Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Urges Defeat of Desperate Attempt by U.S. House Leadership to Revive Wounded Fast Track bill

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 18, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Rick Bloomingdale and Secretary-Treasurer Frank Snyder urge all members of Pennsylvania's U.S. House delegation to reject the desperate attempt by the House Leadership, led by House Speaker John Boehner, to ram through an amended and a wounded Fast Track Bill that is much worse than the package which failed last week.

"They have made a bad trade deal much worse by decoupling and removing the inadequate Trade Adjustment Assistance protections for workers who lose their job due to unfair trade deals. We are urging our elected representatives to protect good jobs and Pennsylvania's middle class. A vote against this bill is a vote for protecting workers from bad trade policy. Any member of Congress who votes for this is voting to send Pennsylvania and American jobs out of the country with no help for those workers and their families who lose their jobs," Bloomingdale said.

"President Obama promised he would veto trade legislation that does not include assistance for workers dislocated by this bad trade deal. This is an admission that hundreds of thousands of workers will lose their jobs and will need this assistance. "Fair Trade" deals should not cost American jobs. There are fewer protections for dislocated workers in this bill, and it will result in the removal of prohibitions against slave labor and human trafficking, prohibitions against currency manipulation, and environmental protections," Snyder said.

"Pennsylvania's working families are overwhelmingly expressing their opposition to Fast Track and bad trade deals. We expect our elected officials to protect jobs and our communities from bad trade policies.  It's time for all of Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation to stand with working families by voting no on Fast Track," Bloomingdale said.

SOURCE Pennsylvania AFL-CIO