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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsElizabeth Warren Details Obama's Broken Trade Promises
Thank you Elizabeth Warren for explaining that human rights provisions have not been enforced in regards to recent trade agreements. Human rights / Worker's rights should not be expendable in the discussion of free trade.
By Zach Carter - Posted: 05/18/2015 10:08 am EDT
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued a report Monday morning detailing decades of failed trade enforcement by American presidents including Barack Obama, the latest salvo in an ongoing public feud between Warren and Obama over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
~Snip~
Obama has repeatedly insisted the TPP will include robust labor protections, and has dismissed Warren's criticisms as "dishonest," "bunk" and "misinformation." On Monday, Warren fired back, showing that Obama simply has not effectively enforced existing labor standards in prior trade pacts. According to the report, a host of abuses, from child labor to the outright murder of union organizers, have continued under Obama's watch with minimal pushback from the administration.
"The United States does not enforce the labor protections in its trade agreements," the report reads, citing analyses from the Government Accountability Office, the State Department and the Department of Labor.
Of the 20 countries the U.S. currently has trade agreements with, 11 have documented reliance on child labor, forced labor or other human rights abuses related to labor, according to the report. The violations are not confined to exploitation. Since Obama finalized a labor action plan with the government of Colombia in 2011, 105 union activists have been murdered. Obama called the Colombian deal "a win-win for workers" at the time.
Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/18/elizabeth-warren-obama-broken-trade-promises_n_7302734.html
cali
(114,904 posts)think
(11,641 posts)The article says 17 labor activists were murdered in 2013-2014 in Guatemala alone.
The USTR and the corporate world need to get on the right side of this issue and support human rights and workers' rights. Corporations can still be very profitable while being good corporate entities and negotiating labor in good faith and working to make sure their suppliers do also.
But even in 2014 on the other side of our southern border in Guatemala union activists are being killed let alone any talk of fair rights for the workers there. CAFTA has done nothing to enforce fair labor rights let alone stop the killing.
demmiblue
(36,875 posts)peacebird
(14,195 posts)think
(11,641 posts)red dog 1
(27,845 posts)cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)Last edited Mon May 18, 2015, 07:20 PM - Edit history (1)
eom
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)and the energy and determination of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. We are truly blessed by their activism. I hope that Americans hear them and wake up.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)to attack them have failed.
I mentioned this before, but when you look at history it seems to me that people like this seem to come along just when it seemed that there was no one who could take on the job of standing up for the people. And they do seem to come in groups
The FFs eg, so many great thinkers who had the courage to take on an Empire, and there were so many of them at that particular time.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)AikidoSoul
(2,150 posts)She makes me feel hopeful, and that hasn't happened in quite awhile.
Love the lady.
erronis
(15,326 posts)Yes, she is exceptional and does not give up.
I'm sure she's been given lots of reasons to shut up, get back in the kitchen, etc. Maybe more and more politician-citizens (vs. politician-employees) are starting to understand that they can shove back. They can work with grass-roots and real people.
With luck there will be a tidal wave of new blood taking over from the tired pecuniary old ones, at the US congressional and state level.
Perhaps there will also be enough to flush the fat cats out of influencing government. However like all parasites, they are hard to dislodge.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Shameful.
I knew about the Human Rights abuses and the killing of Union Organizers in Colombia
while we were "negotiating" the "Free Trade" treaty.
The Horrific Costs of the US-Colombia Trade Agreement
http://www.thenation.com/article/174589/horrific-costs-us-colombia-trade-agreement#
think
(11,641 posts)related to labor and allow child labor practices to go on unabated.
American leadership has been seriously lacking in this regard. Without protections for workers in the countries we trade with it not only damages the workers there but has lasting ripple effects for the American work force.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)If we allowed child labor those jobs could be ours!!
dmosh42
(2,217 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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think
(11,641 posts)Hopefully someday we'll get additional network sources that can resist the forces and monetary influences of the dominant corporate culture that seems to exist in today's media
Omaha Steve
(99,698 posts)K&R!
chev52
(71 posts)Both Warren and Grayson. Two politicians not afraid to speak their minds.
turbinetree
(24,710 posts)Bernie Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Keith Ellison and the "progressive caucus.
