The United States and 10 other countries are negotiating our next big trade agreement , called Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP. It's time to re-examine what works and what doesn't work.
Imagine a thought experiment , where we put environmentalists in each country in charge of negotiating the next trade agreement. Preposterous! I know. Stick with me. This is a thought experiment.
Under a white, wintry sky, nearly two-dozen union members volunteered to rebuild a 100-foot wooden bridge on a public trail in the Black Hills.
“When you’ve got skilled workers with the right tools, the work goes quick,” says Dana Garry, who manages the 109-mile Mickelson Trail for South Dakota’s Department of Game, Fish and Parks. In two days, the volunteers rebuilt abutments and replaced the bridge surface and railing. “It was just amazing,” she said. “These volunteers fill an important need.”
Laura Bliss-Morris of the Union Sportsmen's Alliance sends us this report.
Nearly 150 union members, shooting enthusiasts and other guests—including United Union of Roofers and Waterproofers President Kinsey Robinson , Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and state Attorney General Lori Swanson—teamed up to support conservation at the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance’s (USA's) second annual Roofers International Twin Cities Sporting Clays Shoot and Get Youth Outdoors Day on Sept. 15 and 16 at Wild Marsh Sporting Clays in Clear Lake.
Pacific Rim Cayman LLC, the mining company determined to extract gold along the banks of El Salvador’s Lempa River, is seeking to use the Central American Free Trade Agreement ( CAFTA ) to force the Salvadoran government to allow it to have its environmentally disastrous, gold-digging way. Since 2009, four activists opposed to Pacific Rim’s mining plans have been killed .
How many times have we heard from big corporations and their political allies—usually well-financed by corporate campaign contributions—that the latest workplace safety, environmental or consumer protection regulation will kill jobs, ruin the economy and lead to the end of civilization as we know it?
Because of the activism by young people like the 10,000 environmental Power Shift activists who traveled to Washington, D.C., to the tell Congress it’s time to force the corporate polluters to pay up and clean up, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says:
We’re moving past the same-old tired debates and toward jobs and a clean, green future.
Register now for the 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference , Feb. 8–10 in Washington, D.C. With unemployment above 9.0 percent for more than 20 months , thousands of union, environmental, business, community and elected leaders will discuss how to create millions of good green jobs across the United States. The conference is the leading forum for sharing ideas and strategies to grow a green economy that creates good jobs, addresses global warming and other environmental problems and preserves America’s economic and environmental security.
It’s been four years since low-wage workers got a raise. Sign the petition to tell Congress it’s time to raise the minimum wage.
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