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"The only thing 'free' about 'free trade' is the freedom of corporations to rip-off workers!" broadside, 1999
Order an ImageThe Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was held in Seattle from November 30 to December 3, 1999. Trade ministers and other officials from the WTO’s 135 member nations met in an unsuccessful attempt to plan negotiations to further deregulate free trade. Tens of thousands of activists for many causes gathered to protest what they saw as the WTO’s favoring of corporate interests over social and environmental concerns.
One issue was the WTO’s rule against “National Treatment,” the limiting of manufacturing contracts to a single nation. In free trade, contract opportunities were to be offered worldwide, with the result that work could move to countries with cheap labor. Seattle’s Labor WTO Mobilizing Committee printed fliers to explain their stand against this rule, using the example of how many local workers had been hired to build three ferries at a local shipyard.
Caption information source: "WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) — Part 1," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 9183; and "WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) — Part 2," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 9213.
One issue was the WTO’s rule against “National Treatment,” the limiting of manufacturing contracts to a single nation. In free trade, contract opportunities were to be offered worldwide, with the result that work could move to countries with cheap labor. Seattle’s Labor WTO Mobilizing Committee printed fliers to explain their stand against this rule, using the example of how many local workers had been hired to build three ferries at a local shipyard.
Caption information source: "WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) — Part 1," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 9183; and "WTO Meeting and Protests in Seattle (1999) — Part 2," by Kit Oldham, HistoryLink.org Essay 9213.
ID Number: 2018.3.3.9
Date: 1999
Creator(s):
Labor WTO Mobilization Committee, Publisher
Physical Description: 1 broadside ; 8.5 x 11 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Credit: MOHAI, 2018.3.3.9
Copyright: All Rights Reserved