the march thirty two thousand and fifteen meeting of the seattle city council will come to order it's five minutes past two o'clock in the afternoon i'm tim burgess the president of the council will the clerk please call the role at this time we'll take public comment on items that appear on today's agenda will take twenty minutes of con comment each person when your name is called please come to one of the microphones at the front of the chamber introduce yourself and there's a clock that will count your two minutes ok good afternoon city council i'm julia with the washington fair trade coalition thank you for weighing in today on a policy that will impact our residents for the next century s trade representative is currently negotiating the biggest trade agreements we have ever undertaken but trans pacific partnership and transatlantic trade investment partnership together would cover seventy percent of the global economy and as from what we've seen w trump wide swathes of our laws in public health economic justice food safety local procurement over six hundred trade advisors have access to the text of the negotiations ninety percent of whom represent corporate interests the few who do represent civil society the environment labor public health social justice groups have been protesting for the last two years that their recommendations are not be taking taking seriously they can't tell us what they've seen but all of their organizations are in full battle mode we have every reason to be worried yet congress is being asked to fast track this agreement through the president to sign it before it is approved limiting congressional debate and not allowing congress to make any amendments this is not the way to review regulations this important today more than sixty groups across seattle have signed a letter calling on seattle to do the right thing and to pass a strong resolution opposing fast track and send a message to the other washington no fast track for secret trade pacts we also stand with workers communities in the environment today with this resolution and the ordinance supporting homeless encampment have we comprise nearly ten percent of our nation's export trade and that's a very positive thing for the balance of trade issue however we are exporting more than planes we're exporting jobs as well and we have seen that as a matter of fact we have a graphic depiction of that that i have shown to everybody that i can read is what we build and the not read is the rest and you can see in subsequent airplane programs how why we call this the disappearing airplane so many jobs are going away because we're not protecting our ability to play an even playing field just recently we passed the export free trade agreement and since two thousand and eleven we've seen it two point three percent increase and exports to south korea and at the same time as of two thousand and fourteen a twenty three percent increase in goods and services export to the united states from south korea these trade agreements are not working to our benefit and i think lastly i would just say that the trade promotion authority is an abdication of the responsibility that congress has to take a comprehensive look at these trade agreements and have the ability to vote no and i said what what you want to give me one and he said yes and i said well why don't you give me one he said they won't let me have one i said really here but in congress twenty seven years and they won't give you a copy he said that's right so then i said well have you looked at it and he said yes i can look at it i can go to a secure room with one of my staff because i have a national security clearance we're not allowed to take notes we're not allowed to take any recording devices but we are allowed to read it i said well how does that feel i'll leave that to you if you want to ask him you can ask him yourself i then said well have you managed to work through what is it two or three thousand pages and he said no i got quite a ways to go i said can you remember what is it he said mark i love your brother but don't be ridiculous ok if this is funny but it's not funny at all this is trampling on the fundamental principle of democracy that we the people have a right to know what our government official was people speak to the content of this but the idea that somebody who's been elected fourteen times by the people of the city of seattle usually with eighty percent of the votes can not have a copy of something that they're going to get thirty thanks i'm elliot oceana and i'm here today as part of washington cannes field organizing team we represent over forty four thousand members statewide over the past few weeks we've been talking to constituents here in seattle and in five congressional districts across the state and we've collected over six hundred postcards to representatives against fast tracking the tea p p the responses we've found have ranged from confusion from not having heard of this issue to serious concern but what i think is really striking is that personally i have not spoken to a single individual who said that they support this trade deal and major concerns mostly stem from the fact that under this trade deal corporations would be able to sue states for loss of potential profit this would have a profound impact on many issues dear to us such as protecting our environment protecting consumers knowing what's in our food as well as paying workers a livable wage just to name a few this would also make it even more difficult to raise revenue to support health care education and other important social safety nets the last major concern is the impact that this deal would have on jobs here in the u s and here in seattle nobody wants to see more of our jobs exported and that is exactly what this trade deal would do most importantly the question everyone is asking if this is a good deal for workers for our communities why are lawmakers in such a rush to pass it why can't we know what it says or have public input fast tracked undercuts the democratic process i urge you all to set an example to congress say corporations get to sue nations and private trade courts because they claim they might lose money over laws that are designed to protect people or the environment here's an example a company called long pine resources  whopping two hundred and fifty million dollars four of the top of my head quote arbitrary capricious and illegal revocation of the enterprise is valuable right to mind for oil and gas resolution and opposing fastrack thank you thank you my name is becky i am an elected member of the executive committee of the sierra club of washington here representing over five thousand sierra club members in seattle trade promotion authority fast track must be opposed the world altering provisions of the trans pacific partnership agreement deserve and must receive full scrutiny and debate