Is it because the corporations writing it tell him so? Don't we have a prior trade agreement or two that has provided historical data that shows such deals lead to job destruction and wage stagnation (or even depression) in the US?

the varies corporations plus the major shareholders for said major companies and the varies politicians who essentially have accepted vast bribes in the form of "campaign donations" to look the other way or atleast those are the ones I personally hold most at fault for the screwing over that most of us have taken.

There's a huge degree of culpability in being aware of the amorality behind corporations with fiduciary responsibilities to stockholders and then turning around and writing or voting for laws that give even more power to corporations and relinquishing the rights of governments that have responsibilities to all citizens to corporate 'arbiters' from my viewpoint.

Corporations are sharks, cruising the seas and eating anything smaller. They don't have malice, only pure greed. The politicians who help feed the rest of us to them are far more despicable in my books.

though who act like that.

If there's little to fear, why be so secretive and opaque? Let's have an open discussion.

what a fetid ball of maggotry this trade "partnership" really is. Of course, it's a wet dream of corporate interests. We have to holler LOUD and CLEAR that we don't want this baloney no matte what sort of dressing they put on it.

I love those kinds of words myself, but I ignore them when I read articles like that in the OP.

I echo the cry: If the agreement is so great, let us see it.

I sympathize with workers in other countries, but I am painfully aware that each of these trade agreements has taken a big slice out of the rights and wage scales of American workers who had the courage to stand up and fight for those rights and wages.

The people in other countries could do the same. American workers attained a high standard of living by organizing and struggling, marching and speaking out. The bosses were oppressive. People in other countries who feel oppressed need to learn from our labor movement.

These treaties will not improve the lot of workers in other countries. They can potentially enslave those workers even more than they are already enslaved. It's up to workers in each country to claim their rights. It is not up to American workers to sacrifice their rights to maybe, possibly, some day once the foreign workers finally realize they are being exploited, rise up and demand fair treatment. You cannot correct social ills of the sort that oppress working people with trade agreements.

The trade agreements lift up the corporations and make them more powerful. They do not lift up working people and make them more powerful. The trade agreements are not made for working people. They are written by and enforced and made by corporations that take over our governments.

on Trade" that he wants kept secret as long as possible

Just unrelated opinion about TPP and not what the Labor Secretary said.

TPP is catnip to DUers!

If your view is that anything a public official says is true, then, frankly, we have nothing to discuss. We're considering a comment in which an appointed official supports the agenda of the politician who appointed him. Most of us, reading such a comment, want to evaluate whether and to what extent it's accurate.

In this case we would do that by reading the proposed agreement.

Except we can't do that. It's secret.

Therefore, we comment on the secrecy instead of on the (hidden) substance.

Incidentally, whenever there's an anti-TPP post based on a leak, the Obama-can-do-no-wrong crowd shows up to say that it's just a leak and might not represent the final and therefore any criticism is impermissible. Question: If, before the release of the final proposal, criticism is premature, then doesn't it follow that praise (such as Perez's) is also premature?

.... this "trade" agreement will help US workers. Like every other trade agreement. UTTER BULLSHIT.

- K&R

[center]Love is hate
War is peace
No is yes
And we're all free
[/center]

An injury to one is an injury to all is a motto popularly used by the Industrial Workers of the World.

In his autobiography, Bill Haywood credited David C. Coates with suggesting a labor slogan for the IWW:

An injury to one is an injury to all.[1] The slogan has since been used by a number of labor organizations. The slogan reflects the fact that the IWW is "One Big Union" and organizes skilled and unskilled workers.

Despite the reduced number of organized workers today, the slogan is still popular with labor unions and other organizations.

The expression is similar to, and may be derived from, a slogan popularized in the prior quarter century by the Knights of Labor, "that is the best government in which an injury to one is the concern of all".[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_injury_to_one_is_an_injury_to_all

Workers without labor rights anywhere, set the stage for us losing ours. I was taught at my union that our movement was always global in scope. That social justice is not just for one country to enjoy.

We extended our belief to include women and minorities of all kinds. Those who didn't agree with the latter, went to join other unions or went off to be contractor labor.

So this may be the dynamic that Perez is thinking in, and wants to include everyone to relieve the pressure on wages here. If all are elevated to the same level, there will be no cause for business to go offshore. They will have to pay good wages here as well as there.

Those businesses that want to do dirty business and not pay as they should here, ought to have their business charters with their local governments revoked.

Unions such as mine, which was an AFL-CIO affiliate, pushed for labor rights in other nations because they knew that economic refugees would be used against labor here. Also, because it was the right thing to do for other human beings.

This has been a long-held belief system among some unions. As I said, some who didn't want to work in an integrated work force, didn't believe in that. Whether this is what Perez is thinking comes from or not I don't know, but it sounds very familiar to me.

We can either get involved and grasp hold of the responsibility with our brothers and sisters around the world, that is up to us. If not us, the global corporations and the corrupt governments that help them keep unnaturally high profits off the hardship of their own citizens in foreign nations, will set the rules that will impact all of us.

Just a few thoughts, here. I am an old unionist, came from an FDR union family, and still believe in the power of equality through labor to protect democracy and give us all a chance at better lives.

The war on workers is global. Our response must be global. We are in a global society and we must be the ones who determine the backdrop of that society. We can't escape, we must do the right thing for all, or we fail ourselves and our principles.