AUSTRALIA’S Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) started a campaign yesterday against the latest free-trade agreement to hit working people.

Right-wing Prime Minister Tony Abbott had just signed the China FTA, a trade agreement negotiated in secret that the TUC-equivalent body insists will see local workers abandoned and locked out of good jobs.

Under the agreement with China, the unions warn that Chinese companies will be allowed to bring in temporary workers and there will be no requirement that jobs be offered to local workers first.

Chinese companies will be able to sue the government under the terms of the deal if they believe any Australian law hits their profits.

ACTU president Ged Kearney warned that “while Mr Abbott is trumpeting the benefits of the deal, the simple truth is it will destroy job opportunities and we will lose our right to make laws beneficial to working people.”

The nursing union leader also claimed the deal would allow Chinese companies to compete unfairly against local businesses because they are government-subsidised.

She claimed Chineses companies operating in Australia would not be bound by fair labour laws and would be able to ignore environmental standards and regulations.

“With youth unemployment the highest in a decade,” Ms Kearney said, “we cannot afford to stand by and watch as our kids miss job opportunities.

“That’s why we need to stand up to Mr Abbott and his mates in big business who are the only ones benefiting from all of this.”