agreement would support 70,000 U.S. jobs...
Digital Rights Activists Use Jumbotron ‘Film Fest’ To Pressure Ron Wyden  Go Local PDX   ...The Digital Rights group Fight for the Future, a posse of internet activists currently campaigning against an international trade deal they say would give officials too much power to censor online content, brought its message to Capitol Hill Monday...
City Council Opposes Fast Track For Pacific Rim Trade Pact  Seattle Times   ...Seattle City Council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution opposing the so-called fast-track consideration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership...
UAW, Dems Rally Against TPP Trade Agreement  Detroit News   ...Lortz, who works at the Toledo Assembly Complex producing the Jeep Cherokee, was one of hundreds of union members and others to attend an anti-TPP forum featuring U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, and local UAW leaders...
State Battles
Indiana Lawmakers Try To Quiet Firestorm Surrounding New Law  Associated Press   ...Gov. Mike Pence called off public appearances Monday and sports officials planned an "Indy Welcomes All" campaign ahead of this weekend's Final Four as lawmakers scrambled to quiet the firestorm over a new law that has much of the country portraying Indiana as a state of intolerance...
Senate To Consider Bill Raising Washington's Minimum Wage  News Tribune   ...A bill to raise Washington's highest-in-the-nation state minimum wage to $12-an-hour with a series of annual 50-cent increases is set to get a hearing in the state Senate...
War on Workers
Movement To Increase McDonald’s Minimum Wage Broadens Its Tactics  New York Times   ...in the wave of actions on April 15, organizers say more than 60,000 people will join strikes and protests in 200 cities nationwide...
NLRB To Weigh In On High-Stakes McDonald’s Labor Dispute  The Hill   ...An NLRB administrative law judge on Monday will begin weighing whether McDonald’s should be responsible for what employees say are poor working conditions and low pay at many of its franchise restaurants. A finding in the affirmative would mark the first time that a major franchisor would be found culpable for labor violations at individual chains...
U.S. Signed Agreement With Mexico To Teach Immigrants To Unionize  Washington Examiner   ...The federal government has signed agreements with three foreign countries — Mexico, Ecuador and the Philippines — to establish outreach programs to teach immigrants their rights to engage in labor organizing in the U.S...
After A Story Is Published, A Minimum Wage Worker Loses Her Job   Washington Post   ...When I wrote about her in The Post last month, she said the minimum wage hike would bring her a bit of financial relief, but it wouldn’t lift her above the poverty line. She called me the other day to say she didn’t get to enjoy the 25-cent hike for long...
Legions Of Women Workers In U.S. Still Lack Minimum Wage And Labor Protections  American Prospect   ...Today, the National Labor Relations Act still excludes domestic workers and farm laborers, and the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require overtime for farmworkers or even the minimum wage or overtime for many domestic workers. The implications of these exclusions have been profound, denying a growing workforce the basic workplace protections most of us take for granted...
In Surprise Show Of Support, Filibuster-Proof Senate Majority Backs Paid Sick Leave  Washington Post   ...Just a few weeks ago, the Healthy Families Act — which would allow employees to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave — seemed like just another White House proposal doomed to die in the newly Republican Senate. But this afternoon, it gained a surprise vote of confidence: 61 senators voted for an amendment to the budget that would do essentially the same thing...
Lawmakers Aim To Toughen Laws On Oil Trains  Herald Net   ...A spate of oil train accidents the past two years has fueled state and federal lawmakers' concerns about the ability of railroads to safely transport the material and the capability of communities to respond to an incident...
Don't Undermine Open Skies (opinion)  USA Today   ...The big three U.S. carriers — United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines — are rightly asking the Department of Transportation to initiate talks with the UAE and Qatar over their estimated $40 billion in subsidies over a decade...
Miami Beach Maintenance Worker Killed By Flying Tabletop  Miami Herald   ...A Miami Beach maintenance worker was killed Friday night in what police called an unfortunate accident caused by bad weather...
Worker Killed In Blast At Berks Plant  Allentown Morning Call   ...Authorities say a worker was killed in an explosion at an eastern Pennsylvania manufacturing plant...
Miscellaneous
Amazon Tests Delivery Drones At Secret Canada Site After US Frustration  The Guardian   ...The company wants to offer its customers the ability to have packages dropped on their doorstep by flying robots within 30 minutes of ordering goods online. With innovation in the drone sector reaching lightning speeds, Amazon said it was not prepared to curtail its ambitions because of what Misener said was a lack of “impetus” on the US side of the border...

How the last lousy trade deal increased the trade deficit with S. Korea

The fact that America's last bad trade deal cost tens of thousands of American jobs won't prevent advocates of the next bad trade deal from trying to ram it through Congress.

