U.S. groups tell Biden to drop the dairy duel with Canada


Here's something you don't often see in Washington: American groups defending Canadian dairy and urging the U.S. government to leave it alone.

A coalition of 18 labour and farming groups is asking the Biden administration to drop a trade action over dairy launched in the final days of the Trump administration.

They sent a letter to two people nominated to senior positions in the new administration in advance of their Senate confirmation hearings: agriculture secretary nominee Tom Vilsack, who had his hearing Tuesday, and to the nominee for U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai.

That letter, signed by smaller agriculture groups like the National Family Farm Coalition and the Wisconsin Farmers Union, urges the administration to stop fighting Canada's supply management system.

We've previously reported how some U.S. farmers, battered by wild price fluctuations, dream of seeing their own country adopt a system of price and supply controls as Canada has done.

"The U.S. government has been trying to dismantle Canada's federal and sub-federal supply management systems for years, not to benefit U.S. farmers or workers, but rather corporate dairy interests," said the letter dated Feb. 1.

"Continuing to pursue this complaint is clearly out of step with the new administration's stated commitments to reform the U.S. trade agenda to be pro-worker rather than a business as usual approach that actively favors multinational corporations."

On Tuesday, Joe Biden demanded the resignations of all 10 of Donald Trump’s appointees to the Federal Service Impasses Panel, a powerful labor relations board, in a major victory for federal unions. Eight members resigned, and two were fired after refusing to step down. Trump’s appointees—a group of partisan anti-labor activists—had hobbled federal unions for years, sabotaging their ability to organize and bargain collectively. Biden’s clean sweep, which was first reported by Government Executive’s Erich Wagner, marks a crucial step toward ending his predecessor’s campaign of federal union busting.

The Federal Service Impasses Panel plays a major role in disputes between executive agencies and federal unions—disputes that often affect the government’s ability to administer programs fairly and lawfully. When unions and managers reach a stalemate at the bargaining table, the panel steps in to referee. It is supposed to find common ground between the parties to further the government’s official policy of promoting “collective bargaining in the civil service” and encouraging “the amicable settlements of disputes.” The panel has authority to write binding, unreviewable terms into unions’ contracts, and its members do not require Senate confirmation. Trump’s appointees consistently defied the panel’s legal obligations to remain a neutral arbiter. Instead, they displayed a clear pattern of siding with management and sometimes even imposed harsher terms than management requested. In an unprecedented and radical move, the panel even imposed terms that management did not request at all, like extending the length of an unfavorable contract. In other words, it functioned as intended: Trump stacked the panel with deeply ideological conservatives with extensive experience busting unions.

I have a question...

Seeing as Republicans especially dislike unions, is it just because they're protecting the bank accounts of big business? Or is it also because they consider unions to be a Socialist construct?

If Bart was here he could give a succinct answer. I surmise a little bit of column A but it is being covered up by column B (Socialist construct). Always follow the money. The rank and file will believe anything they are peddled but the real power is were the money is and they see Unions as a threat to their total control and will crush any dissent like a fascist.

Pulling out of Yemen. Wow.