As previously reported by Unionsafety, the proposed Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the US and the EU; will have profound negative effects upon individual governments to protect their citizens from any product or process which may have a harmful effect on consumers. E.G. GM foods would no longer be able to remain banned in the EU and if the ban remained US GM food companies will be allowed to sue individual governments of the EU on the basis of lost profits due to the ban!
Similarly any laws, e.g. the Health and Safety at Work Act which cause a loss of profit (by making businesses take actions which may have a cost element), will no longer be able to be passed by governments without the risk of being sued by businesses.
The NHS will also be badly affected by the proposed agreement, and the likelyhood of a Labour government being able to repeal the legislation which has allowed creeping privatisation, without being sued; is very unlikely.
In an attempt at clearly taking over the world's commerce and trade, there is also a pacific version called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) involving the USA, Canada and Mexico. )
The first major free trade deal was between US and Canada, much to the dislike of the majority of Canadian people because of the cost to jobs and rising prices!
Now, the CWU has today (Friday 1st August) joined the campaign against the trade deal between the EU and USA.
The TTIP deal is currently being negotiated but will contain an Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) clause that allows foreign companies or investors to sue the UK government for the loss of future profits.
It would also make the renationalisation of previous state companies such as Royal Mail very difficult.
Further, the government's NHS privatisation by stealth could not be reversed, say many Trade Unions.
A coalition of organisations has formed NO TTIP in opposition to the trade deal. The coalition is supported by unions, environmentalists and anti-privatisation campaigners including GMB, the Green Party, Unison, Friends of the Earth, Unite and People's Assembly Against Austerity.
Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary, firmly opposes the TTIP in its current form:
"If TTIP is agreed then it will fly in the face of the union's aim to renationalise our core employers and the wider aims of the rest of the trade union movement."
Campaigners believe the consequences of TTIP would be far-reaching.
For example US food producers are planning on downgrading the EU's system of controls on food which currently bans most GM foods and controls the use of pesticides.
It would also allow US companies to challenge bans on fracking in Europe.
TUC General Council international spokesperson Sally Hunt outlined the TUC's fears at the International Trade Union Confederation World Congress in May:
"The TUC has real concerns about the current state of negotiations as they do not exclude many parts of the public sector from broader privatisation."
She continued:
"We are also opposed to ISDS in TTIP and indeed any trade deal as it is undemocratic and against the public interest to allow foreign investors to use special secretive courts to sue governments for making public policy they think is bad for business."
In June, the TUC issued this statement on the TTIP:
The European Commission has trumpeted that TTIP stands to improve prosperity and jobs across the EU and USA and will not drive down labour standards.
The TUC is calling for a TTIP that creates a gold standard for workers rights–sowe want American workers to have the kinds of rights protection and worker representation found in Europe.
But without the involvement of trade unions, quite simply the Commission will never be able to negotiate the good deal for workers they are promising.
The TUC has real concerns about the current state of negotiations as they do not exclude many parts of the public sector from broader privatisation.
Negotiators also want the agreement to include ISDS provisions which we know mean future governments could find themselves being sued for their public health and education policy by any American investor that fears its investment is being jeopardised if part of its service is brought back into public ownership.
The TUC is calling for an exemption for public services from the deal.
We are also opposed to ISDS in TTIP and indeed any trade deal as it is undemocratic and against the public interest to allow foreign investors to use special secretive courts to sue governments for making public policy they think is bad for business.
In the UK, health and education are particularly under threat from ISDS due to the extent of American investment in these areas.
We will be submitting these concerns through the Commission’s consultation on ISDS. This consultation is an important acknowledgement that trade negotiations cover issues of public interest and so must involve representatives of interest groups such as trade unions, as well as consumer and environmental groups.
The Commission in the EU and the USTR in the USA need to extend this and properly involve unions in all parts of the negotiations on TTIP.
Like every gain unions seek to win, a struggle lies ahead. We don’t expect negotiators to invite us to the table without a lot more agitation from us.
But this is a great opportunity to build workers power across the EU and USA by coordinating our mobilising and campaigning.
The opportunity to secure protections for public services, labour, environmental rights and banish ISDS once and for all, is too great a prize to not join this fight.
Source: CWU / TUC / unionsafety
