India FTA won't take up jobs, says top trade union, as Winston doubles down on migration
The coalition partners aren't all on the same page on the India trade deal.
Local jobs and social cohesion have become a sticking point in an election year.
The trade deal with India allows for only a 'relatively small quota' of temporary work visas and is no threat to local jobs, New Zealand's largest association of trade unions has told MPs.
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU) is opposing the free trade agreement (FTA), but it seems confident the deal won't eat into opportunities available to local job seekers.
"We do not anticipate this would have adverse effects on New Zealanders seeking employment," it has said in its submission to the parliamentary select committee reviewing the FTA.
The window for public submissions is now closed, but the select committee has yet to announce by when its final report will be presented. Only after that can the government introduce legislation to enforce the treaty's provisions.
The provision of temporary work visas for Indian nationals was expected to be part of the agreement, NZCTU told the committee. The organisation says it represents 32 trade unions and at least 340,000 members.
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"Temporary visas under the Trade in Services chapter are tied to Immigration NZ’s green list and a small set of culturally Indian occupations," the submission read.
It does note the FTA continues the pattern of relying on migrant workers to fill skills gaps that could be "addressed domestically, with the right planning".
NZCTU is more concerned the agreement locks New Zealand into a trade relationship with a country where "labour rights are unavailable to many workers".
"Ratifying an agreement with no effective labour standards and protections increases the risk that New Zealand will import goods made in India in exploitative or forced conditions," it said while expressing it "cannot support this agreement".
Coalition partner NZ First has been scathing of the labour mobility provisions in the deal, and has refused to support it in Parliament.
Its leader Winston Peters continued to rail against the deal during a speech in Whangarei on Sunday, May 24.
"The National, Act, and Labour Parties have signed up to this deal knowing this is more of a Free Migration Deal, not a Free Trade Deal," he said.
"The Indian Free Trade agreement has put into neon lights the way immigration has been used as a bargaining chip for our country’s future."
Peters, and his deputy Shane Jones, have been pointing out the deal will bring in hundreds of thousands of more Indian migrants over the next decade.
Here's an analysis where we put those claims to the test of data.
In his speech on Sunday, Peters described the Indian leadership as quite excited about the work rights the deal affords.
"All the other political parties deny that. So how can it be that Prime Minister Modi, Trade Minster Goyal, India’s Foreign Office, and its Communication Ministry, all have the opposite view to all those other New Zealand political parties?"
