New poll shows voters overwhelmingly oppose Fast Track

Voters by a 2-to-1 margin oppose Fast Track authority to pass trade deals, according to a new poll by Hart Research released today.

By a 62 percent to 28 percent, voters are against Fast Track, which would force Congress to make an up-or-down vote on trade deals, according to Guy Molyneux, a partner with Hart who presented the findings on a conference call with reporters. The poll results, said Molyneux,

...would set off alarm bells in any campaign in the country. 

Republican voters are especially opposed to Fast Track, with 87 percent against it and only 8 percent in favor. That is significant since the bill is likely to move first in the House, which has a Republican majority.

Molyneux said the public is increasingly concerned about and opposed to trade deals. By a 2-to-1 ratio,  Democrats, Republicans and Independents all think trade deals hurt more than help the country. And voters' top priority is preventing U.S. jobs from going overseas.

Fast Track elicits intense opposition from 43 percent of voters, who say they are less likely to vote for a member of Congress who supports it. According to Hart,

Demographically, opposition is very broad, with no more than one-third of voters in any region of the country or in any age cohort favoring fast track.

And in more great news for opponents of job-killing trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he opposes legislation to speed approval of trade deal. Bloomberg News reported,

“I’m against fast track,” Reid told reporters in Washington today. Asked whether he would block a floor vote on such a measure, he said, “We’ll see.” He said the Obama administration and top Senate Democrats are aware of his position. 

“Everyone would be well-advised just to not push this right now,” said Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

NAFTA turns 20 after killing 682,900 jobs

The TPP would be worse than NAFTA. Really.

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of NAFTA, the first bilateral corporate power grab disguised as a trade deal.

NAFTA, which was supposed to create 200,000 jobs in two years, actually killed 682,900 U.S. jobs in 20 years, according to our friend Rob Scott at the Economic Policy Institute.

NAFTA paved the way for CAFTA, the WTO, PNTR and KORUS FTA, none of which have done what their supporters promised they would do: Create good American jobs. Instead, these treaties have destroyed American manufacturing, widened the U.S. trade deficit, damaged the middle class, eliminated jobs, empowered corporations and weakened the power of the people.

Writes Scott:

...things didn’t work out as Clinton promised. NAFTA led to a flood of outsourcing and foreign direct investment in Mexico. U.S. imports from Mexico grew much more rapidly than exports, leading to growing trade deficits, as shown in the Figure. Jobs making cars, electronics, and apparel and other goods moved to Mexico, and job losses piled up in the United States, especially in the Midwest where those products used to be made. By 2010, trade deficits with Mexico had eliminated 682,900 good U.S. jobs, most (60.8 percent) in manufacturing. 

Claims by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that NAFTA “trade” has created millions of jobs are based on disingenuous accounting, which counts only jobs gained by exports but ignores jobs lost due to growing imports. The U.S. economy has grown in the past 20 years despite NAFTA, not because of it. Worse yet, production workers’ wages have suffered in the United States. Likewise, workers in Mexico have not seen wage growth. Job losses and wage stagnation are NAFTA’s real legacy. 

Few disagree that NAFTA and subsequent corporate-empowerment deals destroyed millions of good U.S. jobs and lowered our standard of living. It is incredible that two more such deals -- TPP and TAFTA -- are even being considered. But those proposals are a feature, not a bug, of the tremendous power that multinational corporations amassed as a result of NAFTA.

Surprise! TPP won’t help American workers

Trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) have one thing in common – American workers get screwed. Jim Hoffa says it best, “Corporations got NAFTA and CAFTA and workers got the Shafta.” If you don’t think the TPP holds the same fate, a new Center for Economic and Policy Research (CERP) report confirms that average Americans stand to gain little from the deal.

Economist David Rosnick writes median wage earners would actually see a drop in salary due to implementation of the TPP once its effect on wage inequality is considered. Overall, the U.S. would only receive a 0.13 percent boost in gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

Longer term, the negatives are even greater. The document finds that wage losses from a failure to restore full employment in the U.S. by 2025 due to the TPP are 25 times more than the potential gains from the trade agreement.  Mark Weisbrot, CEPR’s co-director, says:

Most U.S. workers are likely to lose out from the TPP. This may come as no surprise after 20 years of NAFTA and an even-longer period of trade policy designed to put lower- and middle-class workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in the developing world, but it’s still important to examine the economic projections.

One doesn’t have to go back to NAFTA to see the negative effects of so-called “free” trade deals. A July report by the Economic Policy Institute showed U.S. exports to South Korea fell by $3.5 billion during the first year of that trade agreement, resulting in the loss of 40,000 American jobs.

It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure it out -- these trade pacts suck for U.S. workers. While corporations tout economic gains, the only ones profiting are big business. It’s time to stop shipping American jobs overseas and dumping wages and benefits overboard with them.

When the U.S. negotiates a trade agreement, every provision should benefit working families, not big corporations. And the TPP doesn't pass the smell test.

Protests against TPP go global as Malaysian, Japanese groups oppose deal

The list is getting longer of people who oppose the latest job-killing trade deal -- the TPP -- because it will lower their standard of living and endanger their lives. It includes Japanese farmers, New Zealand union members, Australian digital rights activists, Malaysian youth, Japanese consumers and American environmentalists. For starters.

