Public Services
International (PSI) has published a new Special Report by Ellen Gould entitled The
Really Good Friends of Transnational Corporations Agreement. The
report was commissioned by PSI and Our World is Not for Sale (OWINFS).
The report was
launched at a Global Trade Summit in
Washington, D.C., 15-17 September 2014, trade union leaders and partners
met to discuss the new threats posed to workers, public services, democracy and
our communities by trade and investment agreements.
Highly secretive
talks began in 2012 to establish a new trade agreement, the Trade in Services
Agreement (TISA). The group of countries negotiating TISA have given themselves
an insider joke for a name: the 'Really Good Friends of Services', to signal
how truly committed they are to promoting the interests of services
corporations. But there is nothing funny about the sweeping, permanent
restrictions on public services and regulation that could be the impact of
their work.
Eliminating
government's role in the delivery of services, getting rid of regulations, and
allowing transnational corporations free rein sounds like the platform of a
libertarian political party, a radical agenda that should be debated in public
and that voters should have a say over at the ballot box. Instead, the Really
Good Friends of Services have imposed unprecedented levels of secrecy on their
negotiations, suppressing the public's ability to discuss the serious issues at
stake. The positions TISA governments take at the bargaining table - how much
they push privatisation and deregulation, whether they make concessions in
sensitive areas like health, education, culture, water supply, and banking
regulation - will not be made public until five years after the
agreement comes into force.
This extreme
secrecy seems designed so that trade officials can negotiate without regard to
domestic concerns and to relieve politicians of any accountability for their
role in creating TISA. This report focuses on how TISA could be used to
accomplish their deregulatory agenda. It is meant to complement the study 'TISA
versus Public Services' that examines how TISA would foster
privatisation.
The objective of The
Really Good Friends of Transnational Corporations Agreement is to
help overcome the secrecy and complexity surrounding the TISA negotiations in
order to bring the agreement into the public sphere for democratic debate.
The report is
available in English and will shortly be published in French, German and
Spanish.
For more
information about how PSI is campaigning against trade in public services,
contact daniel.bertossa@world-psi.org
PSI media release