The trade deal with South Korea went into effect in March 2012. Advocates promised it would create tens of thousands of American jobs. It didn't. In the first year, the deal increased the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea by $5.9 billion. That cost 40,000 U.S. jobs, mostly in manufacturing.

Now we're hearing similar claims about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a corporate power grab very similar to the South Korea trade deal. The administration tells us it will create jobs.

Hardly anyone believes that anymore. , the strategy to pass the TPP is to convince Congress to give itself  'fast track' authority. Call it authority to rubber stamp bad trade deals.

According to U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, fast track would allow each member of Congress '88 seconds of debate per member'  That means there would be no meaningful debate on this trade deal carved out by the lawyers of 50 or so of the most powerful corporations in the world.

So before Congress decides to grease the skids for the TPP, it's a good idea to remember the damage caused by the Korean trade deal. It has been especially hard on the U.S. auto industry. According to Public Citizen, exports to Korea of U.S.-made Fords, Chryslers and General Motors vehicles increased by fewer than 3,100 vehicles annually in the first two years of the deal.

In each of the two years following the Korea trade deal, more than 184,000 additional Korean-produced Hyundais and Kias were imported and sold in the United States, compared with the two years before the deal.

As Public Citizen points out,

The tiny gains in U.S. exports have been swamped by a surge in auto imports from Korea that the administration promised would not occur.

