Solidarity in the South
Space center workers join IBEW

Winning Back the Work
Business development
push wins big project for
Des Moines members

Politics & Jobs
Benefits of grassroots political activism.

TVA to privatize?
Historic entity at risk

North of 49°
Canada's Highest
Court Upholds
Pensioner Rights

Au nord du 49° parallèle
La plus haute cour d'appel du Canada maintient les droits des retraités

NEBF Annual Funding
Notice

Bad News for Good Jobs?
The Trans-Pacific Partnership

If you liked NAFTA, you'll love the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That's the message a broad coalition of lawmakers, labor unions and health and safety activists is telling Americans about the largest trade agreement in more than a decade.

The TPP would govern trade between the United States and 12 other Pacific-rim nations: Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Vietnam. Supporters, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and President Obama, say the TPP will expand trade with some of the world's most vibrant economies, representing close to 40 percent of world GDP.

Gabe Horwitz, director of the think-tank Third Way, said that the TPP would open up doors to U.S. exports in Asia, boosting American manufacturing.

"For example, within the next 20 years, the Asia Pacific region will need 12,820 new airplanes, valued at $1.9 trillion," he said in a statement. "The question is who will build them?"

Critics of the deal question what good can come from a trade agreement where negotiations have so far been held in secret. Legislators, unions, environmental and other citizens groups have been excluded from the talks, while more than 600 corporate lobbyists have been inside the discussions from the beginning.

"The majority of Congress is being kept in the dark as to the substance of the TPP negotiations, while representatives of U.S. corporations — like Halliburton, Chevron, PHRMA, Comcast, and the Motion Picture Association of America — are being consulted and made privy to details of the agreement," said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

The agreement took one step closer to becoming a reality when Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), along with House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) submitted legislation in January giving Obama "fast-track" authority to negotiate the TPP, leaving Congress only the authority to make an up or down vote on the trade deal.

Hill and Chilia: Standing in Solidarity with the UAW

Manufacturing Member Makes Tapestry of Solidarity;

IBEW Urges Caution in Comcast-Time Warner Merger

Overwhelming 'Yes' Vote Wins Rights for Ill. Satellite Techs;

Fla. Bridge Workers Turn Activists, Join IBEW;

Minn. City Supervisors Promote Good Government, IBEW Values

Roy T. Noack;
James C. Sharp

Scott Walker, True Patriot;

Walking with a Purpose;

Congrats, Electrical
Worker

January 2014

February 2014

Member Makes Olympic Appearance