stop fast track week of actionImmediately after the U.S. midterm elections, questions were raised about plans to introduce Fast Track legislation during the lame duck session of Congress and President Obama flew to Asia for a week of meetings, some dealing with finalizing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But while new Congressional maps were analyzed, fair trade activists wasted no time – and got to work during the Week of Action Against Fast Track and the TPP.

Together we held 20 rallies and events; made over a thousand phone calls; sent hundreds of thousands of new emails; and delivered over 700,000 previously-collected petition signatures and letters. In all, Congress heard over a million voices against Fast Track last week.

And our pressure may just be working. Global Exchange participated in a meeting at Senator Feinstein’s office on Nov 18, and her San Francisco staffers suggested that Fast Track may be off the agenda for this session. Earlier in the week, a trio of House Democrats (Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Louise Slaughter (N.Y.) and Alan Grayson (Fla.) said that neither fast-track nor the TPP have any chance of passing in the lame-duck session or in the next Congress.

Either way, we’re vigilant. referring to the restrictions elected representatives face to properly discuss and debate trade deals such as the TPP if Fast Track is introduced and passed in Congress, James P Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, stated,

There is no good reason for lawmakers to support fast track. If a trade deal is so good, it should be able to stand on its own. But there is simply too much that is unknown about trade pacts like the TPP to allow Congress to drop its oversight of the process. The signatures we submitted prove the American public understands the issue. Now elected officials need to do the same.

Take-Action

TAKE ACTION!

Join a special public, online teach-in to hear representatives from several digital rights groups based in TPP countries share their analysis of the latest leaked text, as well as to lay out the current state of play of the negotiations.

When: November 19, 2014, 12pm Pacific / 3pm Eastern / 5pm Chile / 7am Australia EST / 9am New Zealand
Where: Google Hangout and streamed on Youtube (link to livestream will be provided here on the day of the event)
Who: Members of the TPP Fair Deal Coalition, including Electronic Frontier Foundation (US), Derechos Digitales (Chile), Consumer NZ (New Zealand), Public Citizen (US), OpenMedia.ca (Canada)

TPP headNews broke late last week in a few subscription-only, on-line, trade journals that while the next full round of negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are slated to take place in Malaysia in mid-July, “the negotiating group on rules of origin will meet June 23-29 in San Francisco, according to Peruvian government resolutions published on June 16 and 17 in the country’s official newspaper.”

Often occurring under the radar, intersessionals, meetings that take place between official TPP negotiations, are happening in advance of the session in Malaysia to try to keep the free trade talks on track for conclusion this fall. Last month, negotiators of the ever controversial investment chapter met in Vancouver and were challenged with a teach-in on TPP, a night-time light projection of anti-TPP messages and a protest organized by the TPPxBorder Network.

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Protest projection in Vancouver B.C. June 2013

A  meeting in San Francisco on Rules of Origin? As Arthur Stamoulis from the Citizens Trade Campaign explains,

“One of the least talked about chapters of the TPP is something called ‘Rules of Origin’. Rules of Origin are the standards that must be met in order for a product to be labeled “Made in the USA,” “Made in Brunei,” “Made in Vietnam” or wherever in order to qualify for the provisions set by the overall TPP Agreement.

There are different ways of evaluating a product’s origin, but one common way is by looking at the value of the parts that make up a finished product that’s to be exported. So, for example, if the Rule of Origin on cars is set at 50% — at least half of the parts in a finished automobile need to come from Japan in order to be labeled “Made in Japan” under the pact. If the Rule of Origin is only set at 30%, up to 70% of the parts can come from elsewhere and the car can still be labeled Japanese.”

We thought that the Rules of Origin negotiators would like to hear from former sweatshop worker Chie Abad, who once suffered under an earlier version of these Rules of Origin in the U.S. protectorate, Siapan. Working for GAP, and other U.S. retailers through the SAKO garment factory, she sewed “Made in the USA” labels into clothing, yet enjoyed none of the worker protections which U.S. workers do. In fact, she was fired for attempting to organize a union. Again, Arthur explains how the TPP takes advantage of the experience Chie had, and make it worse,

“Brand-name product companies, as well as retailers like Walmart and Target, want low Rules of Origin that enable them to source parts from wherever in the world they can get them for the cheapest price and then assemble them in low-wage TPP countries and still qualify for the zeroed-out tariff rates and quotas the TPP will provide. Often this means sourcing production wherever labor is the most exploited and environmental regulations the weakest.”

