Labor
shifts on US free trade deal
The
Australian, 18/8/03, By Christine Wallace and Stefanie Balogh
LABOR
is unlikely to oppose the proposed US-Australia free trade deal, raising
the possibility of a rift between the ALP and the trade union movement.
The
informal policy shift within federal Labor emerged yesterday as the
ACTU said it would actively lobby members of the US Congress to block
any deal unless union concerns were addressed.
ACTU
president Sharan Burrow said the union movement, in league with its
counterpart the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Organisations (AFL-CIO), would campaign directly against the deal in
the US unless its demands on core labour standards, services, investment,
government procurement and public health were met.
Ms
Burrow's announcement came as Opposition Leader Simon Crean softened
his anti-FTA rhetoric and trade spokesman Stephen Conroy indicated Labor
did not yet have enough information to reach a final position on the
issue.
Labor
sources acknowledged yesterday that the party's position on the FTA
had moved from "negative" to "neutral".
Mr
Crean said: "If the bilateral approach, the FTA, is consistent
with an outcome in Doha that advantages a broader outcome, then we do
support it."
The
federal Opposition is already surrounded by pro-FTA Labor premiers.
It is also being driven by a feeling among relevant frontbenchers that
there are enough big policy differences between Labor and the current
US administration without adding another major irritant to the list.
Labor
is understood to be annoyed that the Howard Government expects it to
support the FTA but is excluding it from the negotiations and briefings
on the issue.
"It's
a government that says: 'We should get bipartisan support.' But it does
not involve the other side of politics in the process," Mr Crean said.
Federal
Labor's shift highlights a widening rift with industrial arm of the
labour movement over the FTA.
Union
pragmatists, such as Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill
Shorten, are understood to believe the labour movement may have to wear
the FTA because it could create more jobs than it destroys, but that
it is too early to back the deal.
"I'm
pro-trade but I don't support a deal at any price," Mr Shorten said.
The
ACTU and the AFL-CIO will release a joint statement on the FTA at the
ACTU's triennial congress in Melbourne today.
The
statement warns that the peak Australian and American union bodies will
join together to oppose any FTA that falls short of union goals.
"If
it is to go ahead, then in the very least it has to adhere to these
standards, and we will be campaigning jointly with the AFL-CIO on that
basis," Ms Burrow said.
It
was likely that the unions would end up lobbying outright against the
deal in the US, she said.