rrstar.com, 17 Jan 2009, Tim Mills
Addressing free trade and its affects on workers worldwide
Given the continuing evaporation of millions of American jobs, we must have a public discourse on the cost of free trade and its twin — runaway corporations.
Singapore, for example, has been hailed by business executives as one of free trade’s success stories. The whole truth, however, is quite different. As a Hamilton Sundstrand employee, I learned about the downside of such a success story as I watched machinery and good jobs being uprooted in Rockford — destined for Singapore.
In 2003, the governments of the United States and Singapore signed the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. The agreement gave the green light to corporations seeking to exploit the great disparities between the two nations and poverty-stricken South Asia. Corporations setting up shop in Singapore may hire from a pool of 600,000 immigrants, representing 30 percent of the work force.
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