Special Free Trade Agreement with Colombia and South Korea

Currently, plenty of labor activists are concerned about shifts in the role of unions in the U.S. workforce.  In other parts of the world, the life of the union organizer is perilous.  Colombia is particularly infamous for its large number of assassination of labor organizers. Just in 2010 alone, 51 unionist organizers were murdered.

What does it mean to develop favorable trade policies with a country with such notorious, documented violations of workers’ rights and workers’ safety?

Currently, the United States is debating developing special Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia as well as South Korea.

According to Lori Wallach of Global Trade Watch, “passing the Korea deal would kill U.S. jobs; even official government studies show it will increase the U.S. trade deficit. Passing the Colombia deal would kill any leverage Colombian union, and Afro-Colombian and other community leaders and their U.S. union and civil society friends and allies have to stop the murders, forced displacements and other acts of political violence that dominate life in Colombia.”

As a recruiter, what do you think?  What would changing relationships with South Korea and Colombia ‘kill U.S. jobs’?  What is the responsibility of the U.S. to promote good working conditions in other countries?  How have you seen the job markets change within the industries that you work with since the passage of other free trade agreements?