Fix NAFTA Once and for All: The Working People Weekly List

Every week, we bring you a roundup of the top news and commentary about issues and events important to working families. Here’s this week’s Working People Weekly List.

AFL-CIO: Fix NAFTA Once and for All: “The North American Free Trade Agreement has been an unequivocal failure, sending jobs abroad, holding down wages and devastating communities. Only the Wall Street and Washington elite can claim NAFTA is yesterday’s war. For millions of American families, it’s today’s crisis.”

Bend the Trend: Reviving Unionization in America: “It is wrong to assume that collective bargaining is incompatible with our modern economy. The truth is that our labor laws have not been sufficiently modernized.”

“The Economy Isn’t Working for Workers”: “AFL-CIO President Trumka on workers’ rights in the era of Trump, international trade deals and the threat of automation in the jobs market.”

‘Walmart on Steroids’: Beware of Amazon’s Growing Monopoly: “When news first broke that Amazon was buying Whole Foods, it sent shockwaves throughout the retail food market. The stock prices of top grocery stores all declined, and thousands of Whole Foods workers began to worry whether Amazon’s love of automation and preference to use robots instead of people would mean the end of their jobs. Amazon’s pursuit of world domination didn’t stop there.”

Why I Served on Trump’s Manufacturing Council—And Why I Left: “In January, I was invited to serve on President Trump’s manufacturing council, along with my boss, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. At the time, I was deputy chief of staff at the AFL-CIO (the largest federation of trade unions in America) and a spokesperson for the organization on trade, manufacturing, and economic policy. President Trumka and I agreed to serve because we believed—and still do—that working people should have a voice in crucial government decisions affecting their jobs, their lives, and their families.”

The Skies Just Got Friendlier for Working People—Worker Wins: “Our latest roundup of worker wins begins with flight attendants and air traffic controllers standing together to make the skies safer for working people and travelers and includes numerous examples of workers organizing, bargaining and mobilizing for a better life.”

For Monday’s Eclipse, Working People Kept Us Safe, Informed: “In ways large and small, working people helped America learn about and enjoy Monday’s rare total solar eclipse safely and with minimal disruptions.”

The U.S. Should Not Reward Mauritania for Slavery Practices: “Thousands of men, women and children in Mauritania live in slavery. Under the direct control of their masters, they are treated as property and receive no payment for their work. Meanwhile, Mauritania receives preferential access to U.S. markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade benefits program.”

Working People Have 17 Recommendations for NAFTA. Here’s #2: “By now, you’ve probably heard of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). You might have heard that some businesspeople think it’s a great deal, while average working families—and those who stand with us—think it only works if you’re already at the top. If you’ve been reading our blog regularly, then you know NAFTA is being renegotiated. That means working people like us have an opportunity to fix it. And we laid out the first step: open the negotiations so that average citizens, not just corporate lobbyists and CEOs, can participate. So far, it’s not clear the negotiators heard us—but you can help us keep up the pressure.”

Federal Whistleblowers Should Be Praised, Not Punished: “Without federal whistleblowers, the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon might not have come to light. We might never have discovered the FBI’s failure to follow up on evidence about terrorist plots before the Sept. 11 attacks. And the waitlist scandal that resulted in veterans being denied timely access to medical care might have remained a secret.”

Right to Work Founder Was a Klan Fan: “AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka didn’t pull punches when he announced Aug. 15 that he and Thea Lee, former AFL-CIO deputy chief of staff, were exiting President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council.”

Missourians Get Nearly Triple the Needed Signatures for November Right to Work Repeal Referendum: “Extremists and outside interests representing big corporations rammed through a “right to work” bill against the will of the people of the state. The bill was signed into law by Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens in February. Today, Missourians spoke up loudly and, pending the certification process, a ballot referendum on right to work will appear on the November 2018 ballot.”