On the very same day the French government asked the EU to withdraw from
the TTIP negotiations, two PSI partners in the struggle against TiSA, Attac
Norway and Global Justice Now, launched the campaign briefing “A blueprint for
global privatisation – Why we need to stop the Trade in Services
Agreement".
The document which
reminds TiSA could be even a greater threat to public services than TTIP -
as unlike most trade deals it is about services, not goods - adds to
publications like TISA
versus Public Services and The
Really Good Friends of Transnational Corporations Agreement,
released by PSI in 2014.
The briefing PSI
is pleased to promote warns that TiSA "has serious consequences for things
that have little to do with trade, affecting areas like labour
rights, banking regulation and whether public services
like electricity and water are run for the benefit of the people or
by profit-making multinational companies”.
TISA is fast
becoming a mainstream issue thanks to PSI and its allies' work. Last week, both
PSI and Global Justice Now were quoted in The Independent in an article
titled "The
new TTIP? Meet TISA, the 'secret privatisation pact that poses a threat to
democracy'".
"The TiSA negotiations were held behind closed doors for about 18
months until they were publicly revealed by the global trade union group Public
Services International (PSI)", the article says.
This follows a
growing number of media outlets giving coverage to PSI’s concerns. In 2014 and
2015, The
Guardian and La
Jornada echoed PSI's worries about the way TISA would
undermine citizens online privacy and, in advance of COP-21, PSI's major
concerns about the way TISA would undermine efforts to
tackle climate change received coverage also from L'Espresso.
PSI and its
allies' preoccupations about
the effects of TISA on privatisation of public services were
also recently in the news.
The new brief
calls attention to the fact that TiSA “is not so much about trade, but about
allowing multinationals to provide services across borders”, since, for
example, “you cannot really transport a hairdressing appointment across the
Atlantic Ocean, though you can transport a hairdresser (which is one of the
ways TiSA deals with trade in services)”.
In short,
continues the briefing, “much of the danger in TiSA lies in the fact that it
turns many public services into commodities to be run for the benefit of
business, rather than in the interest of people who need services like
electricity, healthcare and transport”.
According to the
brief the five main concerns about TiSA are:
·
It could lock in privatisation of public services. TISA
contains mechanisms, such as ‘ratchet’and ‘standstill’ clauses, that make it
much harder to reverse privatisations and will allow greater market access
for foreign companies;
·
It will be terrible for the climate. TISA entrenches
the idea of technological neutrality on energy policy. This could stop
countries favouring renewables over coal, oil and gas;
·
It will mean more casino capitalism. TISA will
undermine efforts to regulate the financial sector and avoid another
crisis;
·
It threatens online privacy. TISA promises to
hand much more power to the likes of Google and Microsoft to move personal
data across borders to countries with lax data protection laws;
·
It will be especially damaging to countries in the global south. TISA
includes countries like Pakistan that could be hindered in developing public
services. It also poses a threat to countries outside TISA, because, once
approved, rich countries will seek to impose TISA-style measures globally
through the WTO.
Public Services International is a global trade union federation representing 20 million working women and men who deliver vital public services in 150 countries. PSI champions human rights, advocates for social justice and promotes universal access to quality public services. PSI works with the United Nations system and in partnership with labour, civil society and other organisations.
