CAW Council delegates were urged to take action to put the brakes on federal government plans for a free trade agreement between Canada and Korea.
Council learned that the federal government is fast-tracking a free trade agreement with South Korea, which it wants to have completed by mid-2006. This move is going ahead even though NAFTA has failed miserably to deliver on promises including effective dispute settlement. The government now wants to recreate NAFTA for Asia. While Korea is first, Japan and China are next.

Delegate after delegate spoke out against a Canada-Korea free trade agreement.

CAW National Executive Board member Jim Woods urged action to put an end to unfettered and one way trade. Woods said free trade with Korea, Japan and China would decimate the auto parts industry in Canada.
"We are certainly at a crisis and at a cross roads in the auto parts industry, said Woods, first vice-president of CAW Local 1524.

CAW Local 222 president Chris Buckley said offshore auto parts and imports are destroying the Canadian auto industry, despite GM plants in Oshawa, for example, winning awards for quality and productivity.

"We will fight for a fair trade agreement," Buckley said. "We will fight for our futures and we will fight for our children"s futures."

A CAW information flyer on the issue outlines some of the reasons why the union is opposed to a Canada-Korea FTA. It will: - destroy thousands of jobs in crucial industries (like auto, tool & die, shipbuilding, food processing and electronics); - set a terrible precedent for future deals with China and Japan; - many stakeholders including business groups oppose this deal. It can be stopped.

There is already an imbalance in trade between Korea and Canada. Korea, for example, sold 130,000 vehicles in Canada in 2004. Canada sold 400 vehicles in Korea in 2004.

The ratio of Korean to Canadian auto sales is 268-to-1. Canada"s top export to Korea is wood pulp, while Korea"s top export to Canada is finished motor vehicles. Wood Pulp costs 25 cents per pound, while Korean vehicles cost $15,000 wholesale. It takes 60,000 pounds of wood pulp (requiring two acres of clear-cut forest) to pay for each vehicle we import from Korea.

Delegates are urged to send letters to Prime Minister Paul Martin and Trade Minister James Peterson outlining their opposition. They were also asked to have their employer submit a letter on company letterhead to the Prime Minister.