Japanese farmers and consumers most recently joined the outcry against the TPP, along with Malaysian farmers, environmentalists and human rights groups.

They are all citizens of a dozen Pacific Rim countries, alarmed about the treaty because it's being negotiated secretly. Well, except for the corporate lobbyists who have access to the talks.

The next round of negotiations will take place in Lima, Peru, in May. Negotiators hope to wrap up the talks by October and then ram them through their respective legislatures.

Last week the U.S. and Japan announced a deal that would allow Tokyo to join the talks. That raised alarms among unions, especially the UAW and the Teamsters, because of the United States' historic trade imbalance with Japan. Automakers and farmers in both countries are alarmed.

The Japan Times reports,

Farmers and carmakers alike are airing concerns about the Japan-U.S. accord reached last week that endorsed Tokyo’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership talks, even as major domestic business lobbies hailed the move. 

The agricultural sector fears that Japan’s entry to the trade liberalization discussions will result in an influx of bargain-basement food imports, while automakers are lamenting the bilateral agreement reached Friday for what they perceive as unequal treatment compared to their South Korean rivals... 

Kotaro Endo, a 60-year-old rice farmer in Yamagata Prefecture, expressed distrust of the government, saying he finds it “incomprehensible” that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe decided to take part in the multilateral talks before securing a promise from the U.S. to exclude sensitive items from tariff elimination... 

The TPP, which aims to create a massive free-trade area among Pacific Rim economies, is also prompting fears that it may undermine food safety, as labeling requirements for food additives and genetically modified items, as well as standards on pesticide residue, could be relaxed. 

Yasuaki Yamaura, cohead of the Consumers Union of Japan, voiced alarm over what he sees as the overly rapid preparatory process the government has engaged in to obtain approval to take part in the TPP talks, saying consumers and producers have not been sufficiently informed. 

A coalition of Malaysian groups protested the TPP in a letter to the U.S. Embassy on April 11, a global day of action against free trade deals. Titled "No to the Trans-Pacific Partnerhip Agreement," the group wrote:

... the TPPA has come under scrutiny for having very little to do with trade and very little to do with the interests and welfare of the almost half-a-billion people in whose name it is being signed... 

• We reject investment provisions that restrict the ability of governments to act – whether over capital controls, environmental policies or other public interest measures – without being exposed to the threat of legal suits by investors. We reject ISDS, in particular, and insist on the integrity and supremacy in TPPA countries of their domestic legal and judiciary systems. 

• We reject all TRIPS-plus intellectual property (IP) provisions such as patent term extensions, data exclusivity, border control measures and others that negatively affect access to affordable medicines. 

• We reject all proposals in general that negatively affect access to environmental and climate-friendly technological solutions, threaten food security as well as the access to and sustainable use of our rich biological biodiversity and access to knowledge. 

• We demand an end to the secrecy that has shielded the TPPA negotiations from the scrutiny of national lawmakers and the public.

Stay tuned.

Job numbers are out, and they're horrible

The percentage of Americans in the work force fell to 63.3 percent last month, the lowest level since 1979, according to statistics released today by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The U.S. in March gained a paltry 88,000 jobs and lost 3,000 manufacturing jobs, which pay better than flipping burgers at McDonald's.

The Wall Street Journal reports,

Employers slammed on the brakes in March, adding just 88,000 jobs and keeping the economic recovery from shifting to a higher gear despite a mending housing market and steady consumer and business spending. 

The grim report, out Friday from the Labor Department, was the first slip back into five-digit job growth since June 2012 and a stark pullback from February's upwardly revised 268,000 gain.

It's obvious why commercial activity isn't picking up -- and it has nothing to do with Baby Boomers retiring or a phony skills shortage. It has to do with job-killing trade deals.

Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, has the right idea:

President Obama can increase employment in the nation’s manufacturing sector if he takes action to hold China accountable for its continued violations of trade agreements, and follows through on campaign pledges to close tax loopholes that encourage outsourcing.

