People Over Profits, Olympia
Start: Thursday, May 04, 2023• 6:00 PM
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People Over Profits, Olympia
Speakers Tour on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) Trade Negotiations and Northwest APEC Mobilization
When: May 4 @ 6pm
Where: ILWU 47 Hall, 915 Washington St. NE, Olympia, WA, 98501
Speakers:
Melinda Hughes, Thurston Climate Action Team
Richard Korn, ILWU 47
Katie Comfort, International Women's Alliance
Major international trade negotiations are coming to the Pacific Northwest this summer for a seminal round of talks that could have a decades-long impact on jobs, wages, labor rights, climate action, consumer privacy and monopoly power both at home and abroad.
The Washington Fair Trade Coalition and its local and national partners are working to pull the proposed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) out of the shadows in order to shine a light on corporations' anti-worker, anti-climate, pro-monopoly agenda for the pact and present progressive alternatives. IPEF already includes fourteen countries, and between them, would set rules governing approximately 40% of the global economy. More countries are expected to join IPEF, too, and it is expected to become the template for new trade deals around the world.
Corporations are pushing for IPEF make it easier for them to offshore good-paying jobs to countries where worker rights abuses are rampant; to help Big Tech monopolies block new consumer privacy, algorithmic accountability, gig economy worker protection and anti-trust laws; and to make it even easy for fossil fuel companies and other corporate polluters to expand rip-and-ship resource extraction throughout the Asia Pacific region. Civil society groups, on the other hand, are pushing for trade rules that advance worker rights, rein in Big Tech abuses and rapidly transition the planet to a clean economy future.
Labor, environmental, human rights and other groups are already coming together to plan a large-scale demonstration and counter-summit in August during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Seattle, at which many IPEF countries will be discussing trade and the economy.
On May 4 @ 6pm, Julie Bouanna (Washington Fair Trade Coalition), Yimei Shao (Trade Justice Education Fund) and others will be in Olympia to get folks educated on these important mobilizations. Join us to learn about how the IPEF trade negotiations will have an impact of worker rights, environmental protection, and consumer privacy in our region — and what you can do to make a difference!
Please RSVP now for more info, contact julie@washingtonfairtrade.org.
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