IFPTE opposes anti-worker free trade deal

The Society’s international union, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, has been working to stop free trade deals that are bad for workers. IFPTE’s Washington, DC-based efforts have included concerted lobbying against the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, which the Government of Canada is also attempting to sign on to.

The TPP is a comprehensive trade package that, like NAFTA and others before it, lacks meaningful labour protections. The IFPTE and others, including in Canada the Council of Canadians, worry this means the economic race to the bottom will continue at full-speed. A recent poll of Canadians found that 75% of the country hadn’t even heard of the TPP deal that is being negotiated in secret.

IFPTE continues to call on the government to develop trade deals that support workers’ rights at home and abroad and that are “anchored by good jobs, reestablishing our manufacturing base, developing and maintaining a clean environment, safe food and medicines, and other essential services.”

To find out more about what you can do in Canada to oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership and advocate for fair trade deals, visithttp://canadians.org/tpp.