Because the government of Vietnam, which promotes it’s country as a low-cost labor alternative to China, is siding with the major transnationals in pushing for much lower Rules of Origin than most other countries within the TPP negotiations, we’d heard that the Rules of Origin negotiations are very heated. Despite photos of friendly handshakes after the recent full round in Lima, Peru, countries are far from reaching agreement, and continued disagreement over the chapter possesses the potential to sink the entire pact.

We tried for days to contact the Rules of Origin negotiators, but with no luck. We called the top hotels in the city and found that not only did most people not know where the negotiatiors were meeting, they also didn’t know what the TPP is, so we decided to take to the streets and look ourselves (and do some public education at the same time!). Here’s what happened:

Take-ActionTAKE ACTION!

When we fight Free Trade agreements, we often struggle to make it ‘real’ for people. What does downward standards harmonization look like? What does unaccountable behind-closed-doors arbitration really mean? What impacts do corporate driven agreements have on public services? What links can be directly drawn between free trade and quality of life?

Devastatingly, as we follow, protest, monkey wrench and resist the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiation round taking place in Lima, Peru this week, we have a concrete example. Free Trade looks like the 1,127 workers who perished in the sweatshops in the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh.

Since April 24, corporations have rushed to distance connections with the fugitive owner of the unsafe building, pledged compensation to the grieving families, and stepped up to act more responsibly. And while the negative PR from the disaster was enough to finally break European companies like H&M, Zara, Primark and Canadian grocery giant, Loblaws into signing a legally binding agreement to pay for third party safety inspections of their operations, the underlying cause of this, and other disasters, has yet to be challenged.

Across the world in countries like Bangladesh, companies operate to supply the North with cheap clothes made in sweatshops, made ‘competitive’ in the global market through corporate globalization.

Thanks to Free Trade agreements, companies pay workers less than a dollar a day (the workers in Rana Plaza were making $38 a month, an amount considered high – after it was raised following protests a year ago), make the right to organize illegal, ignore safety and environmental rights and sometimes bribe local officials to override local law to reap in billion dollar profits.

So, while the effort to rescue survivors and recover bodies from Rana Plaza now becomes an effort to clear and demolish the site, corporations like those that operated in Rana Plaza are, right now, lobbying for more Free Trade, for the TPP.

As the Lima round of TPP negotiations are underway (May 15-24) corporate interests are lobbying for more access to operate more sweatshops in Brunei, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The Citizen’s Trade Campaign factsheet called ‘What Corporations Want With the TPP‘ directly links corporate lobbying to disappear worker protections and rights in pursuit of cheaper manufacturing and higher profits. They say:

“Many corporations are looking for ways reduce labor costs and undercut worker power in the United States, China and throughout the world. The TPP would grant corporations easier access to labor markets in countries such as Vietnam where workers are paid even less than Chinese sweatshop workers. Whether or not corporations decide to move their production to these lower-paid countries, the threat of moving there (or of being undercut by competitors who have already done so) can be used suppress employee compensation virtually anywhere in the world.“

We cannot let the victims of Rana Plaza be forgotten. The U.S. retail giants like GAP and Walmart that have refused to sign the safety agreement must be pressured to do so. But the TPP is slated to become the largest Free Trade Agreement in the world, and if we don’t stop it from happening and demand fair trade, we will suffer more even disasters.

TAKE ACTION! (Action items updated on 5/21/2013):Take-Action

The following piece was originally posted by the Citizens Trade Coalition. Please stand with the growing coalition of organizations and people on 4 continents and say: #StopTPP!

599036_10152640068720613_1588745988_nTimed with the start of the next Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating round in Peru this May, communities throughout the Pacific Rim will be holding public assemblies to discuss the potential local impacts of the TPP and steps people can take together to prevent being saddled with a disastrous corporate trade deal.

Whether one wants to reverse the global race to the bottom in wages and working conditions; expand access to life-saving generic medications; support indigenous rights; protect communities’ ability to combat global warming; or sustain family farms and defend food sovereignty, there is no shortage of reasons to act together on the TPP.

One of the first steps is self-education, community dialogue and local organizing.  Please attend one of the events already in the works in your community or help organize one yourself.  Learn more (about) the Days of Action below and at this international website.