Today's Teamster News 03.26.13

Resolved That in Order to Create Millions of New Jobs In the United States, Our Government Should Set A National Goal to Balance Our Trade Account by January 1, 2020  Virginia 8th Congressional District Democratic Committee   ...It is hereby RESOLVED that the 2012 8th District Democratic Convention should take the lead in helping grow jobs in our Commonwealth and our nation by adopting this resolution that the United States set a goal and commit itself to balancing its trade no later than January 1, 2020...
Why Don’t Politicians Care about the Working Class? (opinion)  Fiscal Times   ...the indifference of both parties to the problems of the unemployed – the failure to take any real action to help after it became clear the initial stimulus package was far, far from enough – speaks to the lack of political power of the majority of people in the U.S. today...
Markets take fright at idea that Cyprus savings raid could become bailout model  The Guardian   ...Fears that bank accounts could be raided in any future eurozone bailouts spooked markets on Monday, as Cypriots prepared for their banks to reopen for the first time in over a week on Thursday following a deal to secure a €10bn lifeline...
Unions brace before Michigan right-to-work law takes effect  Detroit Free Press   ...On Thursday, Michigan's right-to-work law takes effect, a stunning shift in this symbolic capital of organized labor...
Hey, Pa., let's have a drink! (opinion)  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...a sober citizen might think soft issues of consumer convenience and market-driven ideology should take a back seat to real-world issues wrapped around jobs, education, pension crises and transportation/infrastructure...
Budget fight likely means Ohioans won't get proposed income tax cut  Plain Dealer   ...Kasich's fellow Republicans who control the Ohio General Assembly aren't buying his plan to extend the sales tax to nearly all services...
Florida House pension limits rooted in controversial group  The Palm Beach Post   ...Jonathan Williams, a policy director for the American Legislative Exchange Council, told The Palm Beach Post that the organization’s three days of meetings in August 2011 helped affirm the need among many legislators to take a hard look at public employee benefits...
Indiana government, sponsored by Koch   NUVO   ...The pundits who keep wondering where Republicans are headed should pay attention to what's happening in Indiana. Indiana legislators, armed with prefab bills written by ALEC, and talking points manufactured in think tanks, are acting as shills for corporate power...
Indiana jobless payment cuts kick in April 8  journalgazette.net   ...Due to automatic federal spending cuts, known as sequestration, beginning Monday, April 8, 2013, weekly payments of Federally Extended Unemployment Insurance benefits, also known as EEUC or weeks 27-63 of benefits, will be reduced by 10.7% as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor...
Utah’s real ‘land grab’ The Salt Lake Tribune   ...many of our elected officials, including Gov. Gary Herbert, advocate the transfer to state ownership of up to 30 million acres of federally owned land in Utah ... the main proponents of this idea are fine with leasing or selling off the lands because their real agenda is to make those lands available for mineral extraction or for sale to private interests...

Today's Teamster News 03.12.13

This New Puerto Rican Law Makes Wealthy People Want To Move There To Avoid Taxes  Business Insider   ...Billionaire hedge funder John Paulson, who famously bet against the subprime housing market, is reportedly weighing a move to Puerto Rico to take advantage of a new tax law there...
Illinois settles SEC fraud charges over pension fund disclosures  Reuters   ...Illinois failed to inform investors about the impact of problems with its pension funding schedule as the state offered and sold more than $2.2 billion worth of municipal bonds from 2005 to early 2009...
Ex-Detroit mayor Kilpatrick convicted of range of corruption charges  NBC News   ...Prosecutors said that Kilpatrick, 42, steered $83 million in city work to a friend and contractor, Bobby Ferguson, in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks...
After Watering Down Financial Reform, Ex-Senator Scott Brown Joins Goldman Sachs’ Lobbying Firm  ThinkProgress   ...During his nearly three years in the U.S. Senate, Scott Brown (R-MA) frequently came to the aid of the financial sector — watering down the Dodd-Frank bill and working to weaken it after its passage — and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash from the industry...
Congress wants role as Obama pushes trade agenda  Associated Press   ...A strong trade agenda, said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah requires close cooperation and consultation with Congress. Members of Obama's Democratic Party tend to oppose "fast track," arguing that trade pacts negotiated by past administrations have resulted in job losses in America and given short shrift to environmental and labor and human rights issues...
Sequester scuttling Sandy shape-up?  Manufacture This  ...New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, are still repairing after Hurricane Sandy, five months later. But now there's a new complication: the sequester has taken a bite out of federal aid money...
Missouri Senate Backs Union Paycheck Bill  Associated Press   ...The Missouri Senate has given first-round approval to a measure that would require public employee unions to seek annual consent to automatically deduct dues from members' paychecks...
Judge Cans Soda Ban  Wall Street Journal   ...Mayor Michael Bloomberg was dealt a stinging blow on Monday when a state Supreme Court Judge quashed his plan to ban the sale of large sugary drinks in the city's restaurants and other venues...
Why liquor privatization still faces a long road  PennLive   ...While some legislators say a bill introduced this week to end the state's longtime monopoly is on the fast track, others say they aren't so sure such a swift timetable is in the cards...
Behind Closed Doors: Americans for Prosperity chapter leader is no stranger to Pence  Indianapolis Star   ...Americans for Prosperity is a national group launched by Charles and David Koch, billionaire brothers and influential conservative leaders who financially supported Pence’s campaign for governor...
Minnesota Poll: Majority supports raising state minumum wage  Minneapolis Star-Tribune   ...But Minnesotans are divided on how high to go, $7.50 an hour vs. $9.50...
Realtors asked for budget provision expanding foreign ownership of state land  The Cap Times   ...Wisconsin Realtors look to be next in line to benefit from Gov. Scott Walker’s “Wisconsin is open for business” vow...
Teamsters begin picket at Thorn Creek Basin facility  NWITimes.com  ... About a dozen Teamsters Local 705 members began pickets Monday at the Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District facility in frustration with the current negotiations for a new contract...
Teamsters rally in Memphis behind Republic Services workers  Commercial Appeal   ...The nation’s second-most powerful Teamster came to Memphis Sunday with Teamsters from across the nation to express their support to sanitation workers employed by Republic Services. About 180 employees are working under an expired contract to serve about 200,000 Memphis-area residents...
Teamsters Educate City Leaders About Republic Services' Poor Record  IBT  ...More than 2,000 mayors, city councilmembers, and local administrators at the conference were greeted by Teamsters holding a banner that stated "Republic Services Trashes American Cities." The League of Cities attendees also received leaflets that read, "Tell Republic: Do It Right or Pay the Penalty."...

