For the background to this, see Christine’s article in Watchdog 106, August 2004, "Milking The Deal: Headlong Into A Free Trade Agreement With Thailand". It can be read online at http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/06/12.htm. Ed.

For nine years Sripai Nonsee sewed up Nike and other global brand name jackets at the Par Garments factory in Bangkok. At no time did her wage exceed NZ70 cents an hour. Eight years ago she was sacked from this job. She been involved in organising a union, which had won better wages and conditions for workers who were being paid less than their legal entitlement, and working unhealthy hours in unhealthy conditions. On the back of this success, workers in a subsidiary factory asked Sripai to help them do the same, and the company claimed this was grounds for dismissal. Sripai was down the road – but not out of trying to get a better deal for Thai workers at the bottom of the globalisation pile.

But the first thing she did on the morning of Monday September 13 when she visited Christchurch was to go shopping at Rebel Sports, in company with the Green Party's Co-Leader and trade spokesperson, Rod Donald. There she found a Nike jacket identical to the ones she used to make at Par Garments. It was selling at Rebel Sports for $160. A generous estimate of the labour time taken to produce it, including cutting, pressing, etc., was two hours, which at the current minimum wage in Bangkok comes to $1:56 worth of labour content.

Sripai had never had the chance to go shopping in a First World country before, and she was shocked to see just how big the gap is between what the workers get paid, and what the customer in New Zealand pays. Rod was shocked too. He thought he would see whether Prime Minister Helen Clark also thought it constituted exploitation of both workers and consumers. So, next day in Parliament, he asked her: ''Is the Prime Minister confident that the removal of the 19% tariff on this Nike jacket, which was made in a Thai sweatshop and sells in New Zealand at Rebel Sports for $160, would reduce its retail price and lift the 78c hourly wage rate paid to the women clothing workers who made it; if not, why not?''. The Prime Minister replied: ''Whether or not that reduces the price will be entirely a matter for competitive forces here in New Zealand''.

This was an interesting statement, tantamount to admitting that the benefit of the CEP claimed on page 73 of the joint Thai-NZ government study of the benefits of the CEP ("Equally consumers in Thailand and New Zealand could benefit from increased competition, lower prices and access to greater selection of goods and services...'') was unlikely to eventuate.

If there are unlikely to be benefits for New Zealand consumers, what about Thai workers? This was a question put to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade negotiators when Sripai and Jakkrit met with them in Wellington. When asked how the garment workers of Thailand might benefit from the CEP, the chief negotiator replied that the CEP would mean that more garments could be exported to New Zealand. Sripai's next question was: ''Does this mean that my wage of $NZ6 per day will go up?'' The negotiator ummed and aahed and said: "Well, no, there won't necessarily be any direct benefit".

So just who will benefit from this trade agreement? The same "people" who benefit from other free trade agreements – transnational corporations. This became increasingly clear as the speaking tour progressed, and workers and local manufacturers spoke up at the meetings and pointed out that the industries they represent are losing out from having New Zealand's economy effectively run by the big global players, including the world's largest global dairy company – New Zealand's very own Fonterra. For a detailed explanation of Fonterra’s leading role in pushing for an NZ-Thai Free Trade Agreement, see Christine’s article in Watchdog 106, August 2004, "Milking The Deal: Headlong Into A Free Trade Agreement With Thailand". It can be read online at http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/06/12.htm. Ed.

What can we do to stop this "free" trade form of corporate control of our lives and livelihoods? We need to turn up the heat on the government on this and all other free trade agreements. How about starting with the Labour MPs who used to be unionists? They are Rick Barker; Lianne Dalziel; Helen Duncan; Taito Philip Field; Mark Gosche; Dave Hereora; Mark Peck; Lynne Pillay and Paul Swain. Send them a letter or e-mail asking how they can support the Government's push for a free trade deal with Thailand when the basic International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions on the right to organise and bargain collectively have not been ratified there, and where the Government just changed the law to allow employers to legally dismiss workers involved in organising unions.

For more ideas on what to say read JustTrade 54 at http://www.greens.org.nz/searchdocs/other7915.html and other JustTrade bulletins and items at http://www.greens.org.nz/campaigns/trade/. You could also pop into your local chain store, look for the Made in Thailand label on garments, work out the difference between what the worker got paid working for 78 cents an hour, and what the store charges, and write to the Government about what a bad deal this is all round. Basically, they won't know that the customer is dissatisfied until we send the product back with our complaints! This trade agreement is already full of holes, and literally won't wash.

The following brief extract from Focus On Trade (December 2004, "Milking Thailand: The Thai-Australia Free Trade Agreement", Ben Moxham), offers a pithy summary of the huge impact that the Fonterra-driven Thai-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement will have on Thai dairy farmers. Ed.