Take Action to End Labor Abuses & Protect Family-Wage Jobs

Following President Obama’s meeting with Vietnamese President Troung Tan Sang last week to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), we are calling for TPP negotiations with Vietnam to be suspended until the Vietnamese government demonstrates that it has brought labor and human rights abuses to an end.
It’s no accident that average American families have seen our incomes decline over the last 20 years as politicians from both parties have signed “free trade” agreements that do nothing but trade away family-wage jobs, worker rights and food and consumer safety standards.  The U.S. and the world cannot afford more race-to-the-bottom trade pacts that put corporate profits above human beings.
Now politicians are trying to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement, which would freely trade good American jobs and benefits for products produced in countries like Vietnam by workers who are forced to labor in sweatshops under unsafe working conditions.
A recent report by the Worker Rights Consortium entitled, “Made in Vietnam: Labor Rights Violations in Vietnam’s Export Manufacturing Sector,” provides concrete examples of how the Vietnamese government and unscrupulous employers maintain a low-wage regime:

Advocating for labor rights in Vietnam is more difficult than in China
Child trafficking
Forced labor
Unsafe working conditions
Violent suppression of internationally-recognized workers’ rights
Gender discrimination
Excessive working hours
Poverty wages
TAKE ACTION:  Please help us urge President Obama and Congress to suspend TPP negotiations with Vietnam until it meets international labor and human rights standards.
Our trade agreements should create good-paying jobs and improve living conditions in the U.S. and around the world.  Thank you for speaking out.