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Bush and Harper ignore Colombia’s labor rights reality
11-Dec-2007 Colombia Journal
There is no moral justification for the United States and Canada negotiating a free trade agreement with Colombia when the foundation of these pacts is the slaughter of Colombian unionists. The perpetrators of these crimes should not be rewarded with an agreement that most Colombians do not want.
Letter from Colombian unions to US Congress
28-Nov-2007 Mingas
In the framework of the debate in the respective congresses around the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United States, the Administration of Alvaro Uribe Vélez has spread the idea in governmental circles in the United States that the Colombian union movement is divided and that "a majority" sector supports the TLC. In this document, we will demonstrate that this idea does not reflect the reality of the Colombian union movement.
What jobs?
16-Nov-2007
No Deal! Movement Against Unequal Economic Agreements on the questionable employment benefits of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA)
Mexico-Guatemala: The other border
14-Nov-2007 Upside Down World
The loss of jobs in the agricultural industries, along with increases in the cost of living with fewer employment opportunities under CAFTA are speculated to produce economic and social hardships that will result in migration both within and outside Central American nations. Most of this migration will be directed towards Mexico and the US.
New research: Win-win from "free trade" is a big lie
31-Oct-2007 AlterNet
Neoliberal "trade" deals depress wages for 70 percent of workers.
Canada-Korea FTA would destroy jobs in all provinces and regions
24-Oct-2007 CAW
If the Canadian federal government proceeds with a free trade agreement with Korea as promised, the impact on Canadian communities would be disastrous, according to a new study released by the CAW on October 23.
Guatemala union heads killed despite US trade deal
18-Oct-2007 Reuters
Masked gunmen dumped a Guatemalan banana picker’s bullet-ridden corpse yards from fields of fruit bound for the United States, a grim reminder of the risks of organizing labor in the Central American country.
Should labor standards have a role in US trade agreements?
22-Jun-2007 CFR
Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee and Claude Barfield of the American Enterprise Institute debate the merits of labor standards in trade pacts.
Labor Ministry expresses reservations on US National Labor Committee on Jordan FTA factories
4-Jun-2007
The Labor Ministry on Monday expressed some reservations on the information contained in the US National Labor Committee report on workers at Jordan’s garment factories which are exporting duty-free under the U.S.-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
US complicit in labor abuse
31-May-2007 Argus Leader Media
Why would the business community be applauding an agreement that guaranteed workers’ rights in FTAs — something they’d been fighting against for years? Because they’d been given assurances, relative to American workers, "that the labor provisions cannot be read to require compliance with ILO Conventions."
Mexican workers call for a continental workers’ campaign for living wages and social justice
20-May-2007 ZNet
A coalition of Mexican unions has now proposed a strategy of struggle that could open up the door to a more class-wide and continental approach to union and workers’ struggles, starting in the three NAFTA countries.
Teamsters oppose trade deal that sells out American workers
12-May-2007 International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa released the following statement today about new trade policy guidelines forged by House Democratic leaders in Congress and the Bush administration:
Govt accused of selling out workers for free trade deals
1-May-2007
Labor activists on Monday accused the government of selling out Indonesian workers by signing free trade agreements with foreign countries.
El Salvador: Spanish firm advocates, then breaks labour laws
17-Apr-2007 IPS
The Spanish tuna-fishing and processing company Grupo Calvo has been accused of serious anti-union practices in El Salvador. The paradox is that Calvo had insisted that this Central American country approve labour laws required by the European Union for the purpose of obtaining tariff exemptions, as a condition for continuing to invest here.
Indo-Qatari labour pact to be amended soon
5-Apr-2007 Gulf Times
Sacking Indian employees at will could be reduced drastically in Qatar, if not eliminated, when a 1985 bilateral labour agreement is amended soon.
AFL-CIO aims to recast trade authority
7-Mar-2007 Washington Times
The AFL-CIO yesterday announced its plans to defeat renewal of "trade promotion authority," which allows President Bush to submit trade agreements to Congress for an up-or-down vote without amendment.
Lawmaker rejects USTR proposal on trade pacts
6-Mar-2007 Reuters
A Bush administration proposal aimed at winning Democratic party support for free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia and Panama falls short of what is needed to strengthen the labor provisions of those pacts, a Democratic lawmaker said on Monday. It "misses the point" and shifts the focus from improving conditions for workers to a legalistic debate over whether a foreign country’s law are equivalent to those of the United States, he said.
Don’t repeat NAFTA disaster, trade experts warn
5-Mar-2007 Workday Minnesota
The North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, has been a disaster for workers and families, and even social institutions, in the three participating nations — the United States, Canada and Mexico — labor experts from the three countries told Congress. Not only that, they warned that the pending US-Korea Free Trade Agreement would be a repeat of that NAFTA fiasco.
Another fast track to the unemployment line?
9-Feb-2007 People’s Weekly World Newspaper
President Bush has asked Congress for approval of "fast track" authority. For most workers, "fast track" is the code word for giving the capitalists the opportunity to move more jobs out of the country.
Labor rights not optional
6-Jan-2007 TomPaine.com
Some 230 years ago, King George III taught the American colonists an important lesson: Because taxation without representation is tyranny, the public must have a voice in the making of trade policy. The new Congress should keep that lesson in mind as it attempts to devise trade strategies to promote labor rights (and other human rights) overseas.