Today's Teamster News 03.09.13

Koch group turns up heat on GOP state lawmakers  USA Today   ...Americans for Prosperity has been increasingly involved in state politics. In North Carolina, the group successfully fought proposed tax hikes. In Michigan, it rallied for the passage of a right-to-work law. In Wisconsin, it's supporting the deregulation of mining...
Sanders, Reid, DeFazio Introduce Legislation to Strengthen Social Security  Bernie Sanders   ...Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today introduced legislation cosponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to strengthen Social Security by making the wealthiest Americans pay the same payroll tax that nearly everyone else already pays. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) introduced the companion bill in the House...
U.S. Economy Adds 236,000 Jobs; Unemployment Rate Down To 7.7  Huffington Post   ...the U.S. economy managed one of the best months for job gains in the past year in February, driving the unemployment rate to its lowest level in more than four years. But the job market would be even better, and the unemployment rate even lower, had not the government spent most of the recovery cutting spending and jobs...
U.S. Trade Deficit with Korea Soars to Highest Point on Record under FTA  Public Citizen   ...January's U.S. trade deficit with Korea topped $2.4 billion -- the largest monthly deficit with Korea on record. In short, another month of trade with Korea under the Korea FTA has produced another month of remarkably large job-displacing trade imbalances...
Obama Choice for Labor Secretary Said to Be Justice’s Perez  Bloomberg   ...President Barack Obama is close to choosing Thomas Perez, currently the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, to be labor secretary. He was formerly secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, which enforces workplace safety laws and wage-and-hour regulations as well as consumer-protection laws...
Right-to-work amendment passes Senate  Anniston Star   ...The Alabama Senate voted 22-10 to add "right-to-work" wording to the state Constitution on Thursday, a move that would still need approval of the House and, eventually, the voters...
No state law on ‘dark money’ coming this legislative session  Cronkite News   ... For all of the controversy during the last election over the influence of so-called dark money in politics, the Arizona State Legislature is unlikely to produce any laws on the subject this session...
Miami-Dade politicians blast Legislature over wage laws  Miami Herald   ...(Natacha) Seijas, a Republican who has kept a low profile since being recalled from office two years ago, joined former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, a Democrat, and union workers on the steps of downtown Miami’s historic courthouse to ask Miami-Dade lawmakers and the public to oppose legislation banning local-government wage laws...
Conservative (Koch brothers) group that supports spending cuts, Right to Work to lobby for Pence tax cuts  Evansville Courier & Post   ...The Indiana chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a tea party-fueled organization funded by the Koch brothers, will launch a "six-figure" advertising buy in Indiana and accompany it with emails, phone calls and door-to-door efforts...
Rep. Driskell Denounces Bill to Limit Paid Sick Leave for Michigan Workers  Saline Patch   ...House Bill 4249, sponsored by state Rep. Earl Poleski, R-Jackson, would bar municipalities from enacting paid leave policies greater than those of the state or federal government...
Unions Oppose Bill Requiring Yearly Reauthorization for Political Contributions  El Dorado Springs Sun   ...“There seems to be a concerted effort in ... (the Missouri) General Assembly to decimate labor unions” ...
Conservative group fundraiser draws ire of Montana Democrats  Missoulian   ...A conservative think tank is drawing the ire of some Democrats for using a state building for a membership drive. The American Legislative Exchange Council has helped draft model legislation used by Republican lawmakers...
Montana Senate backs campaign-finance bill  Great Falls Tribune   ...The measure would make it illegal for corporations to make independent expenditures that advocate for or against a candidate or to fund any electioneering communications...
Senate backs new check on union contracts  New Hampshire Union Leader   ...New labor contracts with state workers unions would need to be cleared by a powerful legislative committee under a bill approved in the Senate this week...
N.H. House panel recommends rolling back new voter ID law  Concord Monitor   ...A House committee yesterday recommended that legislators roll back, but not fully repeal, New Hampshire’s new voter identification requirement...
Ohio Senate bill would restrict number of days to gather signatures for referendum petitions  Cleveland Plain Dealer   ...The Ohio Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would make it harder for citizens to mount petition drives to repeal laws, by putting a clamp on the number of days in which signatures could be collected...
Florida’s failed experiment with sales tax expansion  Innovation Ohio   ...Governor Kasich is seeking to expand the state sales tax base to help pay for a $4 billion income tax cut...
At the end of the 1986 legislative session, the Florida legislature passed a bill extending the state’s five percent state sales tax ...Businesses hated it...
Council approves raise for Teamsters local  Toledo Blade   ...Toledo City Council approved a fact-finder report Friday that granted one of the city’s Teamsters locals a 5 percent raise over three years but slashed payments to employees’ pensions...
LABOR: UPS, Teamsters still talking  Press-Enterprise   ...According to a Teamsters communique released today, the two sides have been at the table consistently for the last two weeks. UPS negotiators outlined the company’s issues on health care costs, and the union is studying them to come up with a solution that guarantees workers don’t have to pay for coverage...

