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labour | workers’ rights

Steelworkers object to free trade agreement as report reveals Colombia remains most dangerous for unionists
11-Jun-2010 USW
The International Trade Union Confederation has just announced its annual findings regarding global anti-union violence. Again, Colombia topped this list, accounting for nearly half of all the union killings in the world.
Latin America-European Union trade union declaration discussed with Spanish government
18-May-2010 ITUC
Trade unions from Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union call for a halt to the ratification of the EU-Central America and EU-Colombia/Peru Free Trade Agreements (FTA) given the omission of key trade union demands and the lack of involvement of civil society and trade unions in the negotiations process.
EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement: TUC analysis of the draft text
18-May-2010 TUC
The TUC supports trade agreements that promote decent work, but opposes the current EU negotiations with Colombia for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on principle. More trade unionists get murdered in Colombia than the rest of the world combined and the Colombian Government is failing to prevent this.
Taiwan workers protest against planned China deal
3-May-2010 AFP
Thousands of Taiwanese people took to the streets of the capital on Saturday for a labour day protest against a planned trade pact with China that they say will threaten the island’s workforce.
Taiwan: Thousands protest for workers’ rights
3-May-2010 Taipei Times
Exclusion of labor issues from ECFA [China-Taiwan FTA] negotiations and the increasing rates of temporary hiring brought more than 10,000 people to the streets
FTA with EU stuck on non-trade barriers
27-Apr-2010
Apart from trade issues, the free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the European Union (EU) continue to be stuck over non-trade issues like human rights, child labour and environment.
Trade unions in TPP countries call for a fairer trade framework friendly to working people
29-Mar-2010 NZCTU
In an historic move, peak bodies of Trans Pacific trade unions have called for a new and fairer framework for trade and investment agreements.
India rejects EU demand on social clauses in trade pact
12-Mar-2010 Hindu Businessline
India has rejected the European Union’s demand on including social clauses such as labour and environmental standards in the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA), saying there are other forums to discuss these issues.
45 Colombian union leaders assassinated in 2009
12-Mar-2010 CUPE
Amid new reports of human rights abuses in Colombia involving the assassination of union leaders, Canada’s largest labour organization says it is appalled the Harper government will try to fast-track approval of a free trade deal with that country.
ACFTA worsens unemployment: INDEF
29-Jan-2010 Jakarta Post
Around 1 million Indonesians might lose their job because of ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement
Thousands rally against free trade treaty in Surabaya, Semarang
22-Jan-2010 Jakarta Post
Thousands of Indonesian workers took to the streets in Surabaya, East Java, and Semarang, Central Java, on Thursday to protest the implementation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement
Capital outflows will rise after an ECFA: activists
19-Jan-2010 Taipei Times
Labor rights activists and business leaders with experience working in China agree that signing a trade agreement between Taiwan and China would speed up capital outflow from the nation, but their opinions differ on solving Taiwan’s unemployment problem.
Free-trade pacts ignore labor
13-Jan-2010 Bsuienss Mirror
Recruitment agencies caution the Philippine government in signing free-trade agreements with developed countries because they will only result in further job losses for local workers
Colombia’s dubious strategy to push through an FTA with the European Union
14-Dec-2009 ITUC
The ITUC is appalled at the strategy used by the Colombian government to discredit the ITUC Colombian affiliates – CUT, CGT and CTC – and the National Trade Union School by sending incendiary information from a completely unrepresentative trade union to European Union Members of Parliament.
Trade unionists ask EU not to sign FTA with Colombia
10-Dec-2009 Colombia Reports
Colombian trade unionists on Wednesday asked the EU not to sign an FTA with Colombia due to the human rights violations they believe to have been committed by the Uribe government.
Auto workers slam DTI on JPEPA auto tariff talks delay
30-Nov-2009 Manila Bulletin
A group of 75,000 automotive industry workers has slammed the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry for lack of earnest efforts to negotiate a delay in the tariff elimination of imported vehicles under the signed Japan Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).
Jpepa tariff lifting worries auto workers
25-Nov-2009 Business Mirror
The “horrors” of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) continue to haunt the country.
Kerala fishermen protest India-Asean free trade pact
11-Nov-2009
The Kerala Fisheries Coordination Committee (KFCC) comprising several fishermen unions from the state on Tuesday said India-Asean Free Trade Agreement (FTA) would adversely impact the livelihood of a million fishermen in the state as cheap imports will cut down demand for local produce.
Labour pangs likely to hold up India-EU free-trade agreement
8-Nov-2009
The fate of the India-EU trade and investment agreement—which seeks to further open up bilateral markets for goods, investments and services—may hang in balance as India and the EU lock horns over including labour standards in the pact.
Mexico revs up war on workers; Obama shrugs
13-Oct-2009 Huffington Post
Last Saturday night, October 10, several thousand Mexican government agents and police stormed into the headquarters and a hundred substations of the publicly owned electric utility, Luz Y Fuerza.