Trumka: TPP ‘Most Important Issue’ in Determining Whether We Endorse Hillary

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
MITCHELL: "Where is Hillary Clinton on this?" 
TRUMKA: "I don't know, but she doesn't get to vote on Friday. This is going to be the most stark contrast that those 435 people ever had. Either you vote for working people or for corporate entitlements. We'll see what happens." 
MITCHELL: "That's the way you're framing it. Of course the counter argument from the White House is that this helps the overall economy, it helps job growth in manufacturing states, they have seen the results. You've got strong support for it in silicon valley. What do you say to that?" 
TRUMKA: "First of all, if this is good, then let's make it even better so it works for working people. I'm sure it has worked for silicon valley and I'm sure it's worked for Wall Street and it's worked for corporate America. What our trade policy hasn't done, Andrea, is to work for working people. We worked for five years with this administration trying to get this tpp to work for working people and they haven't gotten it there yet." 
MITCHELL: "In fact in working for it -- working to stop it or to change it or improve it in your words in five years, one of the people advocating for it within the last five years was Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. This is Hillary Clinton in 2010 in Australia." 
TRUMKA: "To continue this progress we are both pressing ahead on something called the transpacific partnership. It's an ambitious, multi-lateral free trade agreement that would bring together many more nations of the pacific rim. Australia and the United States are helping to lead those negotiations." 
MITCHELL: "So she was one of the big advocates in the cabinet for it. How does she now back away from it at some point during the campaign?" 
TRUMKA: "The same way that we were. For five years we weren't opposed to tpp. We worked with it, gave a couple hundred suggestions with language and everything to the trade representative and he rejected them. He didn't put any of them in even to our offer. So you look at the final product and say is it good enough or isn't it good enough? Our analysis has been that it falls way short when it comes to protecting workers and the environment and average everyday citizens. It's real good for corporate entitlement but it isn't there. If she makes the same decision like everybody else, she hasn't been privy to those negotiations. At some point she will have to say I'm either for it or against it because the American public will demand that." 
MITCHELL: "Would that be enough if she continues to kwif Kate on it or doesn't come out strongly against it, would that be enough for labor to stand on the sidelines and not support her as traditionally they would if she becomes the democratic nominee?" 
TRUMKA: "We have a whole process we go through to decide who gets endorsed. We have a number of issues. This will be one of the most important issues out there. And it's important because this issue, Andrea, comes from the bottom up. This issue didn't start with Washington, D.C., it started with our members, people that have been hurt by trade. People that haven't been hurt by trade so far but fear they'll be hurt by trade. We've put together biggest coalition that we've ever seen of environmentalists, civil rights groups, religious groups, academics, economists, everybody saying this is a bad agreement. And so if you don't come down on it one way or another, I think what it does is dampen enthusiasm and dampens the willingness of people to volunteer. Because what we're seeing right now is the most lively activity on the ground that we've seen in a lot, a lot of years." 
MITCHELL: "Has the president reached out to you? 
TRUMKA: "Oh, we've talked." 
MITCHELL: "And?" 
TRUMKA: "We disagree on the issue. The president is a good man. And I like him very, very much. He's just wrong on this issue."