Forced, Child Labor Still Pervasive in Some TPP Countries, Say House Dems
One-third of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating countries regularly host some of the worst labor rights violations globally, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative needs to fundamentally revise its approach to labor provisions in U.S. free trade agreements, said four House Democrats in a Dec. 4 call with reporters. Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., George Miller, D-Calif., Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., also sent a letter to USTR Michael Froman on the same day that echoed the comments made on the conference call (here).
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The pressure for more accountability comes in the wake of a Labor Department report which points to systems of forced and child labor in Vietnam, Mexico, Peru and Malaysia, all of which are parties to TPP (here). President Barack Obama made a forceful pledge to try to hammer out outstanding issues in TPP and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in Dec. 3 comments at a Business Roundtable event, while also vowing to push forward on Trade Promotion Authority (see 1412040025).
On the call, DeLauro insisted the Obama administration lacks the congressional votes to pass TPA, citing opposition from the majority of the House Democratic caucus as well as more than 20 conservative lawmakers. “I do not believe [Obama’s] comments will be persuasive in terms of a fast-track vote in the House,” said DeLauro, adding that the TPA bill in Congress today is a “non-starter” in the chamber. Democrats and the far-right Republicans may be able to cooperate to buck the TPA effort, saying the two camps are "like-minded" on this point.
Senate Finance Committee ranking member and soon-to-be chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, co-introduced the TPA bill in January. Hatch recently said he will consider bringing some of current committee chairman Ron Wyden’s, D-Ore., "priorities" into a TPA bill (see 1411170027).
The House members on the call stressed the need for more transparency with labor requirements, as well as stronger enforcement mechanisms in a TPP deal. “The old way of doing this in the past where you sign the trade agreement and then ‘we’ll get back to labor agreements and workers’ protections and we’ll negotiate those separately’ … that’s not going to work in these nations,” said Miller. “Once they have the agreement, as we’ve seen in Colombia and other countries, they don’t get back to the worker protections. They continue to exploit them to the benefit of their countries’ economy.” A recent Government Accountability Office report said more U.S. labor enforcement is needed with FTA partners (see 1411140035).
U.S. FTAs allow foreign partners to usurp U.S. jobs through unfair labor practices, said the four Democrats. Obama in his Dec. 3 comments said labor requirements for Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries will benefit U.S. workers.