Memo to Leaders Meeting with China: Time for U.S. Policy that Aids Our Economy
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Here in Washington, D.C., President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are taking part in a big-time summit with China. Let’s hope they have substantive discussions on economic policies that aid U.S. workers. Over the past few days, several great pieces on trade and manufacturing have been published that should feed into the discussions of U.S. participants in what is officially called the “sixth Strategic and Economic Dialogue with China.” Here’s a summary.
**U.S. “protectionism” is a myth. There’s an “untold story of protectionism,” say United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard and Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. That is, the set of barriers other governments erect to block American goods and the mercantilist measures they utilize to gain market share in the United States.
These practices range from China’s currency misalignment and massive industrial subsidies to non-tariff barriers in Korea and Japan. All these impediments have been well documented by U.S. trade officials, but the mere act of identifying these practices is now viewed as protectionism, even though taking action to eliminate them would expand world trade, reduce global imbalances and preserve the free market.
Sen.-Designate Gillibrand Supports Employee Free Choice Act
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Former New York senator and presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has been confirmed as secretary of state, and tomorrow, Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand will take the oath of office as New York’s newest senator.
With Clinton, New York’s working families had a strong advocate for good jobs and the freedom to form unions and bargain, so Gillibrand has big shoes to fill. Although she hasn’t been in Congress long, she’s been a strong supporter of the needs of working families.
In her first term in Congress, Gillibrand signed on as a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act and voted to pass it in March 2007.
In addition to her support for the Employee Free Choice Act, Gillibrand earned a 98 percent rating from the AFL-CIO in 2007 and 2008, backing working families with her votes on children’s health care, fair pay, unemployment benefits, workplace safety and other critical issues. At the press conference where Gov. David Paterson announced Gillibrand’s appointment Friday, she was introduced by New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes, who said he looked forward to working with Gillibrand in the Senate.
Obama-Biden Win for Working Families
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| Barack Obama, president for working families. | |
We’re cheering as we write: Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will be the next U.S. president and vice president, respectively, propelled to the nation’s highest office with the critical support of union members in the labor movement’s biggest-ever get-out-the-vote mobilization. The Obama-Biden ticket so far has won 284 electoral votes, more than the 270 needed for victory and all votes from the states have not been tallied. And although the Senate count is not yet final, working families so far have voted in another four union-endorsed candidates to the U.S. Senate.
After eight years of an administration hostile to unions, workers and a working-family friendly economy, America’s union members helped bring about much-needed change by electing Obama and working family-friendly candidates up and down the ballot.
Sen. Clinton, Rep. Lewis, Sweeney, Holt Baker Rally Seniors for Obama
Today in Pittsburgh, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney joined members of the Alliance for Retired Americans to rally on behalf of Sen. Barack Obama. Meanwhile, in Georgia, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker joined the Alliance and Rep. John Lewis for a forum on seniors’ issues in Atlanta.
Clinton and Sweeney spoke to more than 1,000 seniors in Pittsburgh, highlighting why Obama is the right choice for retirees in this critical state. Obama will protect Social Security benefits, eliminate income taxes on low- and middle-income seniors and ensure Medicare cuts costs for seniors by negotiating for lower drug prices.
