Unions Meet MFAT over China Trade Deal

Unions affiliated to the Council of Trade Unions are meeting today with MFAT officials in Wellington to discuss concerns over the proposed free trade agreement with China. Unions were worried about the deal's impact on the manufacturing sector as well as labour rights in China, said CTU president Ross Wilson.

"The closer integration of manufacturing between the two countries will see many more examples of manufacturing shifting to China," he said.

"Even where manufacturing in this country has gone into high technology innovations to compete with China, it is hard to protect intellectual property and our designs are often copied."

A free trade agreement would put pressure on remaining tariffs which were already at low levels, and unions were also worried about China dumping goods.

"Unions will also be raising concerns about labour rights in China," Ross Wilson said. "The NZ Government has promised to better integrate trade and labour standards and a deal with China will be a test for that policy."

Child labour, forced labour, discrimination, freedom of association and promotion of collective bargaining are all key labour rights that needed to be addressed in the FTA talks.

"The CTU will be taking an active interest in all aspects of the negotiations including trade in services, investment issues, government procurement, Treaty of Waitangi implications and enforcement."