January 12, 2016
Maryland/DC ARA Holds Anti-TPP rally at the Baltimore World Trade Center
In keeping with the national campaign of the ARA, the AFL-CIO and the “Coalition For Better Trade”, we sponsored two rallies on Jan. 12, 2016, one in Baltimore and one in Washington, D.C.
A dozen MD/DC ARA Board members, members of union and CAN affiliates, members of Veterans For Peace and Baltimore’s Charm City Labor Chorus rallied for an hour in the breezy morning air on Baltimore’s downtown waterfront. After a discussion of the talking points provided by the AR HQ, we lined the street in front of the Trade Center to show passing pedestrians and motorists our gorgeous “Coalition For Better Trade” signs and we were regularly greeted by honks and waves of support. We were there to “Stop the TPP” and Baltimore gets it! Unfortunately, President Obama’s SOTU address that evening didn’t reflect or acknowledge opposition from retirees, seniors and working families around the country, or even in Congress itself. Obama’s brief point on the TPP was offered in the shadow of TransCanada’s NAFTA suit on the KXL rejection. As ARA President Robert Roach said, “The Alliance for Retired Americans applauds President Obama for shining the light on the plight of working and retired Americans, who often cannot expect to retire with dignity after a lifetime of working hard and playing by the rules. We echo the President’s sentiments that it is now tougher for older workers to retire when they want to. That is why Social Security and Medicare are more important than ever; it is further proof that we need to expand our earned Social Security benefits.”
We had a rally scheduled for DC also but it was cancelled at the last minute. It would have taken place in front of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce International Trade Administration office across Constitution Ave. from the Natural History Museum. Defeating the TPP is a long and difficult fight against all the financial ideological powers-that-be but we remain ever hopeful that with the massive opposition from Americans that the plan can be ultimately relegated to the dustbin of history, perhaps in an “Un-Natural History Museum” of corporate malfeasance.s