Senator Warren has released a report detailing unkept promises in trade agreements

[FlatBaroque]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) issued a report Monday morning detailing decades of failed trade enforcement by American presidents including Barack Obama, the latest salvo in an ongoing public feud between Warren and Obama over the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
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Of the 20 countries the U.S. currently has trade agreements with, 11 have documented reliance on child labor, forced labor or other human rights abuses related to labor, according to the report. The violations are not confined to exploitation. Since Obama finalized a labor action plan with the government of Colombia in 2011, 105 union activists have been murdered. Obama called the Colombian deal "a win-win for workers" at the time.
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But while much of the TPP controversy has concerned the legal language involved in the agreement itself, Warren's report highlights a broader concern among progressives. Regardless of what the final TPP deal looks like, presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama himself, have all failed to effectively enforce promises to protect workers, even as rogue regimes have continued to benefit from other provisions of the agreements.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/18/elizabeth-warren-obama-broken-trade-promises_n_7302734.html

Link to the full report: http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/WarrenReport.pdf

[FlatBaroque]

1. Lip service

More from Huff Po article..

“The Obama Administration is taking unprecedented actions to promote and protect fundamental labor rights and ensure acceptable conditions of work,” reads a joint report from the Department of Labor and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative from February. Those commitments include “bringing the first-ever labor dispute under a free trade agreement"-- in Guatemala.

But labor unions and other critics say these measures have been ineffective. The AFL-CIO has been pressing for action on Guatemalan violations for Obama’s entire term in office, and the dispute remains unresolved. Meanwhile, as Warren's report documents, Guatemala remains one of the most dangerous places in the world for union workers. In 2013 and 2014, according to the AFL-CIO, 17 labor activists were murdered in Guatemala while the Obama administration pursued diplomatic action. Three of the slain union workers were reportedly killed during a dispute with a local government over unpaid back wages.

[FlatBaroque]

2. She is NOT calling anyone a liar, as others have implied

she is detailing evidence that labor protection clauses and ineffective and rarely enforced across administrations

[sabrina 1]

3. Good for her, keep the facts coming. n/t