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Jamaica: Trade unions want EPA signing delayed
28-Aug-2008 Jamaica Observer
The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions (JCTU) says it will seek to delay the signing of the proposed Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), between CARIFORUM and the European Union, to allow for a review and possible renegotiation of the agreement.
Labor’s opposition continues to Colombia free trade pact
27-Aug-2008 PWW
While Colombian representatives lobby the Democratic and Republican conventions in support of the Bush administration’s Colombia Free Trade Act, the US labor movement continues its opposition to the pact, signed in November 2006 but put on hold by Congress last April.
ECOWAS civil society groups kick against trade deals with EU
26-Aug-2008 GNA
Civil society organisations have asked governments of ECOWAS countries to suspend all trade-related negotiations with the EU.
Labour unions in Trinidad and Tobago prepare for economic shutdown
26-Aug-2008 Caribbean Net News
Labour unions in Trinidad and Tobago are gearing up for a nationwide shut down of the country on September 8. They are protesting rising crime, uncontrollable food prices and increasing violence in the country, and calling for Trinidad and Tobago not to rush into signing the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
Third World Network wants government to decline EPA pact
23-Aug-2008
The Third World Network (TWN) has said that it will continue to mount pressure on the government and policy makers for them to withdraw from signing a non-preferential economic partnership with the European Union (EU).
EPAs: The new game of divide and rule
20-Aug-2008 LaRRI
It will be critical in the coming months to mobilise resistance to the implementation of the Interim EPA in its current format and thereby strengthen the Namibian Government’s hand not to sign a final EPA with the EU. Namibia should also link up with African and international campaigns against EPAs, which have emerged in the past few years. The battle is not lost but there is little time left to prevent EPAs from becoming a new and powerful tool to promote EU interests at the expense of Africa’s development needs. A new publication from the Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI).
Pacific civil society organisations statement on trade justice
20-Aug-2008
Pacific NGOs, churches and trade unions working on trade justice issues are concerned about the push for free trade agreements in the Pacific and the grave risk that these agreements pose for our people.
Fiji: Trade justice statement released
20-Aug-2008 Radio Fiji
Pacific NGOs, churches and unions have released a joint statement on trade justice in the Pacific warning of the costs of a free trade deal with Australia and NZ, and urging Pacific leaders to be wary that a new seasonal workers’ scheme could be used as a bargaining chip to enter free trade negotiations.
‘‘An injury to one market is an injury to all’’
19-Aug-2008 IPS
Southern African non-governmental organisations have put forward demands to their governments in resistance to the continuing talks on economic partnership agreements (EPAs) between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states.
S. Korean police arrest 157 at anti-US beef rally
18-Aug-2008 AP
South Korean police arrested nearly 160 people at a rally in Seoul Friday night opposing the resumption of US beef imports. It was Korean activists’ 100th major demonstration against the beef deal.
US family farmers applaud demise of Doha negotiations
15-Aug-2008 Common Dreams
"Farmers don’t export. Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill do. The corporate commodity groups are continuing to push for bilateral FTAs with South Korea, Colombia and pushed for the recent Peru FTA. Meanwhile they also scheme to keep in place a broken US subsidy system that allows US farmers to be paid below cost of production and agribusiness to dump cheap commodities into overseas markets, displacing farmers from Mexico to Indonesia to Ghana to Haiti, with no benefit to US farmers."
Group welcomes move to suspend Jpepa deliberations
13-Aug-2008 GMANews
A Filipino movement against “unfair" economic treaties on Wednesday welcomed Sen. Mar Roxas III’s move to suspend deliberations on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa).
Colombia as a Model for Latin America
12-Aug-2008 Dissident Voice
The US free trade agreement and the state and paramilitary violence in Colombia are part of the same project
Labour leaders report back: No to Colombia FTA
11-Aug-2008 rabble
We visited Colombia from July 18-25 on behalf of one million Canadian public sector workers. Our mission was to see for ourselves whether our opposition to the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement was justified. What we saw and learned confirmed that we are right to oppose this deal and to speak out against it on behalf of Colombian workers and their families.
South Koreans fill streets of Seoul to continue protest sgainst US beef imports
9-Aug-2008 DN!
For the past two months, protesters have been filling the streets of Seoul condemning a decision to lift a ban on imported beef from the United States. We speak with Michael Hansen, senior scientist for Consumers Union.
JCTU urges gov’t to postpone EPA signing
8-Aug-2008 Go-Jamaica
The Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions has joined in the call for the government to postpone signing the Economic Partnership Agreement recently negotiated with the European Union.
Bush visit prompts nationwide protests
7-Aug-2008 Hankyoreh
Korean citizens voice opposition to US beef deal, Afghan troop deployment and KORUS FTA
Calling for solidarity - Lee Myung-bak government repression against the KCTU and Fundamental Trade Union Rights
7-Aug-2008 KCTU
When KCTU called for general strike on July 2nd, renegotiation of the April 18 Protocol on US beef import to reflect food safety concerns was declared as one of priorities of strike aims. The Ministry of Labor and prosecutor explained that this was the main reason that it was illegal. This is a repetition of the South Korean government’s very narrow interpretation that the only legal aims of strikes be related to wages and working conditions.
CKUT - Off the hour - collapse of WTO talks
6-Aug-2008
Interview with Aziz Choudry on the collapse of WTO talks in Geneva, and what’s happening with FTAs, aired on CKUT Radio’s Off the Hour, Tuesday edition, 5 August 2008.
Pamalakaya to spearhead ’Jpepa free zone’ campaign
2-Aug-2008 GMA News
A Filipino fisherfolk alliance is set to lead an across-the-country campaign to oppose the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa), which is still pending ratification in the Senate.