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labour | workers’ rights

Free trade with Colombia a cruel move
25-Nov-2008 CUPE
Harper says that workers’ protection has been written into the trade deal. But whether these stipulations will be enforced is another story.
Protest against Bush and Alan García
22-Nov-2008 IPS
A demonstration in the Peruvian capital by left-wing political movements against US President Bush’s visit to the country turned into a protest Friday by hundreds of laid-off workers and trade unions in conflict with local and foreign companies.
SA labour protests Western Sahara inclusion in EU-Morocco deal
18-Nov-2008 Afrol
A global protest campaign, contesting occupied Western Sahara’s inclusion in a Morocco-European Union (EU) free trade deal is gaining momentum. Today, South Africa’s dominant labour union COSATU told the EU it was breaking international law by its planned inclusion of the territory.
RP nurses given options to work in Japan as JPEPA takes effect on December 11
13-Nov-2008
The Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) will be in force from December 11 this year, with the swapping last Friday of a diplomatic note between Manila and Tokyo for its implementation.
Kenyan jobs on the line as regional trading blocs warm up to merger
23-Oct-2008
The pact signed on Wednesday could hasten the proposed African Economic Community but may come too soon, especially for Kenyan manufacturers.
One day strike and Indigenous mobilizations in Colombia
23-Oct-2008 NUPG
In the Cauca region, a twelve-thousand strong Indigenous and Popular Minga (or Assembly) was held in opposition to the militarization of Indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant communities/territories. The Assembly also declared it’s firm opposition to the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Canada, U.S. and the European Union.
As Sarkozy meets Quebec’s Charest, trade barriers may tumble
22-Oct-2008
A deal on labor mobility could spur the movement for a broad Canada-EU trade alliance
Hong Kong shows CEPA bad for Taiwan
21-Oct-2008 Taiwan News
In the wake of the resumption of cross-strait dialogue, officials of both Taiwan’s restored right-wing Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government and the Chinese Communist Party-ruled People’s Republic of China have touted plans for the signing of a "closer economic partnership agreement" between the two sides. Largely absent from the debate has been concrete discussion of the experience of Hong Kong.
Filipino group assails JPEPA
11-Oct-2008
The Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) reiterated today its warning that the ratification of Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) had institutionalized abuses against Filipino health personnel.
OATUU opposes EPA
9-Oct-2008 AllAfrica.com
The Organisation of African Trade Unions Unity (OATUU) has joined in the crusade against the signing of the EPA, stating several claims which it believed would cripple the economies of member countries, if they go ahead to sign the agreement.
Labour says ’No’ to EPA
3-Oct-2008 Ghanian Times
Four labour organisations — the African Regional Organisation of the international Trade Union Confederation, the African Trade Network, Ghana Trades Union Congress and the Federation of Labour — have called on leaders of the Africa, Carribean and Pacific countries not to ratify the Economic Partnership Agreement they have signed with the European Union.
Don’t use trade for resolving non-trade issues: Kamal Nath
29-Sep-2008 Economic Times
"Increasingly we hear about proposals in the EU for levy of carbon tax on imports into EU, ban on imports on allegations of labour law violations and use of child labour etc. Any effort to combine trade with other social issues would prove to be disastrous for bilateral trade" says India’s commerce minister about the EU-India FTA.
Displaced people: NAFTA’s most important product
21-Sep-2008 NACLA
Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993, the US Congress has debated and passed several new bilateral trade agreements with Peru, Jordan and Chile, as well as the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Congressional debates over immigration policy have proceeded as though those trade agreements bore no relationship to the waves of displaced people migrating to the United States, looking for work.
Labor and the Colombia free trade agreement
21-Sep-2008 FPIF
The only way the Colombian deal will remain the first accord of its kind defeated in Washington, it’s clear, is if organized labor continues to play the central role in establishing the terms of debate around basic human rights and keeping Democratic members of Congress in line.
Trade Unions told to recommit themselves to protecting poor and underprivileged in society
20-Sep-2008 CBC
The President of the National Union of Public Workers says the Barbados trade union movement missed a golden opportunity to make its views known on the proposed economic partnership agreement between Caricom and the European Union.
Working conditions of foreign nurses in Japan ’exploitative’: study
12-Sep-2008 ABS-CBN
The Philippine government has used the annual entry of 400 Filipino nurses and 600 caregivers under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) as one of main reasons why the Senate should ratify the free trade accord. Yet foreign nurses and caregivers who want to work in Japan may find working conditions there exploitative or even discriminatory, according to a study.
International labor caucus takes critical look at EU-ASEAN FTA
2-Sep-2008 Partido ng Manggagawa
Workers groups from the ASEAN nations met this August 24-27, 2008 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to take a stand and plan campaigns against the proposed EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement.
Union, Alliance blast ASEAN FTA
31-Aug-2008
The Maritime Union has blasted a new free trade agreement between New Zealand, Australia and the ASEAN nations, saying it is bad for workers because it includes Burma.
Free trade including Myanmar dictatorship is a slow motion disaster for workers and democracy in both nations
29-Aug-2008 Scoop
The Alliance Party says the news that New Zealand has negotiated a free trade deal with ASEAN nations that include the fascist dictatorship of Myanmar is a disgrace of historical proportions and is a slow motion disaster for workers in New Zealand and in Myanmar.
Maritime Union criticizes Myanmar connection in free trade deal
29-Aug-2008 Voxy
The Maritime Union of New Zealand says a free trade deal signed with ASEAN nations including the military dictatorship of Myanmar is bad for workers as it will boost the violently anti-worker regime in Myanmar and threatens workers rights.