among our elected representatives and the public it is a trojan horse that t p p is not an ordinary trade agreement the most consequential part of this agreement has nothing to do with trade and everything to do with subordinating the sovereignty of nation states to the obligation of corporations to maximize profits trade promotion authority fast track must be opposed the lack of transparency in the development of t p p texts with very little public awareness much less him put is a huge concern despite the impact it would have on our lives labor and jobs access to food medicines clean air potable water and more none of the texts have been made public our elected representatives are being heavily lobbied to give the president trade promotion authority and essentially a through that without proper scrutiny discussion and debate these sorts of trade agreements undermine all the work we are doing to protect our children's future from environmental disaster due to shortsighted and dangerous economic priorities your vote your vote today will urge our representatives to preserve and protect our democracy our environment and our future thank you thank you good afternoon council members and good afternoon everyone it is so amazing to be a part of this i'm so proud to be a citizen of seattle my name is matt kennedy and i came here today to urge this council to support the resolution strongly opposing fast track authority for the t deal i am here representing central co op a thirty six year old community owned grocery store with over thirteen thousand member owners in our community i speak from the perspective of a small seattle business that prioritizes fair labor fair trade and transparency and our food system and beyond our workers are you have c w twenty one and international worker of the world members and i'm happy and i am on the board of the watched unfair trade coalition fastrack would take the people's voice out of the equation and would not give our elected congress enough time to look closely at what is in this deal or to make amendments the expansion of the investor state dispute settlements that will culminate from this trade deal have the potential power to permanently damage our city and state's continual efforts and sustainability and should not be enacted without intense the liberation and understanding of the consequences we urge you to endorse the resolution strongly opposing fast track in your dedication to the well being of our communities both local and ultimately global thank you good afternoon my name is nicole grant from the international brotherhood of electrical workers and i'm here to say that my union opposes fast track and achieve p p this is an issue that's motivated our members from the rank and file member building buildings in seattle up to the top two are international in washington d c and we saw what happened with nafta we lost two hundred thousand union electrical jobs in washington or in the united states and i remember in colombia lighting clothes and we lost a thousand jobs over night to war is here in washington and we don't want to see that happen again and ultimately with fast track with p p labor is not at the table we're not at the table like we were when we passed the historic fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage with you guys over at the table right now talking to you today in this is our chance to make history again because the whole country is watching and this is our chance to s and to send a message that says this isn't happening on seattle's watch i want to give just my thanks to all of you for being here and considering this issue especially councilman so want when my members brought this issue and said hey you know we're electricians but this is an issue we want to break our pick on you were there for that and i just want to close by saying i love my filson fashion i love my seattle maid filson fashions and how can we seriously ask seattle business is to compete with child labor in the most brutal labor markets in the world thanks robbie stern and i'm president of puget sound advocates for retirement action and first i want to thank you for considering this resolution before i make my comments i just want to say that those are also supports proposal that's coming that the folks from real change and other almost advocates are here to support when i was here for the hearing before the committee just listening to the testimony i listened very carefully to the young man who spoke from the washington council on international trade and i heard him say that this agreement and fast track will be good for labor and the environment and when he sat down i was right behind him and so i just very gently reached up and asked him in a whisper do you really honestly think that we don't know what is good for ourselves and he turned back to me anyway it should and that was for me what was symbolic about fast track because  track is really trying to shape the debate so that the american people can fully understand what's in that agreement and what it means from the perspective of seniors we are very concerned about what will happen to the prices the prescription drugs as a result of this trade agreement in fact this is not a trade agreement this is an agreement that puts the multinational corporations in charge a very significant parts of our  economy and before we do that we ought to have an open debate over a period of time so we know what is going on and so we can hold our congress accountable for what they're voting for you are making the right step today if you vote to support this resolution and we would appreciate your support thank you first of all there are four sections in this resolution the first clearly states the city council opposes fast track authority the the second section of the city councils strong support for fair trade practices and agreements that protect things like american jobs workers environment and forcible labor and environmental standards the third section says that the city council  president and the u s trade representative to pass to negotiate a transpacific partnership agreement that meets these about principles and finally section four states that if these principles are not adequately addressed in the final t p p agreement the it is it's been highlighted very difficult to address something that doesn't actually exist in any form that we can meaningfully debate but that actually further highlights the problem with a lack of transparency through this process i remain committed to trade as being a powerful tool but fair trade is critically important it's been highlighted that the state of washington is the most trade dependent state in the nation and is in the city of seattle we benefit significantly from strong trade agreements i think it's important to notice that note that when you're doing so well with trade that makes it even more important