(This article first appeared in the November-December 2016 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

Congress is poised to pass a disastrous trade deal – the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) – during its lame-duck session, and it’s up to us to stop it, warns APWU President Mark Dimondstein. “The TPP would kill jobs, weaken workers’ rights at home and abroad, and harm the environment,” he said. “It also poses a serious threat to the Postal Service and postal jobs.”

The deal was negotiated behind closed doors between the U.S. and 11 other nations: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Peru, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam.

“Lobbyists from America’s biggest corporations and Wall Street’s biggest banks have been involved, but not the American public,” notes Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, in a two-minute video, The Worst Trade Deal You’ve Never Heard Of.

Congress is expected to vote on the massive deal after the November election but before new legislators take office.

As Reich explains, the TPP is destructive because, if passed:

• U.S. and foreign corporations could challenge American laws that block toxic emissions, shield consumers from unsafe products or food, or protect workers’ rights on the job. The pharmaceutical industry would get stronger patents, delaying production of cheaper, generic drugs.
• An international tribunal – outside any nation’s legal system – would have authority to order compensation to big corporations and Wall Street firms if they claim profits were lost as a result of a participating country’s regulations.
• The Obama administration claims the deal will boost exports, but it allows U.S. corporations to outsource even more jobs.

“Large corporations can challenge laws that get in the way of profits,” Reich says in the video, which can be viewed on YouTube and on the APWU’s Facebook page, Facebook.com/APWUNational.

In 2015, the TPP won fast-track approval, which requires Congress to hold a yes-or-no vote without any amendments or modification.

Threat to Public Postal Services

The shady deals also pose a threat to public postal services. The TPP includes several rules targeting postal services that were included at the request of the Postal Service’s private competitors, including UPS and FedEx.

According to a report published by a pair of Canadian lawyers, Signed, Sealed and Delivered? The TPP and Canada’s Public Postal Service, one addendum “directly targets how postal systems are permitted to operate.”

The provision was included “to address the unique challenges private suppliers face when competing with national postal entities in express delivery.”

The report also notes that these provisions are far more extensive than similar rules in existing trade agreements, such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement).

The American people were told that NAFTA, a trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, which passed in November 1993, would add 200,000 jobs in 1995 alone. In fact, 700,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs were lost.

Together We Can Stop It!

Please ask your representative to take a stand against this disastrous trade deal. Calling your representative is quick and easy and it makes a difference. (If no one answers, you can leave a message.)

To contact your representative, call 1-855-856-7545 or visit http://bit.ly/2dbeRYG.

“I urge all APWU members to contact their members of Congress and ask them to vote no on the TPP,” Dimondstein said. “Together we can stop the TPP!” 

Call Congress

Dial 1-855-856-7545 for the AFL-CIO’s trade hotline, which will provide brief background on the deal before connecting you with your member of Congress.