How to Organize a Community Assembly about the TPP:

Corporate media isn’t giving the TPP the attention it deserves, so it is up to us to spread the word.  Organizing your own teach-in, town hall or community forum about the TPP is a great way to educate and mobilize your community about it.

• Find a venue.  Union halls, churches, community centers and libraries are all great, free or low-cost venues.  Choose a venue that is convenient and familiar to the audience you’re seeking to reach.

• Recruit speakers.  You know your audience and what messengers will move them.  Local labor, environmental and human rights organizations may be able to provide speakers — especially on the local impacts of past trade agreements such as NAFTA and the WTO — which you can supplement by speaking yourself about the TPP using the talking points found here.  You can also reach out to the points of contact listed in this toolkit for additional speaker suggestions.

• Get cosponsors.  Ask trusted local organizations if you can list them as event cosponsors and if they will spread the word about your event to their membership.

• Spend most of your time on turnout.  At minimum, create an email about the event that you circulate to as many people as you can — asking them to forward it to their lists.  Other turnout strategies include: creating a Facebook event page for the event; leafleting other events; posting flyers at the venue and elsewhere; phonebanking your friends and other phone lists; and putting an event listing in newspapers and newsletters.  Please also email tppaction@citizenstrade.org and we may be able to help promote it.

• Invite Members of Congress.  Consider inviting Members of Congress and their staff to attend your event.  If they show up, they will learn something — and even if they don’t, they’ll at least know that constituents are talking about the TPP.

• Circulate a sign-in sheet.  Have a sign-in sheet for the event, and have a volunteer hit up everyone as they enter and/or circulate it on a clipboard as people are seated.  These are people who care about the TPP and you may want to communicate with them in the future.  Be sure to get their names, email addresses and phone numbers.

• Include an action step.  Pass out copies of this fact sheet at the event, and have people call their U.S. Representative on their cell phone before they leave with a message urging the Congress member to oppose Fast Track for the TPP.  You can also circulate a poster-sized petition that you have people sign and then recruit volunteers to help deliver it to your local Congressional office; ask people (to) raise their hands if they can help bird-dog at an upcoming Congressional town hall; or break into small groups to plan other types of action.

• Spread the word about what you learn.  Recruit someone to videotape your presenters and post the videos online.  You can share the videos with people who signed up on the sign-up sheet and encourage them to share them with friends who couldn’t attend and to post them on social media.  Also consider writing and circulating a press release about the event with short quotes about the TPP from each of your speakers.  You can send it out to both the corporate media and over listserves to help spread the word.

Materials for the Days of Action

A Sampling of TPP Events & Contacts

The main “Day of Action” is Saturday, May 11 — but you can organize an event any time.  Email us at tppaction@citizenstrade.org if you want help promoting your local event.
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California
The TPP & Obama’s Asian Pivot
May 31 – June 2
San Francisco, CA
Contact: Victor Menotti, vmenotti@ifg.org
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District of Columbia
TPP Briefing &  Strategy Discussion
Saturday, May 11 * Details TBA
Contact: Lacey Kohlmoos, lkohlmoos@citizen.org
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Illinois
TPP Teach-in (@ World Fair Trade Day Festival)
Tuesday, May 7 * 3:00pm
Daley Plaza, 50 W Washington
Chicago, IL
Contact: Josh Wise, josh@citizenstrade.org
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Minnesota
TPP Teach-in & World Fair Trade Day Celebration
Saturday, May 11 * 12:00 – 4:00pm
Regla De Oro Gallery, 2743 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis, MN
Contact: Josh Wise, josh@citizentrade.org
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Oregon
PDX People’s Assembly on the TPP
Saturday, May 11 * 1:00pm
First Unitarian Church, SW 12th Ave & Main St
Portland, OR
Contact: Elizabeth Swager, elizabeth@oregonfairtrade.org
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Eugene/Springfield People’s Assembly on the TPP
Monday, April 29 * 6:00pm
AFSCME Bldg, 688 Charnelton St
Eugene, OR
Contact: Elizabeth Swager, elizabeth@oregonfairtrade.org
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Jackson County People’s Assembly on the TPP
Sunday, April 28 * 4:30pm
At the Grass Shack Cafe, 205 Fern Valley Rd
Phoenix, OR (Exit 24 off I-5)
Contact: Elizabeth Swager, elizabeth@oregonfairtrade.org
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Pennsylvania
Dawson TPP Workshop
Thursday, May 16 * Details TBA
Contact: Amy Conahan, amy@citizenstrade.org
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Texas
San Antonio TPP Event
Details TBA
Contact: Bob Cash, bobcash@citizenstrade.org
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Washington
TPP People’s Assembly Seattle
Saturday, May 11 * 2:00 – 5:00pm
Central Co-op, 1900 E Madison
Seattle, WA
Contact: Kristen Beifus, kristen@washingtonfairtrade.org
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TPP People’s Assembly Olympia
Date & Time TBA
906 Columbia Street SW
Olympia, WA
Contact: Kristen Beifus, kristen@washingtonfairtrade.org
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For events in Canada and beyond, please click here.

