Trade
Trade liberalisation has grossly affected working people across sectors and yet trade unions have traditionally not addressed these issues either at the national level or by creating awareness among its membership on these issues. NTUI, with a significant membership in crucial export oriented sectors, felt it essential to be part of the campaign against the liberalisation of trade initially within the multilateral framework of the WTO and now also within the bilateral framework of FTAs. It has played an active role in the campaign against WTO and the FTAs.
NTUI has played an active role in garnering consensus among other left and democratic trade unions on issues of trade. Several joint trade union representations were presented to the government since 2006 on impact of NAMA on workers in the non-agricultural sector, especially on garment and fish workers. With the Doha Round of the WTO collapsing, the joint platform had become almost redundant. But with the new UPA government’s aggressive moves to push forward the Doha round of negotiation, the platform was revived with the initiative of NTUI and a series of bilateral meetings were held in August this year to finalise a joint memorandum to the Commerce Minister on the Doha round of Negotiations. This memorandum was jointly signed by AICCTU, AITUC, HMS, AIUTUC, TUCC, UTUC and NTUI.