Quick, let’s all raise our hands: How many of us could live on less than $10 an hour?

That’s a take-home pay of roughly $300 a week. Most one-bedroom apartments cost at least $1,000 a month. Ooops. There goes nearly the entire salary in one rent check.

So how do the nearly 33 million U.S. workers who make less than $10 an hour survive?

After the 2006 elections, many of us cheered because several Democrats were elected to Congress who—gasp—supported trade policies that are fair to workers and the environment. We in the union movement oppose the type of trade deals pushed by the Bush administration, but not because we’re anti-trade. We want trade pacts that work for working people, not just line the pockets of CEOs.