Any presidential candidate seeking AFL-CIO support must oppose fast-track authority for President Obama’s major trade deal, the group’s president said on Tuesday.
“There’s no middle ground,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a brief speech at the group’s headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., calling the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal the latest example of a trade approach “that, starting with [the North American Free Trade Agreement], was designed to drive wages down” and enrich corporations.
Union members are tired of turning out “only to have their candidate of choice turn a back to the policies” the labor movement supports, Trumka said — a possible reference to Obama.
