Announcements
December 05, 2015
Why NYSARA Opposes the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Deal Now Before Congress
1. Loss of Jobs, lower wages
The TPP is a bad deal for American workers. Like NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO agreements, the TPP will continue our race to the bottom by giving trading partners greater ability to compete for American jobs by paying workers pennies a day. For example, daily wage in Vietnam is $2.23! Compare that with the U.S. daily minimum wage of $58.
2. Higher Drug prices
The TPP deal will curtail the ability of our government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare recipients; it will lock in drug companies’ patents on drugs to keep cheaper generics off the market for years
3. “Multinational Corporate Courts/Tribunals “ will supplant U.S. Courts in drug pricing cases if corporate profits are affected.
The TPP will allow multi national companies to challenge any government action or inaction that they feel constitutes a violation of their rights and jeopardizes their profits in what’s known as ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlements). These private “corporate courts” have been used to not only attack drug policies , but also health and safety standards and minimum wage. These courts are not bound by US laws and are adjudicated by corporate lawyers. Corporations can sue if corporate profits are threatened by less than “market driven” prices. The Medicare program could be at severe risk under this provision. This is by — for– and decided by corporations provision.
4. “Buy American” Policies would be destroyed
The TPP will limit Federal and State’s ability to stimulate the economy to ensure that taxpayer monies are used to buy U.S. goods. Foreign companies could not be barred from competition because of their poor human and labor rights records.
Congress may act on the TPP deal as early as February 5. In the meantime, it is important that we make our voices heard! You can help shore up opposition to the TPP by asking local city councils and county legislatures to pass our Resolution opposing this awful trade deal.
Take Action
Click here for a link to our sample resolution:TPP Resolution updated
We at NYSARA are ready to assist you in getting the resolutions passed locally before Congress acts on the measure.
More information?
email to president@newyorkstateara.org or execdirector@newyorkstateara.org.