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More than 10,000 Workers to Rally in Opposition to PNTR Next
Week(Washington, D.C.) - International Brotherhood
of Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa today called a small
corporate-funded China trade rally in Washington a "show of
weakness." The Business Roundtable, a lobbying network for the
nation’s richest corporations, sponsored the rally in an attempt to
convince Congress that American workers support Permanent Normal
Trade Relations (PNTR) for China.
"The Business Roundtable can’t manage to bring more than a few
hundred people to Washington to support their China trade deal,
despite their abundance of funding," said Hoffa. "The message is
clear - CEOs support PNTR for China; working Americans don’t."
The Teamsters Union will join the AFL-CIO for a labor lobby day
on April 12 in opposition to PNTR for China. More than 10,000
working Americans, including 5,000 Teamsters, will converge on
Washington during a labor rally prior to the lobby visits. Further,
a series of rallies against PNTR will take place in Congressional
districts during the April recess.
"These workers will be here on their own time, most sacrificing a
days pay, to tell Congress that you can’t have free trade without
freedom," Hoffa added. "PNTR for China will destroy jobs in the U.S.
and undermine the struggle for human and workers’ rights in China.
Members of Congress will hear this message from America’s working
families. Today, all they are hearing is the corporate lobby singing
the same old self-serving tune."
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than
1.4 million working men and women throughout the United States,
Canada, and Puerto Rico. |