A Massive Rally on the Hill against "Fast Track" for TPP

More than 1,200 union activists, environmentalists and progressive leaders rallied on Capitol Hill yesterday to urge Congress to reject "fast track" authorization and the proposed trade bill it is being written for, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

"We're not against good trade deals; we make motors for Siemens that are shipped all over," said Nick South of IUE-CWA 84765, who visited members of the Ohio delegation to urge a vote against "fast track," "but this is a bad trade deal."

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) heard him loud and clear and couldn't agree more. Brown is a member of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee that will consider theTrade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill; Brown strongly opposes "fast track."

"They are corporate handouts, they're worker sellouts every time they pass one of these deals," Brown told the crowd. "I've never seen a trade agreement that is more secretive than this one."

Many of those in attendance had come from the 2015 BlueGreen Alliance Good Jobs, Green Jobs Conference and had been busy visiting their Congress members to tell them to vote against this "fast track" bill.

South was accompanied on his visits to the delegation by fellow IUE-CWA 84765 members Lee Larkins and Vic Henderson, the Local's Vice President. Henderson said he warned the Congress members they spoke with that their constituents back home do not support "fast track" or TPP and would remember come election time if they voted for it.

The rally – organized by the United Steelworkers and supported by all the AFL-CIO member unions who have been mobilizing against the TPP – featured Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Brown, Al Franklin (D-MN), and Reps. Keith Ellison (D-MN 5th District) and Tim Ryan (D-OH 13th District). Speakers talked about the important role labor unions had in building the American middle class.

"Are you ready to fight any more trade deals that say 'we're going to help the rich get richer and leave everybody else behind?" Warren asked.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) spoke to more than 1,200 activists – unions, environmentalists and other progressives – at a rally yesterday in Washington, D.C.

Below: IUE-CWA 84765 members (L to R) Lee Larkings, Vic Henderson and Nick South attended the Blue Green Alliance Conference and lobbied their Congress members against "fast track" before attending yesterday's rally.