Today's Teamster News 03.20.14

Teamster News
CCTA Strike Continues, Management Awaits Offer  Vermont Public Radio   ...Two days into their strike, Chittenden County Transportation Authority bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 597 said Tuesday they have prepared a counter-offer for management...
Amboy School District Workers Ratify Teamster Contract  Teamsters Joint Council 25   ...Secretaries, aides, cooks and custodians with Amboy Community School District 272 in central Illinois, who are members of Teamsters Local 722, recently ratified a new three-year agreement that includes better wages, paid holidays and stronger contract language...
Teamsters Union: Hernando violated hiring process for fire chief   Hernando Today   ...Dan Oliver, a steward for Teamsters Local 79, said Hernando County violated its own hiring policy by not posting a job opening for public safety director in-house before seeking outside candidates...
Teamsters Union: More rail workers needed to solve grain transportation backlog  The Canadian Press   ...A cold winter and a record crop have been blamed for a grain transportation backlog, but a Teamsters spokesman says that’s not the whole story...
Trade
Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership Deal Would Deepen Income Divide  Truthout   ...“Those at the top have never done better,” President Obama ruefully acknowledged in his January 28 State of the Union speech. “But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened.”...
China Keeps Moving Forward While America Falls Behind – and We Are Doing Nothing About It!  Trade Reform   ...Our political leaders often deemphasize the downturn in American manufacturing by touting a focus on areas such as new, high tech manufacturing and alternative energy, but it appears China has the same goals and is taking targeted steps to meet them...
Korea Trade Agreement – Exports Actually Decrease  Trade Reform ...Michael Froman, the U.S. Trade Representative, never talks about balance of trade. But the USTR is embarrassed that our exports to Korea actually decreased since the Korea trade and global government agreement was passed. Yes. Exports (not net exports) decreased...
State News
“Right to Work” bill trying to gain steam in Missouri  KBIA   "...I’ve seen folks go down to parts of Mississippi and were working for $12 an hour, union jobs, while up in Missouri they’re making $28 an hour at the time..."
Right-to-work is dangerous fraud (Opinion)  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ..The right-to-work proposal being considered in the Missouri Legislature is a dangerous fraud.As American citizens, we already have the right to seek employment and to work. But under a right-to-work law, we would continue to work — for less money and fewer benefits than we already have...
Gov. Cuomo Signs Bill Extending Effective Date of New Independent Contractor Law in New York  Independent Contractor Compliance   ...After months of uncertainty, the law of independent contractor misclassification in New York State will change on April 10, 2014. The new law affects transportation and delivery companies in New York that classify certain drivers that deliver commercial goods in the state as independent contractors...
Thirty-nine Moral Monday Georgia activists arrested in daylong Medicaid expansion protests at the Gold Dome  Creative Loafing   ...Nearly 40 Moral Monday Georgia activists today were arrested for interrupting proceedings throughout the Georgia Capitol in an effort to urge Gov. Nathan Deal to expand Medicaid - and block legislation that would strip him of the authority to do so...
Wisconsin Republican Legislator Tears Into His Own Party For Voter Suppression  ThinkProgress   ...it ought to be abundantly clear to everybody in this state that there is no massive voter fraud. The only thing that we do have in this state is we have long lines of people who want to vote. And it seems to me that we should be doing everything we can to make it easier, to help these people get their votes counted...
Costly Loans Are Drawing Attention From States  New York Times   ...States are increasing efforts to shield vulnerable Americans from short-term loans with interest rates that can exceed 300 percent...
Minnesota GOP Lawmaker Says Sick Leave, Equal Pay Bills Make Women 'Look Like Whiners' Huffington Post   ...A package of bills in Minnesota that would enhance women's economic security by raising the minimum wage, providing paid family and sick leave and addressing the gender pay gap makes women "look like whiners," said State Rep. Andrea Kieffer (R) last week...
War on Workers
McDonald's Reviews Wage Theft Claims As Workers In 30 Cities Protest For Overtime Pay  Forbes   ...Tuesday’s protest in midtown Manhattan was one of dozens planned in 30 cities across the U.S., coming as McDonald’s faces class-action lawsuits in New York, California and Michigan for what workers describe as “wage theft...”
Fast-food workers get new ally in New York City fight for fair pay  The Guardian   ...A hotline for fast-food workers to anonymously report allegations of illegal or unjust pay practices by their bosses would be set up in New York under plans to build on a national campaign to improve conditions for American workers...
Supremes Could Decide Sky's the Limit for Campaign Donations  Public News Service   ...Another major Supreme Court decision on campaign finance could come as early as next week. In McCutcheon v. Federal Elections Commission, Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon said his First Amendment rights are violated when he cannot give a $2,600 donation to as many parties and candidates for federal office as he pleases. Many groups working to get money out of politics hope the high court rules against McCutcheon...
Reports of the Death of a National License-Plate Tracking Database Have Been Greatly Exaggerated  The Intercept   ... the databases are growing at a furious pace due to rapidly improving technology and ample federal grant money for more cameras and more computers. Tens if not hundreds of millions of observations per month are streaming into bulging electronic archives, often remaining there indefinitely, for a vast array of clients in both the public and private sector...
Expand Overtime Pay? GOP Says No  In These Times   ...Republicans apparently don’t believe that Americans who work longer hours should get paid more...
Meet the ‘Missing Workers’  In These Times   ...More than 5 million Americans have given up hope of a job. Who are they?...
7-11 Clerk Says She Was Fired For Giving Freezing Homeless Man A $1 Cup Of Coffee ThinkProgress   ...The worker felt compelled to help him after her own recent brush with homelessness...
Woman Whose Boss Told Her ‘It’s Best You Go Home With Your Babies’ Won’t Get Discrimination Trial  ThinkProgress   ...Angela Ames was on her first morning back from maternity leave and couldn’t gain access to the lactation room when her department head told her, “I think it’s best that you go home to be with your babies,” handing her a pen and paper and dictating the contents of a resignation letter...
Hershey Investors Suing Over Child Labor Can Pursue Files  Bloomberg   ...Hershey Co., the largest chocolate maker in the U.S., was ordered to face a lawsuit by investors seeking to force it to turn over records about cocoa from African farms that may use illegal child labor...
The Law that Launched a Boondoggle: Gold for Executives, Contempt for Taxpayers  CounterPunch   ...Jamie Dimon took high heat over his 74% mega-raise, but he’s not at fault. The blame goes to a 1993 boondoggle for bigwigs—a boondoggle that’s cost taxpayers by the billions ever since. Congress should call a halt, and the country’s mood could push it to do just that...
Miscellaneous
IRS says security breach affected 20,000 employees, but no taxpayer records  Reuters   ...The personal data of about 20,000 U.S. Internal Revenue Service employees going back to 2007 or earlier may have been exposed on the Internet, but no general taxpayer information or records were part of the security breach, the agency said on Tuesday...
Toyota and Justice Department said to reach $1.2 billion settlement in criminal case  Los Angeles Times   ...Toyota Motor Co. and the Justice Department have agreed on a $1.2-billion settlement to close a criminal probe into whether the automaker handled cases of sudden acceleration...
Google Won’t Face Group E-Mail Privacy Lawsuit: Judge  Bloomberg News   ...Google Inc. won a major victory in its fight against claims it illegally scanned private e-mail messages to and from Gmail accounts, defeating a bid to unify lawsuits in a single group case on behalf of hundreds of millions of Internet users...