Euphoria
(448 posts)ucrdem
(15,512 posts)it was being negotiated? When the USTR was conferring with Congress about the TPP in over 1,000 meetings? Because the timing leaves her open to criticism that she's sandbagging the president at a critical moment to score political points.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)to to push Obama to enforce the labor and environmental provisions in these agreements and they have done NOTHING.
Elizabeth Warren was patient. If you read her report, you will learn that the facts that she reports have been known for years. If Obama wanted to push another dirty, money-losing, anti-American trade agreement on us, HE should have had HIS staff research whether the labor and other human rights standards were being enforced and made sure they were.
Obama needs to rethink his options.
The TPP is not going to fly.
If you want to know why, go listen to the video of Elizabeth Warren presenting a speech before the 2015 California State Convention in Anaheim. The moment that she raises the issue of the TPP, the huge crowd of dedicated, hard-working, loyal California Democratic Party members goes WILD.
The Democratic Party core, the loyal members, the do-or-diers in the Democratic Party do not want the TPP.
Obama had better just take count of his losses and retreat on this one because Democrats don't want it. NAFTA and the other trade agreements have hurt our country too much and helped only the greediest of the scoundrels who shoved and kicked their ways to the top of the economic heap.
No to the TPP. It is a corporate coup.
salib
(2,116 posts)with current trade agreements is in fact indicative of the current Administration not doing its job.
BTW, if all that one can criticize Sen. Warren for is "timing" as compared with the egregious examples of human rights violations not being responded to, then I would recommend that you not bother to make that response at all.
think
(11,641 posts)Sorry if that wasn't soon enough...
by Mike Masnick
Thu, Jun 13th 2013 10:37pm
"I have heard the argument that transparency would undermine the Administration's policy to complete the trade agreement because public opposition would be significant. If transparency would lead to widespread public opposition to a trade agreement, then that trade agreement should not be the policy of the United States. I believe in transparency and democracy and I think the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) should too."
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130613/12035523456/senator-warren-if-tpp-transparency-would-lead-to-public-opposition-then-policy-is-wrong.shtml
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)She's had plenty of opportunities before now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren
think
(11,641 posts)But hey she could have payed less attention to those extremely important things that she was appointed to take care of and made the TPP a priority even though neither of those 2 positions were directly involved with it. Of course she would have had ZERO access to any information about the TPP but what the hell she wasn't doing anything else important.
Considering how little access congress people still have to the actual text of the TPP it is ridiculous to expect she would have had been in a place to speak about such things when she was hired for other very specific government work.
TARP oversight
On November 14, 2008, Warren was appointed by United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to chair the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel created to oversee the implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.[42] The Panel released monthly oversight reports that evaluate the government bailout and related programs.[43] During Warren's tenure, these reports covered foreclosure mitigation, consumer and small business lending, commercial real estate, AIG, bank stress tests, the impact of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) on the financial markets, government guarantees, the automotive industry, and other topics.[a]
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Warren was an early advocate for the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The bureau was established by the DoddFrank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law by President Obama in July 2010. In September 2010, President Obama named Warren Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to set up the new agency.[44] While liberal groups and consumer advocacy groups pushed for Obama to formally nominate Warren as the agency's director, Warren was strongly opposed by financial institutions and by Republican members of Congress who believed Warren would be an overly zealous regulator.[45][46][47] Reportedly convinced that Warren could not win Senate confirmation as the bureau's first director,[48] Obama turned to former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray and in January 2012, over the objections of Republican Senators, appointed Cordray to the post in a recess appointment.[49][50]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren#TARP_oversight
cali
(114,904 posts)opposed to the TPP. It's certainly been brought to the attention of the USTR by unions. trust you though to obscenely twist this.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)Really?
cali
(114,904 posts)and others with the USTR and the WH.