Today's Teamster News 01.15.13

More Bad News for U.S. Exports under Korea FTA  Public Citizen   ...U.S. exports to Korea continue to plummet after eight months of implementation of the U.S.-Korea "free trade" agreement...
Goldman Sachs bankers to reward themselves a staggering £8.3billion in bonuses  Daily Mail   ...Calls for restraint by politicians, who used taxpayers' money to bail banks out, have fallen on deaf ears...
Mario Draghi has saved the rich, now he must save the poor  The Telegraph   ...The European Central Bank has washed its hands of any further responsibility for the 27m people across the eurozone listed as unemployed or classified as discouraged workers...
Supreme Court: GOP must comply with limits on ballot monitoring  The Hill   ...The Supreme Court said Monday that the Republican Party must continue to adhere to an agreement designed to limit voter suppression....
Michigan Effort Shows G.O.P. Sway in State Contests  New York Times   ...much of the groundwork for the quick victory (on RTW4Less) was laid months and years before by a loose network of donors, strategists and conservative political groups that has sought to win Republican control of legislatures around the country and limit unions’ political power...
Unions calling for protests at Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's State of the State address  Detroit Free Press   ...The UAW and other labor unions are calling on members to protest before and during Gov. Rick Snyder's State of the State address in Lansing...
Lawmaker lands on Capitol Police protester watch list  The Cap Times   ...State Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, has been placed on a list maintained by Capitol Police officers to keep tabs on people participating in the Solidarity Sing Along...
UNFI in Mediation With Teamsters  Supermarket News   ...“UNFI has shown absolutely no willingness to end the strike,” the union said in an online post, citing its refusal to reinstate the terminated workers and other grievances. “It is incredibly important that UNFI understands that it cannot continue to violate workers’ rights, violate the law, and subvert the bargaining process...”
Nespoli, Floyd Retain Key Teamster Posts  The Chief   ...Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association President Harry Nespoli has been re-elected without opposition as vice president of Teamsters Joint Council 16, as was Teamsters Local 237 leader Gregory Floyd as recording secretary of the group, which consists of 33 locals representing 120,000 members in New York City and vicinity plus Puerto Rico. Council 16 President George Miranda and the rest of his slate were also given additional four-year terms without opposition...
AEP gave $2 million to help JobsOhio  Columbus Dispatch   ...A line in a routine financial disclosure form reveals that American Electric Power is one of the big donors helping to fund Ohio’s private-development department — to the tune of $2 million... the public is in the dark about where most of JobsOhio’s operating money has come from...

US Trade Rep rebukes China for cheating, hopes for better behavior. Really.

(UPDATES to ADD grafs 16-19 to show USTR's optimism)

The United States is excoriating China for breaking trade rules in a recent report that went unnoticed by every mainstream journalist save for The Telegraph's Ambrose Evans Pritchard.

In today's column, "US lambasts China for breaches of trade rules," Pritchard tells us,

Washington has issued a blistering attack on China for persistent breaches of world trade rules and abuse of industrial secrets, accusing Beijing of failing to abide by treaty obligations.

The gist of the report, submitted by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, is that China retaliates against countries that use the World Trade Organization to enforce trading rules. Writes Pritchard,

The report accused Chinese officials of running rough-shod over foreign firms, forcing them to give up trade secrets in clear violation of WTO rules... 

The US has filed fifteen cases against China at the WTO, the most recent alleging unfair duties on US vehicles and car parts. Washington won a panel dispute over steel duties in September. China in turn has a clutch of cases claiming illegal use of anti-dumping measures by the US... 

It targeted a wide range of alleged abuses, including subsidies, attempts to keep out foreign imports and companies, and failure to enforce intellectual property rights. 

Washington said restraints on exports of rare earth metals, tungsten, molybdenum, and other raw materials, as well as manipulation of export rebates, were leading to "tremendous disruption" worldwide.

We took a look at the report itself. Written in dense bureaucratese, it does talk tough on trade. For example, the report notes,

• ...counterfeiting and piracy remain at unacceptably high levels and continue to cause serious harm to U.S. businesses across many sectors of the economy.  Indeed, in a study released in May 2011, the U.S. International Trade Commission estimated that U.S. businesses suffered a total of $48 billion in lost sales, royalties and license fees due to IPR infringement in China in 2009 – a figure that is more than two-thirds the value of the $69 billion in U.S. goods exported to China in the same year.
• ...China continued to deploy export quotas, export license restrictions, minimum export prices, export duties and other export restraints on a number of raw material inputs in which it holds the leverage of being  among  the world’s leading producers.  Through these export restraints, it appears that China is able to provide substantial economic advantages to a wide range of downstream producers in China at the expense of foreign downstream producers, while creating incentives for foreign downstream producers to move their operations, technologies and jobs to China.
• ...the United States continues to press China to take concrete steps toward fulfilling its commitment to accede to the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement and to open up its vast government procurement market to the United States and other GPA parties

(You can read the whole thing here.)

It would be comforting to know the USTR isn't asleep at the switch -- except we found howlers like these in the report:

The impressive growth in U.S.-China trade has provided substantial opportunities for U.S. businesses, workers, farmers, ranchers and service suppliers, as well as a wealth of affordable goods for U.S. consumers.

Aaargh! And there's this:

The United States recognizes the tremendous upside promised by the U.S.-China trade relationship for both the United States and China,  and it thereforehas continued to urge China to reinvigorate  the economic reform that drove its accession to the WTO. 

And this:

...there were some positive signs in 2012 that China may be  focused on re-energizing  its economic reforms... 

