AMWU warns China free trade deal risks 170,000 jobs
Queenland Business Review
AMWU warns China free trade deal risks 170,000 jobs
Thursday 26 April 2007
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) is pushing for a manufacturing industry policy, after their economic analysis of
a potential free trade agreement between Australia and China predicted around 170,000 job losses in manufacturing if the agreement goes ahead.
The report argues that Australia’s manufacturing industry will be devastated if the agreement being pursued by the Howard government goes ahead.
Written by the AMWU’s economist Pat Conroy and Dr Jim Stanford, senior economist for Canadian Auto Workers, the report analyses
Australia’s three previous bilateral free trade agreements.
Since implementing the previous agreements with the US, Thailand and Singapore, Australia’s bilateral trade deficit has widened by a combined annual total of over $11 billion. AMWU says an estimated 26,000 jobs have been lost as a result, almost all in the manufacturing sector.
National secretary of the AMWU, Doug Cameron says the experience of the previous free trade agreements shows that the economic models used to argue that bilateral trade agreements deliver benefits to Australia are flawed.
"Australia must reconsider the proposed free trade agreement with China," says Cameron.
"Our analysis shows that based on actual experience, the net flow of jobs out of Australia as a result of a free trade agreement with China would be in the vicinity of 158,000.
"A free trade agreement with China would put at risk entire sectors of Australia’s manufacturing industries, which would only be partly off set by limited new employment in agriculture and mining."
