UAW President Dennis Williams said the union will fight the approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The United Auto Workers, while committed to supporting Hillary Clinton in the upcoming Presidential contest with Donald Trump, is vowing to help defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement touted by President Barack Obama.
Dennis Williams, president of the UAW who has been an important political ally of Obama for more than two decades, told reporters during a roundtable discussion that he simply disagrees with the President on TPP.
“I’ve known the President since 1994. We’re friends. But he and I just disagree on this,” said Williams, who was invited to ride in the Presidential limousine when Obama visited Detroit for the North American International Auto Show in January.
Williams added he is prepared to do whatever it takes to block TPP, which would liberalize trade between the U.S. and countries bordering the Pacific, from gaining approval during post-election lame-duck Congressional session as Obama has suggested.
Both Clinton and Trump have said they would initiate an overhaul of the TPP in its current form. Obama, however, has warned that the defeat of TPP will boost the growing economic and political influence of China in East Asia and throughout the Pacific Basin, which is vital to U.S. national security.
President Barack Obama suggested passing the TPP during the lame duck session after the election.
National Security concerns have played a major role in shaping U.S. trade policy with Japan and Western Europe. However, the power of the national security argument has weakened, even with the rise of China, and has been shunted aside during the current political campaign.
(Anti-union out at VW’s Chattanooga plant. For more, Click Here.)
The TPP is also opposed by environmental groups, trade unions and certain companies, including the domestic automakers, such as Ford Motor Co., which has been pilloried by Trump for moving jobs to Mexico. Ford CEO Mark Fields has been forced to take to the airways to rebut Trump’s assertions.
Fields said no jobs in the U.S. will be lost in the shift to Mexico.
Williams also said the situation was “complicated.” The fundamental problems with NAFTA or the North American Free Trade Agreement is the fact that the Mexican government has done nothing to boost the wage or standard of living of the typical Mexican worker, who have not benefited from the growth of the auto industry in Mexico.
(Click Here to see more about UAW’s effort to get Clinton to rework NAFTA.)
Ford is not the only automaker that has invested in Mexico, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have plowed money into facilities there as have Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Honda and Mazda, Williams said.
The Mexican government has relied on a corrupt union to hold down wages and the automakers have gone along with the system.
Williams said he is actively campaigning for Clinton this fall and has traveled to several states and throughout Ohio and Indiana to speak to union members. “I’ve probably talked to more than 2,000 union members about voting for Clinton,” he said.
(Click Here for details about GM’s plans to bring truck production back from Mexico.)
As its stands now, despite Trump’s efforts to woo blue collar workers, fewer UAW members are leaning towards Trump, than towards Mitt Romney in 2012 or George W. Bush in 2008. About one in four union members are leaning towards voting for Trump, Williams said.