One of the lesser known facts about free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and other nations is that they open the door for foreign corporations and manufacturers to bid on big government projects and services. A Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)—an FTA with the U.S. and eight Pacific Rim nations that is being negotiated now—could throw those doors open even further.

Andrea Delgado, LCLAA policy analyst and communications manager, sends us this. 

Politicians must stop blaming immigrants and focus on the root causes of immigration—addiction to cheap labor and free trade policies that displace workers—according to a new study by the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), an AFL-CIO constituency group.

BREAKING—The Senate tonight passed all three trade deals. The Senate votes were 83-15 for Korea, 66-33 for Colombia and 77-22 for Panama.

BREAKING—The House tonight passed the Colombia (262-167), Korea (278-151) and Panama (300-129) trade deals. Read more from the Los Angeles Times. 

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says the trade deals that Congress is set to vote on later today are “the wrong medicine at the wrong time.”

Today, you can take action to stop Congress from approving job-killing trade deals with Korea, Colombia and Panama and tell Republicans and Democrats to put Americans back to work.

Congress will soon consider three so-called free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and Korea, Colombia and Panama. Yet because these agreements do not include sufficient protections for workers, passage of these pacts would be a job-killing move at a time when more than 26 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed or have stopped looking for work.

The Obama administration is ratcheting up the pressure on Guatemala to enforce its labor laws. Yesterday, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced it was moving forward with arbitration against Guatemala for violating fundamental labor rights under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).

The Obama administration announced yesterday that because Guatemala has not  taken sufficient  steps to effectively enforce its labor laws, as required under the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), it is requesting a meeting of the Free Trade Commission.