Skip to main content

A NAFTA That Works for Workers

Richard Trumka and Rick Bloomingdale
Social share icons

The North American Free Trade Agreement has been a disaster for working Pennsylvanians. But, the way it came about was no accident.

Those in power decided that greed, not justice or fairness, would be the rule of our economy. Corporations were handed free rein to suppress the rights of workers in Mexico, slash wages across North America and destroy livelihoods here at home — anything to fatten their already burgeoning profit margins.

For the past 25 years, we have witnessed the capacity of shameless politicians and greedy executives to wreak havoc on working people. We have watched families reel from the closing of a plant at the heart of their community. We have seen our parents and grandparents scramble to survive as their pensions are sacrificed to reassure shareholders. Day after day, the fruits of our labor have has been sold out to enrich those with the most.

President Donald Trump won Pennsylvania in large part by calling out this rigged system. But, his proposed new NAFTA doesn’t live up to the massive structural problems facing our country.

Something needs to change, but working people can’t afford to settle for rebrands or soft-footed reform. We won’t accept tweaks around the edges. NAFTA needs to be ripped out by the roots and replaced with something dramatically different.

Read the full article.