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Exactly 13 years after the #N30 actions to shut down the WTO, Global Exchange returns to Seattle with a similar message: #StopTPP!

We all know free trade agreements are politically, economically, and environmentally harmful.

But this weekend at TPPxBorder, hearing people speak to the real consequences of these deals brought my understanding of the dangers of these Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to a very human scale.

Listening to the voices of people who are affected by these FTAs – a pulp mill worker from Everett, WA, who got laid off two years before pension, HIV positive people who won’t be able to afford life-saving medication because of patent laws that protect profits instead of access, a Philippine woman who was forced to leave her family in search of work – these voices remind me that free trade isn’t just an ‘issue’ to discuss or debate. Free trade is about about profits at the expense of people’s health and safely. About trade over ethics. About politics over people and planet.

Free trade ‘agreements’ are anything but consensual.

In fact, the only partnering happening in the TransPacific ‘Partnership’ is is the stitching together of the 1%- corporations and politicians-  whilst the entirety of civil society is excluded and ignored… for now.

That’s why on Saturday December 1, a crowd of hundreds gathered at the U.S.-Canada border to demonstrate our unity and solidarity against the TransPacific Partnership. Representatives from four of the 13 negotiating countries – along with New Zealand by phone – spoke of the risks that the TPP presents to their communities, and the powerful international unity being built to stand up and protect our dignity, our planet, and our human rights.

Jill Mangaliman, Philippine U.S. Solidarity Organization pusoseattle.wordpress.com/

We called this one TPPxBorder: The People’s Round. What I loved about this rally wasn’t only the fiery speakers, the diversity, the music, the unity, the hot coffee, and the ultra-legitimacy of our opposition to this heinous version of the TPP…. what I loved was learning about what an alternative deal would look like- one by and for the people. Listening to speakers and experts articulately describe what fair trade looks like, what it offers communities internationally, reminds me why these fights are so important, and the promise of real, practical, and respectful trade solutions. We have answers – now is the time to join hands and fight for them.

After our rally, and piñata action (in which people managed to overcome ‘blindfolds’ of corporate greenwashing and lobbyist money to finally destroy the TPP piñata and release the affordable jellybean ‘medicines’ and GMO-free popcorn trapped inside!) we headed indoors to a warm meal and strategy sessions to plan future action.

Global Exchange & Witness for Peace co-led a “Social Media to #StopTPP” breakout group to discuss “Twitterstorming”  the corporations secretly negotiating TPP.

The breakout group I co-lead was about how we can use social media to #StopTPP. Our strategy is to call out the corporations negotiating the TPP in secret… and put their secrets in public view on social media channels. This week, our coalition members are calling out two corporate interests a day on their ties to the TPP… would you like to join the Twitterstorm? Just follow @GlobalExchange and @ElectDemocracy on Twitter, then retweet our actions every day this week at 11am and 2pmPST to help spread the word about #StopTPP using the very follower lists that these corporations have built. We can use your help and you can participate from anywhere.

The TransPacific Partnership is on a 1%-gilded beltway and it’s moving fast. But there is time (and enough of us) to stop it. The first thing we all can do is help spread the word. None of us can afford another NAFTA. Help us get the last 250,000 signatures needed this year to reach 1 million on the Avaaz petition against the TPP! And ask your organization to sign the Unity Statement.

VIDEO: Unity Statement at TPPxBorder Rally Dec. 1, 2012

For more information about the TransPacific Partnership and what you can do to stop it, see “10 Reasons to Oppose the TPP.” Thank you for supporting Fair Trade this holiday season, and telling corporations negotiating the TPP in secret exactly what you think of them. Together, we can #StopTPP.

That’s right folks, the sign says “Free Trade, my Ass!”