Nick G.
Yet another secret trade agreement is being negotiated.
Australians now know of some of the content of the secret
Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, but thanks only to the whistle-blowing
efforts of WikiLeaks.
Now Public Services International, a French-based global
trade union federation operating in 150 countries, has called for opposition to
the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).
It describes the TISA as “currently being negotiated in
secret and outside of the World Trade Organisation rules…a deliberate attempt
to privilege the profits of the richest corporations and countries in the world
over those who have the greatest needs.”
“The TISA will prevent governments from returning public
services to public hands when privatisations fail, restrict domestic
regulations on worker safety, limit environmental regulations and consumer
protections and regulatory authority in areas such as licensing of health care
facilities, power plants, waste disposal and university and school
accreditation.”
The negotiating countries are a self-selected group of
neo-liberal adherents including the US, the European Union, Australia, New
Zealand, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Colombia and Peru.
China has asked to join the talks but this has so far
been obstructed by US demands that it meet certain preconditions including a
very strong commitment to deregulation of a range of services.
While the TISA would require all signatories to open
their service delivery sectors to competition from corporate monopolies
unrestricted by domestic regulations, there are no requirements on labour
standards. Indeed, it would be required
of participating countries that there be a free flow of labour between
countries, and that any measures such as labour market tests, designed to show
that there is a genuine shortage of suitably trained local workers, would be
abolished.
Not all countries are enamoured of US demands to open the
world to its unrestricted exploitation.
On April 21, Brazil adopted an “Internet Bill of Rights”
to protect itself from measures likely to be adopted through TISA on the
liberalisation of Internet services designed to benefit the industry’s major
players, including Facebook and Google, all of which are US corporations.
The Brazilian Bill guarantees net neutrality, regulates
government surveillance on the Internet, and places limits on the data
companies can collect from Brazilian customers.
Likewise, countries such as Argentina, Canada, France,
Tanzania and Malaysia have seen local or national governments exercising
“remunicipalisation” rights in which a previously privatised public service is
transferred back to the public sector.
So, on the one hand, imperialist corporations are pushing
to open public services as areas for the investment of surplus capital, and on
the other, peoples and communities are fighting back.
No doubt, the federal government Review of Competition
Policy, to be delivered shortly, will take the side of the imperialists and
contain a number of measures designed to complement the TISA.
Unions and community organisations must take up this
challenge to our lifestyles and communities and unite the many to defeat the
imperialists and their local servants.
Further reading:
http://speciali.espresso.repubblica.it/pdf/wikiLeaks-secret-tisa-financial-annex.pdf
Australian education unions unite to oppose TISA: http://www.nteu.org.au/degreemortgage/article/Joint-Media-Release%3A-Education-unions-call-on-the-Australian-Government-to-protect-public-education-in-trade-negotiations-17608#.VVCZqLEVsrc.email
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