153 House Democrats To USTR Froman: Protect Workers' Rights In TPP Negotiations

Press Release

More than 150 House Democrats today called on United States Trade Representative Michael Froman to do more to protect and strengthen international workers' rights as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.

Led by Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.), Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.), and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), 153 Democratic Representatives sent a letter to Ambassador Froman asking that the ongoing TPP negotiations include an enhanced framework for protecting international human and labor rights--especially for the countries of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Mexico, which have lengthy histories of violating workers' rights. The signatories are seeking strong, enforceable plans to ensure that these future U.S. trading partners abide by core international labor standards.

"We must do everything possible to prevent the American marketplace from being flooded with imports manufactured by workers laboring without human dignity and individual rights," the members wrote. "The Administration must refrain from validating such woefully inadequate labor norms and the final agreement should be withheld until these countries embrace the need to reform their labor laws and move aggressively to implement them."

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