Trade unions in Europe and Latin America have united in demanding real benefits for working people in any future Bi-Regional Association Agreement between the EU and Mercosur. This week, the two blocs will start negotiations on opening market access to each other’s goods, services, investments and public tenders. Earlier talks were halted in 2012 due to disagreements.

Hassan Yussuf and Luca Visentini – President and General Secretary of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) respectively – today signed and issued a joint statement on “what needs to be changed” in CETA – the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The trade unions on both sides of the Atlantic agree that 5 key changes are needed to the CETA text negotiated in secret and “allegedly no longer open for debate”. The 5 changes are:

Brussels, 19 April 2016     JOINT STATEMENT FROM ETUC AND CLC The CETA: where we are at and what needs to be changed   When Canada and Europe set out to negotiate a free trade agreement a few years ago, there were high hopes that this exercise might lead to a new “gold standard” in this area: an agreement that would show it is possible to deepen trade links while maintaining and increasing social, labour and environmental standards.  

Meeting today in Washington, Richard Trumka, President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), together stressed that, from available information, the current negotiations on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are on the wrong course. If this course isn’t corrected, TTIP will fail to create the people and planet-centered agreement needed to benefit the working peoples of the European Union and the United States.

European and Japanese trade unions are demanding that negotiators should work towards an EU-Japan trade deal that protects workers’ rights, creates decent jobs and promotes high social, environmental and health standards. Japan is the EU’s second biggest trading partner in Asia, and together the two blocs account for more than one-third of world GDP, so the stakes are high. 

Members of the European Parliament echo calls from civil society, public service providers and workers to fully exclude public services from trade agreements.

The European Parliament will debate in Plenary on Monday, and vote on Wednesday, on its opinion on TISA – the Trade in Services Agreement. This Agreement has been in negotiations since 2013 with over 20 members of the WTO including the EU, USA, Japan, Mexico and Turkey. The ETUC is not against TISA, which could boost trade and economic activity, but has concerns about the impact on public services and workers’ rights. Key issues for ETUC in the report, and the Agreement are

On the eve of a discussion in the College of European Commissioners on giving ‘Market Economy Status’ to China, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) underlines the risk to European industry and jobs.  “The European Union has clear criteria for market economy status” said ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini “and China clearly does not meet them. What’s more, it would open the EU to unlimited dumping of Chinese goods on our market which would be catastrophic for European manufacturing and jobs.”

China has been a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since 2001 but it is not recognised as a market economy by any of its major trading partners, including the EU and the US. China's WTO Accession Protocol allowed WTO members not to grant “Market Economy Status” (MES) to China for a period up to 11 December 2016. Not applying MES to China allows the EU to use alternative methods for calculating dumping margins (that apply to Non-Market Economies, NMEs, often based on the higher prices applying in third countries).

The ETUC warns that granting Market Economy Status (MES) to China, now, would damage European workers and economies, and it calls on EU Trade Ministers meeting today (27.11.2015) not to take this decision. “Recognising China as a market economy would encourage the unlimited dumping of cheap Chinese imports, with an immediate and devastating impact on a large number of manufacturing sectors in the EU,” stated ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini.

The ETUC has long called for trade deals that work for all, and welcomes the European Commission taking up the same call in its new strategy ‘Trade for All: Towards a more responsible trade and investment policy’. “The Commission promises to promote sustainable development, human rights and good governance in future trade agreements,” said Liina Carr, Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation, “and we look forward to the EU translating those aspirations into reality.”

  Today the controversial EU-US trade and regulatory cooperation deal TTIP took one step forward and one step back . The European Parliament’s vote on TTIP supported some important improvements to the proposed deal, but largely ignored public concern about special legal treatment for foreign investors. The Parliament did support the ETUC’s proposals that  •           UN International Labour Organisation standards – such as the right to join a trade union - be included and enforceable in TTIP

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) calls on MEPs to vote against the amendment on ISDS which proposes to scrap the old ISDS and bring in a new one! ETUC General Secretary Bernadette Ségol said “The amendment still gives foreign investors special legal treatment. There was a public consultation on ISDS, the outcome was 97% of responses against ISDS, but some people in the European institutions seem determined to deliver ISDS for big business regardless of what anyone thinks.”

With the European Parliament set to vote tomorrow on the controversial ‘Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) – which calls for a ‘an EU-US trade deal that works for the people’ – sets out four big questions on what the MEPs will decide. ISDS – Will the Parliament demand no ISDS, or a reformed ISDS? The Parliament’s draft report supports Commissioner Malmström attempts to ‘reform’ ISDS, but amendments to scrap ISDS will be tabled in the Plenary vote. 

The ETUC and RENGO – the European and Japanese Trade Union Confederations - believe that the strategic partnership and free trade agreements being negotiated by Japan and the EU, could stimulate growth and create jobs in the EU and Japan. The trade union confederations are united in demanding that any partnership and/or trade agreement

Discussion points by Tom Jenkins, Chief adviser at the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)   [Check against delivery] The ETUC has three sine qua non conditions on TTIP: No ISDS; a guaranteed protection of public services; and an enforceable labour chapter.  Today’s meeting is dealing with that issue.   Growth and Employment  

In advance of a meeting of European trade ministers the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has called for a fundamental rethink of major trade negotiations with the United States and Canada. On 21 November, the Council is to discuss an agreement with Canada (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA) about which the Commission has announced that the negotiations are concluded, and ongoing negotiations with the US (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP). The ETUC has made clear that it opposed the CETA because:

Bernadette Ségol, the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), will be the only trade unionist – and the only critical voice - to address an Italian Presidency and Italian Ministry of Economic Development ‘Dialogue on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’ today in Rome.

The European trade union movement will urge the European Parliament and national Governments to reject the EU-Canada Trade Agreement, which may be signed tomorrow at the EU-Canada Summit in Ottowa, unless it is changed. In a letter to the Canadian Ambassador to the EU, the European Trade Union Confederation outlines three major concerns

Today European trade unions’ concerns about the proposed EU-US Transatlantic trade deal (TTIP) were explained to the US Ambassador to the EU, Anthony L. Gardner, by Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The conversation concentrated on ISDS and respect of labour standards. The General Secretary confirmed that the ETUC welcomes closer trade relations with the USA that are effectively regulated, guaranteeing labour, democratic and environmental standards. She underlined in particular that:

Ahead of EU-US trade negotiations the American and European trade unions – AFL-CIO and ETUC  have issued a Declaration of Joint Principles.

Is the European Commission willing to back down on awarding benefits to US companies which are not given to EU companies? That’s the question put by the European Trade Union Confederation as the European Commission closes its consultation on the controversial investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS), one of the most contested aspects of the EU-US trade negotiations.    

Joint video interview on TTIP by Bernadette Ségol, ETUC General Secretary & Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President

The EU-Canada trade agreement – which may be concluded on May 8 at the Foreign Affairs Council – should not be used as a ‘Trojan horse’ to smuggle in a controversial Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) warned the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). “This looks like a cynical attempt to create a fait accompli for the EU-US trade talks” said Bernadette Ségol, General Secretary of the ETUC “and to undermine opposition to ISDS.”