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labour | workers’ rights

Trade unions call for inclusion in Africa trade agreement
2-Oct-2024 The Standard
The inclusion of women, youth, and informal sector employees is key in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement.
Unions oppose UAE trade deal without enforceable labour rights
19-Sep-2024 ACTU
The ACTU has spoken out against Australia’s new trade deal with the United Arab Emirates as one of the worst countries Australia has ever negotiated a bilateral free trade agreement with.
How NAFTA broke American politics
4-Sep-2024 New York Times
Since its passage in 1993, the trade agreement has played an outsize role in presidential elections — which now often hinge on the three Rust Belt states it helped to hollow out.
bilaterals.org podcast: Special economic zones & the African Continental Free Trade Area
21-Aug-2024 bilaterals.org & Public Services International
This podcast examines the controversial link between Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and the African Continental Free Trade Area, which promotes the use of SEZs to further liberalise the economy, with potentially dramatic consequences for the people of Africa.
Thai confederation demands inclusion of ILO conventions in FTA negotiations
11-Jun-2024 IndustriALL Global Union
On 29 May the leaders of the Confederation of Industrial Labour of Thailand (CILT) met with European Union (EU) representatives in Bangkok to demand the inclusion of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) fundamental conventions in EU-Thailand Free Trade Agreements (FTA).
Unifor lays down priorities for CUSMA review
7-Jun-2024 Unifor
Unifor laid down the union’s priorities for the 2026 review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) in testimony by Unifor National President.
An international law framework for climate-aligned investment governance
3-Jun-2024 CCSI
International Investment and Trade Law should be reformed for climate-aligned investment governance.
Public summary of second set of US text proposals under the US-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership
19-Apr-2024 USTR
The United States has tabled proposed texts under the US-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP), covering Agriculture, Good Regulatory Practice and Workers’ Rights and Protection.
An urgent call from European trade unions: Suspend the Association Agreement with Israel
3-Apr-2024 ETUN Palestine
We, the undersigned European trade unions, are calling on the EU and European countries to suspend the Association Agreement with Israel as well as bilateral treaties in light of grave violations of human rights by the Israeli Government.
CTU has informed EU of free trade agreement labour law breach
6-Mar-2024 The National Tribune
The CTU has sent a letter to the European Commissioner of Trade to bring his attention to New Zealand’s disregard of its obligations under the Trade and Sustainable Development chapter of the NZ-EU FTA by the Government’s repeal of Fair Pay Agreements
Avocado farm workers in Michoacán file USMCA labor complaint
22-Jan-2024 Mexico News Daily
Claiming that RV Fresh Foods has violated their labor rights, a group representing local workers filed a petition under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free trade pact that superseded NAFTA.
TUC and unions in Turkey call for trade talks to be suspended
16-Jan-2024 TUC
The TUC and our sister trade union confederations in Türkiye KESK and DISK issued a statement in January 2021 calling for the UK-Türkiye trade agreement signed in 2020 to be suspended due to abuses of labour and human rights in Türkiye.
Australia announces trade deal negotiations with UAE, despite human rights and labour concerns
16-Jan-2024 AFTINET
Critics have highlighted that the UAE is only Australia’s 19th largest trading partner, and have said that the economic benefits are outweighed by the reputational risk Australia takes by implicitly endorsing the UAE’s poor human rights and labour practices through an FTA.
A ‘giant’ of Canadian politics: Ed Broadbent’s mixed legacy on social democracy and free trade
15-Jan-2024 The Conversation
The extreme income disparity and political polarization we see today, at least in part, is the direct result of the path we took in 1988 when Canada signed a free trade deal with the US.
Why is Biden endorsing corporate colonialism in Honduras?
15-Dec-2023 LPE Project
The stakes for Honduras are not simply the billions of dollars otherwise destined for health, housing, and education. They are the very existence of Crawfish Rock: the past and future of the families who have inhabited the island for centuries.
When investors subvert states
1-Dec-2023 Project Syndicate
The ongoing lawsuit brought against Honduras by an American company underscores the unjust and undemocratic nature of the investor-state dispute settlement system.
Explainer: Free trade zones and free trade agreements
24-Nov-2023 bilaterals.org
Free trade agreements, free trade zones and special economic zones are all designed to promote business-friendly regulations and encourage economic liberalisation, but they are different in nature.
India should be cautious on labour provisions in FTA negotiations: Experts
24-Nov-2023 Business Standard
India needs to follow a cautious approach while negotiating labour provisions in free trade agreements (FTAs) as those could have potential repercussions on domestic manufacturing and overall trade competitiveness.
Kenya’s hurdles in trade negotiations with United States
21-Nov-2023 The Standard
American President Joe Biden recently pledged to make Nairobi the investment magnet in Africa. For this to happen, Kenya and the United States must make considerable progress towards a bilateral trade deal under the Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) framework.
US, Indo-Pacific partners need to ’recalibrate’ trade talks -USTR’s Bianchi
17-Nov-2023 Reuters
Some countries, including Vietnam and Indonesia, rejected US demands for labor rights standards to be enforced through a dispute settlement system similar to that in the US-Canada-Mexico agreement on trade.