'NO on Fast Track' protest Tuesday during John Kerry's TPP sales event at Boeing
RENTON -- Inside Boeing's factory gates on Tuesday morning, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be pleading the case for giving President Obama 'Fast Track' Trade Promotion Authority for another NAFTA-like 'free trade' deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Short of the votes they need to pass Fast Track through Congress, Kerry will be promising lots of jobs, lots of protections for workers, and lots of other things.
Outside Boeing's gates, representatives of the many labor, environmental, community and civic groups opposed to Fa,t Track will be protesting with the message: 'We've heard these promises before and the people say, "NO SALE!", "No on Fast Track!"
WHAT: "NO on Fast Track/TPP" protest outside John Kerry speech at Boeing
WHEN: Tuesday, May 19, starting at 8:30 a.m. (Kerry's speech is scheduled for 9:30 a.m.)
WHERE: Boeing Gate D-35, 998 Logan Ave. N., corner of 8th and Logan (across from LA Fitness) in Renton
"After more than 20 years of broken promises, lost jobs and rising economic inequality, the free traders have lost the benefit of the doubt," said Gillian Locascio of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition. "We strongly support trade, but only trade that benefits everyone. We've seen and experienced the damage these deals can do. Trade is too important for Congress to pass up their only opportunity to influence these secret deals negotiated by international corporations. That means voting NO on Fast Track."
The Fast Track/TPA legislation limits debate and forbids amendments to the secret TPP and other NAFTA-style trade deals negotiated over the next six years. The White House is short of the votes needed to pass Fast Track in the U.S. House of Representatives and many members of Washington state's congressional delegation say they are undecided, which is why Kerry is coming to Renton on Tuesday.
A broad coalition of more than 100 unions, environmental groups, community organizations, small businesses, civic groups and political organizations -- plus the Washington State Democrats and the city councils of Seattle and Bellingham -- are all opposed to Fast Track. And recent polls show that voters in Washington state also strongly oppose it.
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Yesterday, John Kerry gave a 50 minute speech at the Boeing Renton Factory extolling the virtues of TPP and how great it will be for workers.
We were there to tell a different story.
Some 30 people joined us from IAM, SPEEA, WSLC, Teamsters 117, 350 Seattle, UFCW, Letter Carriers, and CAGJ, holding a giant banner with a disappearing airplane ("Export our airplanes, not our jobs"
and wearing fast track blindfolds to call out the secrecy. We were in solidarity with another group protesting the ongoing imprisonment of Nestora Salgado.
TV, radio, and written media covered the action and interviewed several of the protesters, I'll include links below to the media we have seen so far and our press release below.
Inside the factory, dozens of workers wore No TPP stickers in protest as well.
Check out pictures here! (Thank you IAM for the great photography): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153334317468685.1073741896.149806543684&type=1
Thanks for the great turnout from everyone on less than 24 hours notice and let's keep this momentum moving forward!
Bre and Gillian
Washington Fair Trade Coalition
206.227.3079
P.S. We discovered that our blindfolds representing Fast Track really are unpleasant to wear... They make great messaging on why Fast Track is so awful!
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Media coverage
The Stand: http://www.thestand.org/2015/05/if-only-kerry-met-with-workers-about-tpp/
Seattle Times (Interviews!): http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/john-kerry-defends-tpp-during-controversial-boeing-visit/
Q13 Fox (Interviews!): http://q13fox.com/2015/05/19/secretary-of-state-in-renton-touting-controversial-trade-deal/
Kiro (Interviews!): http://www.kirotv.com/videos/online/video-us-secretary-of-state-john-kerry-tours/vDSZDM/
King 5: http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/renton/2015/05/19/john-kerry-on-trade/27616117/
Seattle PI: http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2015/05/19/kerry-at-boeings-renton-plant-globalization-has-no-reverse-gear/#33102101=0