Damn straight she's making this public now. It's not like the WH is playing by genteel rules. The President has gone for the jugular and he did it first. Turn about is fair play, sauce for the goose, etc.
If it helps in the fight against this piece of corporate dog shit the President is trying to shove down our throats, good.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)The problem with using human rights as a political football is that it destroys one's credibility on human rights issues. Ditto dishonest representations of legislation. Just cause or not it flushes credibility down the toilet.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Flushing his own credibility down the toilet.
Oh wait...that's they guy you like so it was just "good politics" when he did it.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)NAFTA wasn't passed by President Obama, so her whining about that trade agreement is falling on deaf ears at the Obama White House.
Exilednight
(9,359 posts)Enough people in either chamber to keep it from progressing.
cali
(114,904 posts)hard with facts that are directly pertinent to the tpp
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)Jesus, you're right, that's a lot of points for pandering.
I wonder why anyone believes anything she says about economics these days since she already admitted that she voted for Reagan.
She's definitely a politician, she's got that pandering factor going for her pretty hot and heavy.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Elizabeth doesn't need political points. She is awash in political points.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)red dog 1
(27,845 posts)gordianot
(15,242 posts)Thankfully the Democratic Party has never been well organized has some diversity and is the last Political Party in America with any chance. Unfortunately third Parties will not work, Citizens United was the final nail in that coffin.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)2:25 to see Mccain start the conversation, 3:33 to just see Obama talk about the Columbia free trade agreement
cali
(114,904 posts)didn't translate into doing anything about it after it got even worse. His USTR said that those murders weren't anything that we could no anything about vis a vis our trade agreement with Colombia.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)"With the election of Barack Obama in 2008, hopes of reviving the CTPA seemed dead in the water. As a candidate, Obama had spoken out strongly against the agreement, citing continuing violence leveled at trade unionists, which would make a mockery of the very labor protections that weve insisted be included in these kinds of agreements.
Two years after his victory, however, President Obama was promoting the CTPA and has called it a win-win for both nations. In April 2011, he enacted a Labor Action Plan to ensure that the Colombian government would act to stop violence against unionists.
It was a cover, argues Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizens Global Trade Watch. The Labor Action Plan was used as an ameliorative to try and overcome the outrage in Congress over the United States associating itself with a government responsible for the single highest rates of unionist assassinations. Thats what the Labor Action Plan was about.
http://www.thenation.com/article/174589/horrific-costs-us-colombia-trade-agreement#
I was always curious WHY a country that had such a horrible record on Human Rights abuses and the Killing of Union Organizers was EVER considered for a "Free Trade" agreement, especially since Obama spoke oppositionally about this during Campaign 2008.
You will know them by their Works.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)libdem4life
(13,877 posts)fist...and how right on she is. This TPP swindle is crap.
I'd vote for her in a heartbeat, as she sure can make a stump speech. There is still lots of time and at some time, every politician says they are not going to run. I think she's doing some "listening" as well.
Maybe as VP?
DhhD
(4,695 posts)libdem4life
(13,877 posts)that it's never to early to start.
raindaddy
(1,370 posts)Thanks for posting this!!!
FairWinds
(1,717 posts)Now THAT is a really "out there" comment.
"Okay but you're admitting it's a stunt."
We admit no such thing of course.
ChiciB1
(15,435 posts)I need to come back and read this thread later... I can see I'm a long like-minded people! Had a very long day and very tired!
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)democrats (except the 150 others who oppose this steaming turd)
Fight the good fight, senator
Octafish
(55,745 posts)She seems to have a conscience, which not all politicians possess, though.
BeanMusical
(4,389 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)None of the potential abuses have been effectively enforced in the past trade deals.
Why do you think we are so concerned? Just because?
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Minimal.......