Millions say no to TTIP

Set to be one of the largest bilateral trade agreements every negotiated, TTIP – the mammoth EU-US deal currently being negotiated in secret – has also garnered mammoth media attention.

 
The traction has, in large part, been thanks to campaigners on both sides of the Atlantic who’ve highlighted how the deal will privatise public services and destroy employment and environmental protections.

 
But, as Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner pointed out at the TUC conference on Tuesday (September 15), TTIP is only the beginning in a series of new generation trade deals unleashing the full might of multinational corporate dominance, including CETA, TTP, TiSA and others.

 
And a full-scale, people-based movement that crosses international borders will be the only thing that can stop it all. He noted that a petition in which well over 2.5m European citizens have signed can well be the beginning of this movement.

 
“If more than two million of us say ‘no!’,” Turner explained, “it increases the pressure on decision makers in Brussels as well as in individual EU member states to stop TTIP, CETA and TiSA and help spoil their plans to have negotiations in secret.

 
Behind closed doors

 
“That such a basic demand has to be made – that elected representatives have a say, that there is a modicum of public scrutiny – tells us a great deal about what is being negotiated behind closed doors,” he added.

 
While corporations and governments have continued to reassure the public that the trade deals will do no harm, Turner said trade experts beg to differ.

 
He quoted US trade official Johnathan Kallmar, who said: “Modern era trade and investment agreements are not as much about getting rid of tariffs as they are about restricting the policies governments are permitted to implement within their own borders.”

 
Even the Framework for Advancing Transatlantic Economic Integration between the US and the EU in 2007 boldly stated just, exactly, what these trade deals are all about:

 
“… in light of our shared commitment to removing barriers to transatlantic commerce; to rationalising, reforming and where appropriate, reducing regulations to empower the private sector.”

 
Turner explained that the lesser known CETA, a Canadian-EU trade deal similar to TTIP, is all but a done deal and poses the exact same threats as its US-EU counterpart.

 
While critics of TTIP have sought to reform a clause contained in the deal called ISDS, which enables corporations to sue governments in secret courts, CETA’s ISDS clauses remain intact.

 
“The ETUC has shown 80 per cent of US businesses in the EU currently have bases in Canada,” Turner explained, “so CETA would enable big US businesses to have the power to sue EU governments for laws and regulations they don’t like, even without TTIP.”

 
This is why, Turner noted, “our efforts need to concentrate on continuing to increase political pressure – to make supporting TTIP, CETA, and TiSA an isolated position.”

 
While fighting these trade deals may seem an insurmountable challenge, Turner pointed to Latin America as a shining example of how concerted campaigning can make a difference.

 
Just last week, Uruguay opted out of negotiations on TiSA after a coordinated public campaign involving trade unions, environmentalists and farmers pressured the government into backing down.

 
“We need to be angry about this, and to tell their MP and MEP that they are angry, and to tell other people why they should be angry,” Turner said.

 
“We’ve made good progress getting our TTIP concerns noticed in the mainstream media and political debate but we need to connect these campaigns to other agreements like CETA and TiSA.”

 
Find out more about CETA and TiSA here and here.