You'd think maybe a mention or two of our trade deficit, loss of manufacturing and unemployment would temper the USTR's enthusiasm for trade with China. But no. So we turn to Face the Facts USA, which reminds us,

Our trade deficit with China was $295 billion in 2011. That’s nearly triple what it was 10 years ago – and represents about 40 percent of the entire U.S. trade deficit. No other country even comes close.

And to our friends at the Economic Policy Institute, who remind us the

...growing U.S. trade deficit with China cost more than 2.7 million jobs between 2001 and 2011, with job losses in every state.

Remember how the S. Korea trade deal was supposed to increase U.S. exports?

It didn't.

U.S. exports to South Korea fell 3 percent in October over October 2011. Imports from South Korea rose 3.4 percent for the same period.

Public Citizen explains (note: FTA is jargon for "free trade agreement"):

In comparison with the FTA-free month of October 2011 (after adjusting for inflation), this FTA-encumbered October saw 3% fewer exports to Korea, 3.4% more imports from Korea, and a 20.4% jump in the U.S.-Korea trade deficit.   For the full seven months since the FTA's implementation for which data is available, exports have fallen 7.5%, imports have risen 0.4%, and the deficit has widened 23.3% in comparison to 2011 levels.  That's bad news for U.S. job creation--the promise under which the Obama administration sold this NAFTA-style deal.  

The falling exports are particularly disconcerting.  While, the U.S. has yawning trade deficits with many countries, exports to those countries tend to still rise, though overshadowed by even larger increases in imports.  Under the Korea FTA, exports have actually been falling in real terms in comparison to 2011.  Indeed, most of the deepening deficit under the FTA can be explained by reduced exports rather than increased imports.

We hate to say we told you so.

Talks for job-killing trade deal resume in New Zealand

A lot.

And a Teamster representative is there with a message: This deal had better NOT kill any more US jobs.

The 15th round of talks for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) started yesterday in Auckland, New Zealand. The TPP involves Pacific Rim countries including (obviously) New Zealand and the United States, but also Australia, Chile, Peru, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam. Canada and Mexico have been invited as well.

Here's a shock: Negotiators were met with protests on the first day of talks.

Our Teamster representative brought with him a letter signed by 24 U.S. senators that supports strengthened labor rights and protections against outsourcing in the deal. Here's the IBT's statement about the letter:

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters led a coalition of fair trade advocates in helping to gain support for a bipartisan letter from Sen. Al Franken and 23 of his colleagues to President Obama about trade policy. The letter, released yesterday, expresses support for negotiating strengthened labor rights and protections against outsourcing in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

“We need to get our trade policy right so that it keeps good jobs in America and increases our exports,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa.

“It should be crafted to maximize good job creation and market expansion while minimizing the incentives for further off-shoring of middle class jobs,” the letter said. 

The letter urged that the deal:

• Maintains “Buy American” requirements;
• Requires workers’ rights to be protected and enforced;
• Includes safeguards against incentives for offshoring jobs and currency manipulation;
• Sets out strong rules of origin for TPP members; 
• Ensures that state-owned and state-supported enterprises operate on a level playing field.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa submitted comments to the U.S. Trade Representative last month outlining the criteria needed for the Teamsters to support the TPP.

We'll keep you posted. Because the mainstream media is ignoring the story.

Petraeus scandal: Another reason 'free trade' is never free

We've long complained that so-called "trade deals" are nothing but giveaways to multinational corporations. Now, thanks to the Petraeus sex scandal, we find they're potential giveaways to social-climbing bimbos.

Jill Kelley, the party planner at the center of the Petraeus affair, was appointed an honorary consul to South Korea so she could promote "free trade." Then-CIA Director David Petraeus helped get her the post, according to the New York Daily News.

This is what happened next:

...she tried to turn the unpaid job into an $80 million bonanza, a New York businessman said. 

Adam Victor, the president of New York-based TransGas Development Systems, said he broke off talks with Kelley after she floated the figure in return for lobbying South Korea’s president about a $4 billion project.

Victor was trying to sell a coal gasification project to South Korea. He said he only talked to Kelley because of her link to Petraeus. The discussions only lasted a week.

ABC News reported,

He decided that while she was not making an inappropriate request on purpose, it showed she was inexperienced and unqualified for the job. He also began to wonder about Petraeus's judgment. 

"It became clear that it did not smell right," he said. "Gen. Petraeus should not have put an inexperienced person in charge of the Free Trade Agreement with such an important ally as South Korea..." 

Retired Army Col. Steve Boylan, a friend and former spokesperson for ex-CIA Director Petraeus, said it was "nonsense" that Petraeus had any part in Kelley's alleged Korean deal. "He knows nothing about it," insisted Boylan. "What other people do he can't control."

Whatever.

Here's the key, though: Victor said Goldman Sachs would have asked for a smaller cut than Kelley was asking. The story shows just who benefits from these so-called "free-trade deals" -- financial predators and people with connections.

The South Korea trade deal certainly hasn't helped America's middle class much. Since it took effect in April, South Korean imports -- all those Hyundais -- continued to exceed U.S. exports. By about $10 billion.

As @KagroX (David Waldman) tweeted: Jill Kelley story makes you wonder how much of the fabled "maker" class is just name-dropping, check-kiting and bullshit.

