Sunday, May 13, 2007

FTA Renegotiation?

Here's the link to a story in the Hankyoreh, seems there is a big possibility that the Kor-US FTA will have to be re-negotiated to better take into consideration a number of labour and environmental issues. Seems like a good chance to bring better attention to other parts of the deal.

Max Baucus, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, said that recent FTAs with four nations including South Korea should contain the five core standards set forth by the International Labor Organization (ILO); namely, the right to organize, the right to bargain collectively, and bans on child labor, forced labor, and employment discrimination.

3 comments:

  1. Let us see what happens. The US government is not a friend of unionism.


    Really good blog. Good luck in struggle.

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  2. That's fine well and good, but why not make ratification of the ILO's Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), conditions for an FTA?

    Unless the US prefers bilateral agreements on labor (and everything else) to international standards ..

    Speaking of, the KTU is filing a formal complaint with the ILO, I'll post details at IKTU when it's official.

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  3. Did you read this:
    Daewoo looks to start shipbuilding in North
    http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_business/209698.html


    >>"Do these links include your original reports from back in the day that you posted on the old ETU website? Anyway to get those?"


    yeah, the last two links were originally posted on etu-mb web site.
    http://migrant.nodong.net/ver2/index_e.html (news&dates)

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