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labour | workers’ rights


Philippines needs safety nets in trade pact with Japan
A senior senator in the Philippines on Wednesday said the Philippine government must impose safety nets to safeguard the jobs of thousands of Filipino workers particularly in the garments, electric appliances, and automobile assembly sectors, who stand to lose their jobs if the trade deal with Japan goes through.
Business fights for Colombia deal, labor pushes back
Business is gearing up for a huge fight over the Colombia free-trade agreement (FTA) as Colombian President Alvaro Uribe heads to Washington for the second consecutive month to lobby for the controversial pact.
Labor Ministry expresses reservations on US National Labor Committee on Jordan FTA factories
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).
JPEPA: Fair trade?
New RP-Japan trade pact may just spell false hopes for Filipino health care workers.
Greater discussion needed with civil society on EPAs
While the labour movement supports the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the Caribbean and the European Union (EU), there must be greater discussion with trade unions and civil society, and specially included treatment for women.
US complicit in labor abuse
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."
Labor violence blocks a US-Colombia trade deal
Free trade agreements with Peru and Panama now seem headed toward approval in the US Congress, after the Bush administration agreed to incorporate the basic labor standards long insisted upon by House Democrats. But a separate trade pact with Colombia rightly remains in legislative limbo over a much starker labor problem.
NAFTA from below: A review
The full impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on the working people of Mexico, the US and Canada has yet to be assessed, but this slender volume makes a major contribution to our overall understanding of this disastrous economic treaty that was imposed on the people of all three nations by governments which routinely subvert democracy in the service of big capital.
Mexican workers call for a continental workers’ campaign for living wages and social justice
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.
Bipartisan trade deal: full text
Full text of the bipartisan trade deal reached between the US’ Democrat-led Congress and the Bush Administration
Teamsters oppose trade deal that sells out American workers
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:
US may seek FTA renegotiations on labor, environment
Washington plans to demand renegotiations on several areas of the Korea-US free trade agreement (FTA) signed on April 2, according to US media reports.
Teachers’ union cries foul over ministry’s FTA publications
The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development last week delivered materials to local educational offices to encourage them to promote the Korea-U.S. FTA, a move which has brought criticism from Korea’s teachers’ union, which says the move is biased and one-sided in nature.
’New trade policy for America’
The agreement announced today is a fundamental shift in US trade policy and clears the way for broad, bipartisan congressional support for the Peru and Panama FTAs.
South Korea-EU free trade talks got off to fast start, both sides say
South Korea and the European Union made good progress this week in their first round of negotiations to forge a major free trade pact, chief negotiators from both sides said on Friday, but they conceded sensitive issues were barely touched.
US officials reach agreement on trade deals to open way for Peru, Panama, other pacts
Congressional Democratic leaders say they have forged new trade policy guidelines with the Bush administration that will elevate labor and environmental rights to key components in future free trade agreements.
Sides get closer to a deal on trade
The Bush administration and Democratic leaders have struck a compromise that would insert stricter labor rules into future trade treaties, potentially lending fresh momentum to the global effort to promote free trade, sources briefed on the talks said yesterday.
Colombia scandals cloud trade deal - US senator
Colombia must resolve US concerns about a paramilitary scandal and the unsolved murders of trade unionists if it wants Congress to approve a free trade agreement, a spokesman for the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Thursday.
Labor movement divided on approach to FTA
Korea’s two umbrella labor groups are split about the free trade agreement with the United States. KCTU is against the FTA altogether. FKTU has taken the position that the agreement needs "followup" measures.