http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/BrokenPromises.pdf The Senate will soon vote on the Bipartisan
Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability
Act of 2015 – also known as “Fast Track.” President
Obama has requested Fast Track authority from
Congress to ease the passage of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP), a massive trade agreement with
12 countries that account for nearly 40% of the global
economy. President Obama has repeatedly stated that
the TPP is “the most progressive trade bill in history”
because it has high labor, environmental, and human
rights standards. The President claims the TPP will
have “higher labor standards, higher environmental
standards,” and “new tools to hold countries
accountable.”
But proponents of almost every free trade agreement
(FTA) in the last 20 years have made virtually identical
claims
The TPP is being hailed as the strongest free
trade agreement yet. But this is not the first time this
claim has been made. Proponents of previous trade
agreements have made similar claims about every
free trade agreement signed in the last 20 years, from
the NAFTA agreement in 1993 to the more recent
agreements with Colombia and Panama.
By now, we have two decades of experience
with free trade agreements under both Democratic
and Republican Presidents. Supporters of these
agreements have always promised that they contain
tough standards to protect workers.
But this analysis reveals that the rhetoric has
not matched the reality. There have been widespread
enforcement problems and flaws that prevent
enforcement of the labor provisions of these free trade
agreements.