Or as Teamster General President Jim Hoffa likes to say: They got Nafta, they got Cafta, workers got the Shafta.

Today's Teamster News 10.15.12

Thousands protest in Spain, Portugal against austerity cuts  AFP   ...Portugal’s main trades union the CGTP led several thousand marchers to the front of parliament, where deputies are expected to vote through a harsh austerity budget on Monday...
Walmart Strike Memo Reveals Confidential Management Plans  Huffington Post   ...The memo makes clear that Walmart, the world's largest private employer, views the labor protests as a serious attack, a message that runs contrary to the company's public comments that the strikes are mere "publicity stunts,"...
Is This Why Romney Won't Talk to Sensata Workers Whose Jobs Are Being Shipped to China?  truthout   ...right now he is making big money from Sensata and other companies that are sending people's jobs to China...
The Three U.S. Free Trade Agreements Passed a Year Ago Today Have not Boosted U.S. Exports  Public Citizen   ...U.S. exports to Korea are down while imports from Korea and Colombia have surged, expanding job-killing U.S. trade deficit; Panama deal not even in effect...
Prop. 32 isn't what it seems (opinion)  Stockton Record   ...one side - corporate interests, Super PACs and an array of billionaires - is trying to get voters to undermine the power of their political opponents...
Another CEO Threatens To Fire Employees If Obama Wins  ThinkProgress   ...Arthur Allen of ASG Software Solutions … said in an email to his employees that they’d only have themselves to blame if they lose their jobs if Obama wins...

8 congressmen demand to see trade deal text

Hard to believe, but members of Congress cannot even see the text of the latest job-killing trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Here's who can see it: Halliburton, Cargill and Wal-mart. Also 600 "advisers," 84 percent of whom represent corporate interests.

Eight members of Congress -- good friends of the Teamsters -- demand access to the round of TPP negotiations that will take place in Northern Virginia next week.

They are all Democrats: Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, George Miller of California, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Nick Rahall of West Virginia, Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Donna Edwards of Maryland, Peter DeFazio of Oregon and John Conyers of Michigan.

Public Citizen reports:

On Tuesday eight Members of Congress sent a letter to Ambassador Ron Kirk, head of USTR, requesting observer access to the upcoming TPP negotiations in Leesburg, VA which will take place September 6 –15, 2012. 

The letter follows one in June in which 132 members of the House of Representatives called on the Obama Administration to release the text of the TPP and engage Congress on negotiating priorites.  Having received no response, these eight members have followed up to request direct congressional oversight of the TPP negotiations...

And by the way, ever notice that the press ignores offshore outsourcing, bad trade deals, foreign guest workers and how they destroy jobs for U.S. citizens?

Fight backroom deals for the 1%

Teamsters from the Capitol Region will protest the 14th round of secret talks for the latest job-killing trade deal in Leesburg, Va., on Sunday. Many social justice organizations want the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to be negotiated in the open. They include unions, environmental, public health, family farm, consumer, and Occupy.

Here's what the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is telling its members in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.

The TPP is poised to become the largest job-killing trade deal Free Trade Agreement in U.S. history.  Approximately 600 corporate lobbyists have been granted access to the negotiating texts, while the general public is barred from even reviewing what U.S. negotiators are proposing in our names.  If it continues on its current course, the TPP is likely to:

• Offshore good-paying jobs to low-wage nations and undercut working conditions globally 

• Create new tools for attacking environmental and consumer safety policies 

• Deregulate Wall Street banks, hedge funds and insurance companies 

• Further concentrate global food supplies, displacing family farmers and subjecting consumers to wild price fluctuations 

• Lengthen patents thereby blocking access to affordable, generic medications 

Rally cosponsors include the American Medical Student Association, CISPES, Citizens Trade Campaign, Communications Workers of America, Friends of the Earth, Global Justice for Animals and the Environment, HealthGAP, International Association of Machinists, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, ItsOurEconomy.us, National Family Farm Coalition, New York Whale and Dolphin Action League, Nodutdol, Occupy Wall Street Trade Justice Working Group, October2011.org, Pennsylvania Fair Trade Coalition, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, Trade Justice New York Metro, United Students Against Sweatshops and many others.

If you live in the region, you can RSVP for the rally -- and get a free ride on a union-operated bus -- here.

Today's Teamster News 08.15.12

Worker Wage-And-Hour Suits Rise In Difficult Labor Market  Bloomberg   ...Lawsuits by U.S. workers contesting wages and hours, including demands for overtime pay, reached a 20-year high this year as unemployment remained above 8 percent...
Angus King: Put trade talks on hold, keep athletic footwear tariff that helps New Balance  Bangor Daily News   ...Independent former Gov. Angus King said Tuesday negotiations surrounding a trade agreement that could lead to the elimination of a tariff on athletic footwear should be put on hold until the economy improves and that the tariff shouldn’t be removed at all...
Paul Ryan didn't build that!  Salon   ...His family built its fortune on the public-works projects that Romney's "You didn't build that" campaign mocks...
Pontiac city council votes to reclaim power over emergency manager  Detroit Free Presss   ...A showdown is brewing in Pontiac over who controls city government after the city council voted Monday night to reclaim the power it lost when an emergency manager was appointed to run the financially-struggling community...
Pennsylvania Gained Manufacturing Jobs Over The Past Year  Manufacturers' News, Inc.   ...Following several years of losses, industrial employment in Pennsylvania increased by a half percent over the past twelve months...
Incumbents hit hard in Florida primary  Politico   ...Florida Rep. John Mica, the powerful House committee chairman, notched a decisive win over fellow GOP Rep. Sandy Adams on Tuesday evening in the latest primary clash pitting tea party and establishment forces.,,

Ruh-roh. Trade deficit with S. Korea climbs after latest deal

Columnist David Cay Johnston writes that the S. Korea trade deal is likely to end badly for American workers. He's right, according to the first two months of trade figures since the deal took effect March 15.

