Further Reading

.

Cameron: Why the WTO talks have collapsed (again) this recent impasse has a lot to do with the unfairness to poorer countries of the current WTO rules (plus other parts of the international system) and why they are not going to give away the store in a new round. Canada, it should be noted, would have caved by now.
 

Rich countries not off the hook after breakdown of WTO talks
The European Union and the United States are making a serious miscalculation if they think suspension of the WTO talks spells a free-for-all in global trade, said international agency Oxfam.
Concern and anger over unfair world trade rules and harmful EU and US trade policies will only intensify following this week's breakdown in negotiations.
 

Rich world swindles millions Global wealth divide widens to all-time high
Oxfam accuses the G8 countries of robbing the poor of $160 billion a year by abusing the rules governing world trade, thus denying millions of poor people their best escape route from poverty.
 

Local Living Economies: The New Movement for Responsible Business
A socially, environmentally and financially sustainable global economy must be composed of sustainable local economies. Yet, tragically, from American “Main Streets” to villages in developing countries, corporate globalization is causing the decline of local communities, family businesses, family farms, and natural habitats. Wealth and power are consolidating in growing transnational corporations that wield alarming control over many important aspects of our lives
 

The Benefits of Doing Business Locally .pdf
From rural to urban areas, an ever-growing chorus of citizens laments losing a sense of community. Meanwhile, national chains continue displacing locally-owned businesses countrywide. This trend is considered symptomatic of our loss of community orientation, but could it also be a primary cause? And how is our economic well-being impacted?
 

The people's strategy for solving climate change… Buy Local.
Think local first. There's a growing movement across North America that recognizes the importance of a local economy in protecting the environment, reducing energy costs, and investing in communities.
 

Quote from a blog
What the heck good is having a Free Trade Agreement if there is only one side that believes in Free Trade?
In my view, all of this shows that the Americans like to talk a good talk on “free-trade” out of the one side of their mouth, but once certain sectors in the U.S. find out they aren't doing as well with Canadian competition, they go running to the courts and the trade commissions and the Congress. In doing so, they are shown for what they are: protectionists.
 

Manufacturing Matters. – CAW Campaigns and Issues .pdf
Canada's manufacturing sector is in crisis. Almost every week another Canadian plant shuts its doors, files for bankruptcy or announces its intention to move its operations out of the country. Good manufacturing jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate across the country and the Harper government has done nothing to stop this hemorrhaging. The clear message to Canadian workers is that the government simply does not care.
 

Buy Canadian Legislation – CAW Paper .pdf
Canadian taxpayers deserve to have their tax dollars spent where they will be of most benefit to their fellow Canadians – and to the Canadian economy as a whole. When our federal and provincial governments spend our money on government procurement in the areas of public transportation, the Canadian military, government institutions and government services, there must be strong Canadian content regulations to ensure that Canadians get the jobs resulting from our own major public purchases.
 

There's blood on factory floors: Where's Ottawa? .pdf
From their comfortable posts in Ottawa, Canada's top economic policy-makers have been remarkably sanguine about the continuing recession in what is still Canada's most important single sector: manufacturing. The foundations of Canadian industry continue to crumble.
 

Foreign ownership in the resource sector
A centrepiece of Canada’s industrial policy is attracting foreign investment. This seems to me a lack of imagination on the part of our elites; rather than develop genuine industrial strategies, so much the better to just let foreign capital come and create the jobs for us. And in the resource sector, the flip side of investment is that we lose control over domestic resources while profits flow outside the country (usually south).
 

The Globalization of Production and International Labor Standards
Much has been said and written about the threat that cheap overseas labour supposedly presents for wage levels and job security of workers in industrialized countries. In the U.S., labor and political leaders alike have called for international labor standards(1) enforced by trade sanctions to arrest this threat. This paper seeks to make an internationalist case for international labor standards while remaining sensitive to the theoretical and political difficulties that international labor standards may present.
 

International Labor Standards website
ILO Conventions and Recommendations cover a broad range of subjects concerning work, employment, social security, social policy and related human rights.
 

Core Labor Standards Handbook
International Core Labor Standards
 

Chabanel, heart of the Montreal garment industry
Certainly the Montreal garment industry has seen massive changes under the force of globalization. Employment in the clothing sector in Quebec fell from 57,000 in 2003 and is now at 30,000 in 2005 according to Statistics Canada. That's a massive change in only two years. The secret seems to be reflected in the words of Eddy Wiltzer, an industry veteran, “If you want to be in this business, you have to build a brand, become a brand or be a distributor of a brand.” Much of the manufacturing is now off shore but local manufacture can still win out when great quality and on-time delivery are needed.
 

We should index the minimum wage Special to Globe and Mail Update
This year could be a celebration for the “working poor,” except for one thing: It's the 70th anniversary of the changes to the Ontario minimum wage act that put an income floor under men as well as women aged 18 and over.
 

Government Policy – Maquila Solidarity Network
governments have a crucial role to play in promoting greater transparency, greater access to information for consumers and investors, and greater respect for the rights of the young women who labor behind the labels making our clothes and other consumer products in factories and workshops around the world.
 

Child labor and Gross Violations of Adult Workers’ Rights in Factories Making Olympics-Licensed Goods
Detailed research inside China into working conditions in four factories making Olympics bags, headgear, stationery and other products also revealed that factory owners are falsifying employment records, and forcing workers to lie about their wages and working conditions.
 

Taking a stand on sweatshops

But if we blame capitalism for all of our failings, where exactly does self-responsibility come in? We may very well know that the clothes we buy are made in deplorable conditions, yet we still take these items to the cash register.
 

It's time for truth-about-sweatshops legislation in Canada
Labels at retail outlets provide no information allowing consumers to identify manufacturers who exploit men, women and children
 

No Sweat: The Global Assembly Line
Across Canada, groups are organizing local No Sweat campaigns calling on public institutions to adopt purchasing policies. These policies ensure that procurement items such as uniforms and school supplies are made under humane working conditions.
 

The strong smell of sweat in our own backyards
The image of Canada as the “true North, strong and free” does not hold true when it comes to our continued exploitation of immigrant garment workers. -what most of us don't know, or refuse to acknowledge, is that similar sweatshop conditions are found right here in Canada, in places like Toronto.
 

Greenpeace Shoppers Guide
This guide is the first of its kind – a catalog of the Genetically Engineered (GE) foods sold in grocery stores across Canada.
 

Gangs of America
The Rise of Corporate Power & The Disabling of Democracy (book). “A brilliant page-turner revealing how powerful, greedy corporations wage institutional terrorism. Reading it is the first step to saving our communities, our democracy and our planet's environment.” – John Stauber, author, Toxic Sludge Is Good for You. “The essential guide to the history of the American corporation – it explodes the myth of inevitability surrounding the corporate takeover of our lives.”
– Maria Elena Martinez, executive director, CorpWatch.

.