Unionists, Greens Start "Repair America" Drive, Warn Of Perils Of "Free Trade" Pacts
Monday, February 17, 2014(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
Unionists and
green groups, seeking to create well-paying union jobs and
improve the environment, are embarking on a “Repair America” campaign they
hope
will resonate with voters concerned about low incomes, citizens worried about
climate change and lawmakers who will respond to pressure on both. The
campaign, discussed at the Green Jobs Good Jobs conference in D.C. on Feb.
9-11, got its congressional kickoff with an indoor Capitol Hill rally last week
jammed with Steelworkers, led by union President Leo Gerard, and lawmakers
headed by House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Its objective: To
convince citizens and Congress to back massive funding for repairing and
rebuilding
the creaky, crumbling U.S. infrastructure of unsound bridges, leaky water
pipes, energy-inefficient schools, homes and hospitals, crumbling highways and
rails split by extreme heat and cold. The perils of so-called “free trade”
pacts, especially the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 11 other
Pacific Rim nations, also took the stage at the conference. Union leaders such
as Communications Workers President Larry Cohen and AFL-CIO President Richard
Trumka joined environmentalists in warning that the TPP would cost U.S. jobs
and harm the world’s climate, because the TPP would let corporations
challenge
federal, state and local laws and rules – everything from local hazardous
waste
ordinances to Buy America requirements – as restraints on present or future
profits. Secret panels of trade-oriented attorneys, not federal courts,
would hear the cases and there would be no appeals from their
rulings. - Press Associates, Inc.