Obama push for TAA extension doesn’t calm organized labor on free-trade deals
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1005-trade/182225-obama-push-for-taa-extension-doesnt-calm-organized-labor-on-free-trade-dealsPresident Obama’s push for renewed assistance for workers who lose their jobs due to trade isn’t diminishing organized labor’s opposition to the three trade deals he wants Congress to approve.
The AFL-CIO’s view is that Trade Adjustment Assistance should stand on its own merits and not be linked to the trade deals.
“It’s beyond ridiculous that Congress hasn’t passed” an extension of the program, Celeste Drake, an AFL-CIO trade policy specialist, told The Hill.
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“So long as these agreements fall short of protecting the broad interests of American workers and their counterparts around the world in these uncertain economic times, we will oppose them,” Trumka said recently.