that you fully understand the ramifications of any trade agreement before we move forward and this is the game that we're doing well at if we're going to change the rules let's make sure we know exactly what those rules are before we take that step forward it's also important to recognize that trade agreements can be negotiated in multiple different ways there's no requirement that they lack complete transparency and we can find better ways as we have throughout the history of this country to find ways to negotiate trade agreements where we all have input and we all stand what's being negotiated in congress has billeted to negotiate and debate true agreements the other area i want to highlight that cause great concerns are issues around labor and environmental laws you know the city of seattle is taking the national lead on both strong labor and strong environmental laws and it's critically important not just for the citizens of seattle but people around the planet that we have trade that support strong environmental and labor laws there's been a lot of concerns raised in documents that have been leaked but it's hard to tell what is exactly going on with this agreement because of the lack of transparency but the one thing i will say has been  very clear every single labor and environmental leader locally and nationally that i've talked to or heard from is unanimous that they are opposed fastrack and they have very strong concerns about the trans pacific partnership for those two reasons and many others are proud to support this resolution i am excited to be able to cast a vote in opposition to that p p p today it is just over a year since my office first drafted and i d p resolution and i especially tank  the members of i b e w forty six of the building trades for initiating that work with us we're voting to show our opposition today entirely because of the movement of environmental activists labor unions and social justice organizations that  brought to light what big business always intended to be a secret trade treaty described as nafta on steroids the d p p gives more strength to multinational corporations to sue countries for lost corporate profits  worker rights or environmental regulations and their representatives from big business today said you haven't seen d p p ok but we've seen what nafta has done and we don't need any more evidence like nafta the international tribunals that rule on these lawsuits are not the courts of any country and are not subject to any democratic accountability given that representatives of six hundred multinational corporations have been invited to help draft the details of the t p p and you and i are not even shown what it says except what was leaked on wiki leaks last year it is no surprise that this sort of court systematically cites but the multinational corporations corporations have already collected three hundred sixty five million dollars by suing governments usually in less developed countries under existing treaties it's not just nafta but under nafta the central american and  agreements thirteen billion dollars is more is pending in lawsuits by corporations i would like to give a few examples in two thousand and twelve the french from farm we only sued the egyptian government to overturn a minimum wage increase under nafta ethyl corporation sued canada because canadians had voted to ban the harmful gasoline of m m t the corporation won thirteen million dollars in fines from the canadian taxpayers spears these examples are not anomalies they are the purpose of free trade agreements like the d p p i would also like to take up for a moment a recent editorial by the seattle times that legal challenge to our new minimum wage was decided by the t v fees international tribunal and of month our national corporations another example is boeing we have seen boeing attempt to cut wages by moving jobs out of washington  designed to let corporations like boeing tend to move jobs out of states like south carolina to strong arm workers out of unionizing and as my brother monte anderson from the building trade said we have to hold a high bar for workers right in seattle and the only way we can do that is if we also protect the rights of all workers that is the only way we can do that a speaker a lobbyist from s s a marine spoke here today let's let's remember as a marine is the private cargo handling corporation that is behind that point called government that the entire community of bellingham including the lummi nation is opposed to and as far as microsoft goes if you support the workers in microsoft be against it is problematic that the congress does not get to read the language in the d p p but also be honest i do not trust congress either a majority of the people in the united states do not and that is all the more important why political leadership needs to be shown at every level including city level while this yellow city councils while the seattle city council's resolution has no from fast tracking this through labor unions are against the d p p and my mental groups are against the social justice organizations are against the b p basically anyone who supports the rights of human beings and the environment is on one side of the and on the other side our corporations like boeing microsoft as a marine b n as a railroad starbucks j p morgan chase and wells fargo well we know which side we're on i want you to know that i went back and looked site the white house website and here are the principles that they articulate as being why they are negotiating the t t p the way they are unlocking opportunities for americans through trade support made in america exports inforce fundamental labor rights t p will promote strong environmental protections help american small businesses support jobs for washington workers in no small part because i had heard from microsoft and others i've really dug into this and i have to tell you that looking at the white house website made me very concerned that what i saw were a lot of conclusionary statements without a lot of support and and i frankly was disappoints me a great deal because i got into running for this job and city council in two thousand and eight and two thousand and nine because i was really impressed with what president obama was doing but i believe at this point that they need to show us that if we're really believing our principles that we support fair trade practices in the city that we are reliant on trade we are going to protect american jobs and we're going to protect workers not just here in the state of washington but globally we need to know a whole lot more about this i'm going to be supporting this resolution i want to say thank you to my colleagues for getting it started now to vote on resolution three one five seven three version three which we substituted earlier all in favor of the resolution vote i oppose vote no the resolution is