Come join unionists and activists at a rally to STOP THE CHINA Free Trade Agreement!
AUGUST 28 @ 12 NOON - Melbourne. Location: Parliament House steps -Spring St.
Just last month, Tony Abbott signed a free trade deal with China that was negotiated in secret and, surprise surprise, it's not a good deal for workers. While Tony's business mates might have been a part of the negotiations, ordinary working people like us, were not.
Our fight is not with foreign workers, it is with the Abbott Government and their business mates who benefit from this deal at the expense of workers.
This trade agreement that has been negotiated behind closed doors will allow:
- Chinese companies to bring in an entire workforce from overseas for projects worth over $150 million with as little as a 15% stake in that project and without even advertising for local workers first.
- It could cost as many as 158,000 local jobs because of cheap Chinese imports that are unfairly subsidised and do not meet Australian standards. Half of Australian businesses surveyed say the deal will hurt them and only 11% say it will help.
- The agreement will allow Chinese companies to sue Australian governments that pass laws which affect their profits. This is how Phillip Morris has been able to sue us for plain cigarette packaging laws that are saving lives.
- This trade deal has no commitments to respect workers’ rights.
We need to stop the China FTA from stripping down our hard fought for rights, safety, standards and conditions.
And if you haven't done so already, email your local MP to stop the China FTA. We need to do all we can to fight this.
