Pro-labor activists in Chicago protest Trans-Pacific Partnership pact
Chicago Tribune | 6 Sep 2011
Pro-labor activists in Chicago protest Trans-Pacific Partnership pact
Politicians, labor activists and ice cream makers gather to influence free-trade agreement
By Erika Slife, Tribune reporter
Celebration of the Labor Day spirit was in full force Monday in Grant Park, where hundreds of pro-labor activists gathered to influence negotiations scheduled to take place this week in Chicago over the proposed U.S. free-trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries.
"Today is not just a day to barbecue!" shouted Jim Robinson, a director for the United Steel Workers, before a sea of bobbing U.S. flags and union signs. "Today’s a day to fight!"
Beginning Tuesday, leaders from the nine countries involved with the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact — the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Chile, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei — are expected to meet at the Hilton Chicago to sign off on "broad outlines" of a final agreement over the proposed U.S. trade deal. It’s the eighth round of discussions and is scheduled to last through Sept. 15, although no deal is expected by the end of the Chicago summit.
Activists said they wanted to raise awareness of the pact’s potential effects on jobs and the environment.
On Monday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream advocated for pro-labor safeguards to be included in an agreement.
Cohen and Greenfield said they would be delivering 20,000 postcards signed by Americans to world leaders on Tuesday urging a fair trade policy.
"We want an agreement that puts people first," Cohen said. "We want an agreement that makes global trade an instrument of justice."
Arthur Stamoulis, executive director of a national coalition called Citizens Trade Campaign, said activists will push for strong fair labor standards, financial regulation protections and an end to corporate loopholes in domestic laws.
"Too many past trade agreements have benefited Wall Street and big business at the expense of normal people," he said. "We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs shipped overseas from this region, and what we need is a trade agreement that actually improves the living standards for working people in Chicago and around the world."
The demonstrators rallied in Grant Park before marching toward the nearby Hilton Chicago on Michigan Avenue. Some marched with babies in strollers or in their arms. And some activists shouted in bullhorns, banged together plastic batons and chanted pro-labor mantras. Afterward, Greenfield and Cohen passed out Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to the demonstrators, including the flavor "Americone Dream," a vanilla, fudge, waffle cone and caramel concoction inspired by comedian Stephen Colbert.
"We’re here to begin to reverse 30 years of bad trade policy," said the Rev. Tim Yager, 61, an Episcopal priest from Oak Park who attended the rally with his wife and two children of their friends. "Working people cannot afford to have a Pacific Rim trade deal. It just opens up the markets in a race to the bottom. It’s just capitalism run rampant. When that happens, workers in all those countries, and our country, pay the price."
Organizers said they were optimistic that the crowd of several hundred would influence the discussions held by world leaders this week.
"I think advocacy always matters," Preckwinkle said. "It helps focus attention on important issues and energizes people around improving public policy discussions."
Mainstream U.S. farm and business groups support the agreement, which they see as key to boosting U.S. exports and keeping a check on China’s growing might in the region.
eslife@tribune.com
Twitter: @eslife
