TTIP – the implications for workers, trade unions and public services?

In September  2014 ERIS looked at the implications of the proposed EU/US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for workers, trade unions and public services?

Although TTIP negotiations are being largely conducted behind closed doors, Bert Schouwenburg, GMB’s International Officer, outlined growing concerns in the British and European trade unions about how this free trade deal covering two of the world’s largest trading blocs – the United States and European Union – will operate.

Background:

TTIP has been under negotiation since July 2013 and is built on the perceived wisdom that international trade brings long-term growth and prosperity. This has generally been the case since the post-war recovery and is why almost all nations in the world today sign up to World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements on international trade. The focus for TTIP however, is not about tariff reduction, but linked to a neo-liberal de-regulation agenda, and one of the main concerns about the deal is the way it has been built around the interest of large multi-national companies and their access to public sector markets.

The US government and EU Commission aim to negotiate TTIP in two years. It has been described as an ‘assault’ on US and EU society by big business yet despite having such far reaching implications there is very limited information about the deal. Moreover, TTIP could become the template trade deal for future trade negotiations between the EU and China and enforce the trend for a low regulation, low wage, global economy.

Four Key Concerns about TTIP:

•   Lack of transparency – TTIP is being negotiated in secret by the US Government and European Commission. There is restricted access for democratically elected MEPs to any TTIP paperwork whilst many of the large US and EU corporations have been invited to various consultation meetings.
•   The economic benefits of TTIP are exaggerated. Based on a single research report TTIP supporters claim that the deal would create 100,000s of new jobs for workers on both sides of the Atlantic. The EU, however, is instead anticipating up to 1.3 million job losses as a result of labour displacement to the US. The European Commission’s own impact assessment predicts TTIP will have a prolonged and substantial impact on jobs at a time of record unemployment in Europe. UK government research suggests TTIP will result in £3.5b loss to the UK Treasury and that it will take up to a decade before the UK benefits from TTIP.
•   TTIP’s De-regulation agenda will results in lower employment standards, consumer protection, food safety and financial regulation. Historically US trade deals gravitate to weaker US standards and there is a levelling down of consumer, environmental and worker protections. For example, opening up European markets to US ‘frankenstein’ foods (e.g. hormone enriched beef and other GM food stuff) is a major concern for European consumers whilst from a worker perspective the US refusal to ratify core International Labour Rights (ILO) and upholds anti-union legislation in many states (free labour zones).
•   Public Services at Risk. The trade unions are demanding that public services including health (NHS), education, utilities and transport are removed from TTIP and negotiations halted. Moreover, at present TTIP negotiations include the legal mechanisms for multinational companies to gain free access to markets and sue, in secret courts, nation states whose laws or actions are deemed incompatible with free trade. Hence, the UK government may end up paying millions of pounds in compensation to private corporations using the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) to prevent public services like the NHS being held in public ownership rather than private control. TTIP is a gift to multinational corporations and provides unprecedented power and influence over public life.

ERIS Comment:

ERIS is not a pro-European Union organisation and strongly believes in a Europe for working people, working together with other trade unions to secure employment, improved living and working conditions, social dialogue and partnership.

TTIP is not a progressive economic initiative for restoring economic growth rather a political construct built almost exclusively around the needs of large private corporations and business. The ‘levelling’ of the regulatory frameworks around public sector, financial services and labour rights will almost inevitably result in minimum protection for working people. The North America Free-Trade Agreement(NAFTA), is a recent working example a transnational trade deal that has proved unpopular for both workers in the US and Mexico and resulted in a ‘race to the bottom’ for pay, terms and conditions and working rights.

The GMB, TUC and European trade union partners call for an immediate halt to the TTIP negotiations and for all future trade negotiations to be based in the wider public interest. The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), recommend an alternative approach that enshrines higher labour and environmental standards and the banning of dubious business protections like the Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanism.

ERIS would like to thank Bert Schouwenburg, GMB for his clear and fulsome presentation.

To find out more about TTIP visit:

Support the British trade unions campaign – www.nottip.org.uk

GMB in Europe – www.gmb.org.uk/about/gmb-in-europe

TUC – www.tuc.org.uk/international-issues/trade/world-tradetrade-justice

ETUC – http://www.etuc.org