Comment Up
Commissioner McVoy has put Resolution No. 01-2016 on the agenda opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which has to do with global trade and supported by Obama. Critics say it will mean that more U.S. jobs get shipped overseas. Advocates
say it'll expand U.S. exports and create more well-paying jobs here at
home. Commissioner McVoy believes it will hurt our businesses by the out-sourcing of jobs, etc. and points out that our trade imbalance is out of whack...from 70 billion in 1993, the year before NAFTA went into effect, to more than $508 billion in 2014.
This is a subject that is far too important to slide through on the Consent Agenda. On top of that, it is totally out of our realm. I don't know whether it is good, bad or indifferent (NAFTA sure was a disaster and I would probably say the TPP could/would be equally as bad) but the Consent Agenda should be for items that are routine, procedural decisions, and decisions that are overwhelmingly supported by the population and noncontroversial. This reminds me of when a former commission consisting of liberal commissioners placed a resolution on the Agenda opposing Arizona 1070 as they didn't think it "fair" to stop people for immigration status checks.
TITLE:
Resolution No. 01-2016 - oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership
SUMMARY:
The Resolution calls upon the elected officials in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and any similar trade agreements. Commissioner McVoy requested this be placed on the agenda.
BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION:
The TPP may have adverse impacts on job retention and creation s in the United States. Lake Worth currently has over a 12% unemployment rate.
Trans Pacific Partnership
The Obama side of the argument--
TPP puts American workers first by establishing the highest
labor standards of any trade agreement in history,
requiring all countries to meet core, enforceable labor standards as
stated in the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
The fully-enforceable labor standards we have won in TPP include the
freedom to form unions and bargain collectively; prohibitions against
child labor and forced labor; requirements for acceptable conditions of
work such as minimum wage, hours of work, and safe workplace conditions;
and protections against employment discrimination. These enforceable
requirements will help our workers compete fairly and reverse a status
quo that disadvantages our workers through a race to the bottom on
international labor standards.
In fact, TPP will result in the largest expansion of fully-enforceable labor rights in history, including renegotiating NAFTA and bringing hundreds of millions of
additional people under ILO standards – leveling the playing field for
American workers so that they can win in the global economy.
Fact sheet from Obama
“Hillary Clinton, and her campaign of fear, will try to spread the lie that these actions will start a trade war. She has it completely backwards. Hillary Clinton unleashed a trade war against the American worker when she supported one terrible trade deal after another – from NAFTA to China to South Korea. A Trump Administration will end that war by getting a fair deal for the American people. The era of economic surrender will finally be over. A new era of prosperity will finally begin. America will be independent once more.”