Today's Teamster News 03.15.14

Teamster News
Donora OKs four-year Teamster contract for police  Pittsburgh Tribune-Review   ...The Donora, Penn. council unanimously approved a tentative four-year contract with Teamsters Local 205 that includes a wage increase and one-time bonuses for four full-time officers and several part-time officers...
Teamsters Secure New Contract with Richland Township  Penn Live   ...Richland Township employees will receive a raise of at least 75 cents per hour for this year, approved March 5, the same night that township supervisors endorsed a new five-year contract with Teamsters Local 205, based in White Oak, Penn., which represents six full-time public-works employees...
Food contracts cycle underway again for Southern Calif. Teamsters, UFCW  People's World   ...A historic core industry of the two major unions (Teamsters and UFCW) in Southern California, retail food, has begun its every-five-years-or-so cycle of bare-knuckle contract negotiations...
3 Labor Organizations Endorse Deb Goldberg for MA Treasurer  GoLocalWorchester   ...Deb Goldberg's campaign for Massachusetts Treasurer received a boost Thursday after receiving endorsements from Teamsters Local 25, Painters DC #35 and Brookline Fire Fighters Local 950, citing her dedication to wage equality and respect for workers...
Time for Congress to Move on Income Inequality  teamster.org ...A Senate committee took up discussion of income inequality during a hearing this week focused on how to improve the lives of working families. But unfortunately, not everyone agreed that Capitol Hill needed to lend a hand to lift wages...
Trade
Teamsters: U.S.-Korea Trade Deal Marks Two Years of Failure  teamster.org   ...On the two-year anniversary of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS), the Teamsters Union denounces the pact as another failed trade deal that enriches global corporations while eliminating middle-class jobs in the United States...
REPORT: NAFTA’s Deadly Legacy: Corporate Profits Over People And Planet  MintPress News   ...Ahead of Transatlantic and Transpacific trade deals, report authors warn: 'Remember NAFTA'...
State News
Attack on Labor  The Tribune-Review   ...In Harrisburg, legislation has been proposed to prevent the automatic withholding of union dues from public employees' paychecks...This legislation serves only to undermine the timely, efficient payment of monies that are rightfully due to unions. Automatic withholding is routinely used by employers to collect money owed for charitable contributions, for insurance premiums, for child support and for taxes...
Alabama House approves payday loan database  Associated Press   ...The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday voted to create a state database to enforce an existing $500 limit on how much people can borrow at one time from the short-term lenders...
Bill targeting predatory lending sent to Maine governor  Associated Press   ...The Democratic-controlled House and Senate gave final approval to the bill this week that aims to protect Mainers from unlicensed online lenders who offer illegitimate short-term loans that can drain consumers' bank accounts with high interest rates and fees...
New York union membership grows 8% from 2012 to 2013  Long Island Newsday ...Unions in New York State added 145,000 members last year, the first increase since 2007, new federal data show. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday that the ranks of private-sector and government unions in the state totaled nearly 2 million in 2013, a gain of 8 percent from a year earlier...
War on Workers
Wall Street and Multinationals Get Theirs While America Suffers  Economic Populist   ...corporations are stockpiling cash, tax free, abroad and added $206 billion to their coffers in 2013.  The offshore cash holdings now are $1.95 trillion.  Three of the biggest labor arbitragers and offshore outsourcers of them all, Microsoft, IBM and Apple, account for 18.2% of the 2013 offshore cash holdings increase.  All of these companies have fired top tier Scientists and Engineers and replaced them with cheaper foreign guest workers as well as moved R&D jobs offshore...
Obama: If You 'Work More, You Should Get Paid More'  WBNI   ...President Obama signed a memo directing his labor secretary to rewrite the rules governing overtime in the country...
People Think We’re in a Recession. Don’t Blame Them.  New York Times   ... 57 percent still think the economy is in recession... for much of America, despite years of modest gross domestic product growth and strong stock market gains, the economy isn’t good...
A Relentless Widening of Disparity in Wealth  New York Times   ...the economic forces concentrating more and more wealth into the hands of the fortunate few are almost sure to prevail for a very long time...
Greek unemployment rises to 27.5 percent  Associated Press   ...Official figures show the unemployment rate in Greece increased to 27.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 as the economy struggled to emerge from a protracted recession...
New York City transit workers have personal info exposed  Associated Press ...The Social Security numbers and other personal information of about 15,000 New York City transit workers has been found on a CD inside a refurbished computer sold by a retailer, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press...
Bank of America back in court over $2.1 billion fraud penalties  Reuters   ...A U.S. judge wrestled on Thursday with a U.S. Justice Department request that Bank of America Corp pay $2.1 billion in penalties after being found liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit...
Debt Collectors Go After Service Members Despite Protections  Truthout ...Debt collectors are targeting members of the Armed Services by calling their superior officers, threatening reduction in rank and even courts-martial, despite stepped-up efforts to protect them from abuse, according to a government report issued last week...
More Than 900 Workers Have Already Died Building Qatar’s World Cup Facilities  Smithsonian   ...400 Nepalese migrant workers had already died at building sites. Between 2010 and 2012 more than 700 workers from India lost their lives working on construction sites in Qatar, too...
For the first time in years, contract talks between city and unions show both sides want a deal  New York Daily News ...Talks began this week between the de Blasio administration and city unions over labor contracts for 300,000 municipal workers. It was night and day compared to the Bloomberg era...