Senator Brown Joins AFL-CIO to Respond to McCain's Support of Harmful Trade Deals

Media Advisory for Friday, June 20         Contacts: Steve Smith, Rachele Huennekens

202-637-5018

    ***Press Teleconference Scheduled for 1:30 ET Friday, following McCain Speech***

Sen. Brown Joins Displaced Worker, AFL-CIO

to Respond to McCain’s Support of Harmful Trade Deals

    McCain Speech Expected to Tout Policies That Erode Workers’ Rights, Cost Millions of Jobs

On Friday June 20 at 1:30 PM, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) will join AFL-CIO Policy Director Thea Lee and a worker from Hershey, Penn. for a teleconference in response to Sen. John McCain’s noontime speech in Ottawa, Canada. McCain’s speech is being billed by his campaign as a major address on trade policy.

Sen. McCain, like President Bush, has been an ardent supporter of harmful trade deals such as NAFTA and CAFTA, which hurt workers here and abroad and send jobs overseas.  He has publicly said such agreements are good for Americans and that manufacturing jobs are gone and “not coming back.”  Since 2001, bad trade deals have contributed to the loss of more than 3 million U.S. manufacturing jobs and led to a serious erosion of workers’ rights abroad.

Bad trade deals have been particularly harmful to communities in Ohio.  Ohio has lost 224,000 manufacturing jobs since 2001, and has seen an accompanying decrease of $4,400 in average annual income and 153 percent increase in bankruptcy filings since 2000. Today, more than 1 million Ohioans are without health care.

WHO: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)

AFL-CIO Policy Director Thea M. Lee

Worker impacted by trade from Hershey, Penn.

WHAT:  Teleconference in response to Sen. John McCain’s trade policy address

WHEN: Friday, June 20, at 1:30pm ET

For Dial-In number, call the AFL-CIO Media Outreach Department at 202-637-5018

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