{"id":5794,"date":"2015-09-18T10:43:50","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T09:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=5794"},"modified":"2015-09-18T10:43:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T09:43:50","slug":"millions-say-no-to-ttip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=5794","title":{"rendered":"Millions say no to TTIP"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Set to be one of the largest bilateral trade agreements every negotiated, TTIP \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the mammoth EU-US deal currently being negotiated in secret \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has also garnered mammoth media attention.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe traction has, in large part, been thanks to campaigners on both sides of the Atlantic who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve highlighted how the deal will privatise public services and destroy employment and environmental protections.<\/p>\n

 
\nBut, 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.<\/p>\n

 
\nAnd 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.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf more than two million of us say \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner explained, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit 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.<\/p>\n

 
\nBehind closed doors<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat such a basic demand has to be made \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that elected representatives have a say, that there is a modicum of public scrutiny \u00e2\u20ac\u201c tells us a great deal about what is being negotiated behind closed doors,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhile corporations and governments have continued to reassure the public that the trade deals will do no harm, Turner said trade experts beg to differ.<\/p>\n

 
\nHe quoted US trade official Johnathan Kallmar, who said: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bModern 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nEven 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:<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015b\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nTurner 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.<\/p>\n

 
\nWhile 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ISDS clauses remain intact.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe ETUC has shown 80 per cent of US businesses in the EU currently have bases in Canada,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner explained, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bso CETA would enable big US businesses to have the power to sue EU governments for laws and regulations they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like, even without TTIP.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nThis is why, Turner noted, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bour efforts need to concentrate on continuing to increase political pressure \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to make supporting TTIP, CETA, and TiSA an isolated position.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nWhile 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.<\/p>\n

 
\nJust last week, Uruguay opted out of negotiations on TiSA<\/a> after a coordinated public campaign involving trade unions, environmentalists and farmers pressured the government into backing down.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe 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,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner said.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve 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.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nFind out more about CETA and TiSA here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Set to be one of the largest bilateral trade agreements every negotiated, TTIP \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the mammoth EU-US deal currently being negotiated in secret \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has also garnered mammoth media attention.   The traction has, in large part, been thanks to campaigners on both sides of the Atlantic who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve highlighted how the deal will privatise public […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[235,393,59],"wps_subtitle":"Only the people united can stop mammoth deal ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5794"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5804,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794\/revisions\/5804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}