Obama hopes to enlist GOP in push for trade pact, despite Democratic resistance

[RiverLover]

50. 600 corps have seen the TPP in full, along with some unions. Here's what the unions think~

TPP Is Bad News for Workers and Worse News for Women
12/25/14

Around 600 corporations and a few labor unions with stakes in the talks have seen a draft. Except for a few chapters released by WikiLeaks last year, Congress and the public have not.

But here’s what we do know: This so-called partnership is an insult to U.S. workers. And it’s especially bad news for women.

According to Doctors Without Borders, for example, the agreement’s intellectual property clauses could cut off access to generic drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS—who are increasingly women and children.

And the Communications Workers of America union said the pact will make it easier for corporations to outsource majority-female jobs—not only in low-wage workplaces such as call centers, but also higher-wage sectors like human resources.

So it’s no surprise that women in Congress have been leading the opposition to the TPP for some time.

In the House, Democrats Rosa DeLauro and Louise Slaughter pointed out in a forceful Los Angeles Times op-ed that the agreement would force Americans to compete against workers from extremely low-wage countries. It would also, they argued, roll back environmental standards and U.S. laws that protect food and drug safety.

In the Senate, Democrat Elizabeth Warren has expressed worries that the secretive agreement could weaken financial regulations. She opposed the appointment of Michael Froman as the U.S. trade representative—a job that has made him the chief arbiter of the treaty-making process—because he flatly stated his opposition to more transparency in the negotiations.

And there’s another little-known provision.

Under the proposed rules, businesses incorporated in TPP countries—any of them—would be guaranteed equal treatment with U.S. firms when bidding on government contracts.

That means our tax dollars could go to underwriting companies in countries like Brunei, which imprisons unmarried women for getting pregnant and allows the stoning of gays and lesbians....

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/1163803-tpp-is-bad-news-for-workers-and-worse-news-for-women/

AFL-CIO, AARP, GPhA, Doctors Without Borders, and Oxfam Letter to Obama on TPP and Access to Medicine

Dear Mr. President: The organizations signing this letter want to express our deep concerns regarding some of the provisions under negotiation in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). These provisions could seriously impact access to affordable medicines by delaying generic competition as well as impacting governments’ ability to advance public health policies in the U.S and around the world.

While we have different perspectives and interests, we are united by our shared concerns regarding access to affordable medicines and the need to ensure competition in the pharmaceutical market in the U.S. and abroad....

http://infojustice.org/archives/33702