The U.S. trade deficit with S. Korea tripled in April to $1.777 billion over the previous month. Then in May it rose again to $2 billion.

Johnston explains why the cleverly named "Free Trade Agreement" (really another corporate giveaway) will hurt U.S. autoworkers:

...based on previous major trade deals, the details of this one and a host of Korean business and cultural barriers — I think a much more likely scenario is the destruction of more than 150,000 American jobs over the next few years... 

Last year, American-made cars sold in the thousands, a fraction of one percent of car sales in South Korea. In June the best-selling American model was the Ford Explorer, with just 109 sold, less than a tenth of one percent of vehicles sold that month. 

In the United States, sales of Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Motors Corp, which are owned by the same company, grew 26 percent last year and accounted for every 11th new car sold...

And he points out that the opening of S. Korean auto plants in the U.S. may not be such a great deal after all:

The opening of Hyundai and Kia assembly plants in the United States may seem like a benefit to the U.S. economy. But taxpayers covered much of the cost. And the value-added work in cars comes less from assembly than from making precision high-strength steel parts, especially in the drive train. To the extent that parts are made in South Korea and shipped to the United States for assembly, the added economic value tends to remain overseas.

We hope he's wrong. But it's what we've been saying all along...

Today's Teamster News 07.13.12

Mitt Romney stayed at Bain 3 years longer than he stated  Boston Globe   ...The timing of Romney’s departure from Bain is a key point of contention because he has said his resignation in February 1999 meant he was not responsible for Bain Capital companies that went bankrupt or laid off workers after that date...
Lawmakers furious over China-made Olympic uniform  Associated Press   ...Republicans and Democrats railed Thursday about the U.S. Olympic Committee's decision to dress the U.S. team in Chinese manufactured berets, blazers and pants while the American textile industry struggles economically with many U.S. workers desperate for jobs...
What Jobs? After NAFTA-Style Deal, an Unparalleled Surge in Korea Trade Deficit  Public Citizen   ...Since the March 15 implementation of the Korea trade deal, the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea has reached dramatic levels for the second consecutive month for which we have data...
VOTING MACHINE DOUBTS: Now begins a major effort to verify the Wisconsin vote  Uppity Wisconsin   ...Wisconsin Wave has formed an umbrella effort to verify the accuracy and integrity of June's recall election, based on troubling data concerning exit polling...
No deal in Nichols, Teamsters meeting  Quad City Business Journal   ...The union staged a nearly 12-week strike earlier this year, walking off the job in late January when contract talks stalled. In mid-April, the union ended the strike and more than half of the union employees were called back to work...
Insurgent unions say they're winning TWU converts among American Airlines mechanics  Tulsa World   ...Representatives of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said their success is due to widespread dissatisfaction among American mechanics in Tulsa and throughout American's system...
Anheuser-Busch, union go to court  The Press-Enterprise   ...Teamsters leaders are questioning why Anheuser-Busch has brought them into court over a temporary restraining order concerning striking union members’ conduct on the picket lines at the brewer’s Riverside distribution center...

Today's Teamster News 06.27.12

Inquiry Looks Into a Shield for Donors in Elections  New York Times   ...Mr. Schneiderman issued a wide-ranging subpoena on Tuesday to executives at a foundation affiliated with the chamber, seeking e-mails, bank records and other documents to determine whether the foundation illegally funneled $18 million to the chamber for political and lobbying activities, according to people with knowledge of the investigation...
Biden: Romney is a job creator in India, China  CNN   ...Romney's former private equity firm – owned companies that were "pioneers" in outsourcing U.S. jobs to countries like China and India...
Secretary Vilsack Testifies on Behalf of Russia Trade Bill  Trade Reform   ...Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack testified Thursday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance on behalf of a recently proposed bill to move Russia from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, thereby establishing permanent normal trade relations with the country...
"Bankruptcy Only Choice Left" As Stockton Set To Become Largest US City Chapter 9  zero hedge   ...As mediation with the city's creditors fails, the California city of Stockton looks set to become the US' largest ever city bankruptcy. The city with the second largest foreclosure-rate in the nation has seen its property taxes and other revenues decline while retiree benefits drained city coffers, according to the SF Chronicle...
Coca-Cola, Teamsters Negotiating  Hartford Courant   ...Representatives from Coca-Cola and the Teamsters Union are actively negotiating in an effort to end a strike that has gone on for more than five weeks...
JOBS: Striking Teamsters, Anheuser-Busch talk  The Press-Enterprise   ...Teamsters Local 166 President Mike Pharris on Tuesday indicated there has been movement in an attempt to resolve a strike against Anheuser-Busch Sales in Riverside...