Elections Are About Choices

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is doing a hard sell on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but ordinary Americans aren't buying.

A survey by the Pew Research Center spotlights Americans' skepticism about free trade. Just 17 percent of Americans believe more trade leads to higher wages and just 20 percent think trade creates jobs. The majority of Americans know that trade is destroying U.S. jobs.

"We are not interested in better symbolism around labor, environmental and consumer standards while corporate interests are on the fast track," said CWA President Larry Cohen.

TPP is the latest in a string of trade deals that would allow corporations to challenge the laws and regulations that our elected representatives have enacted. How? Foreign investors simply have to show that future profits may be affected by a country's environmental standards, or public health laws or even a "Buy American" program. Then, the corporations can bypass a country's courts and directly sue national governments in international UN or World Bank tribunals. Three private attorneys sit on the tribunal and get to determine whether the country must compensate a corporation for losses in profits. These attorneys are not accountable to the citizens of any country. There is no outside appeal. This process makes a mockery of our democracy.

More than $430 million in compensation has already been paid out to corporations in cases brought by provisions in trade deals. Another $38 billion is pending in 19 more claims, all related to public health, the environment and other non-trade issues.

When we vote on Nov. 4, we need to make sure that we're voting for Representatives and Senators who stand with working families and against bad deals like the TPP.