Protecting workers’ rights in trade deals is essential to ensure trade is fair. If trade deals don’t contain effective protections for workers’ rights, they just make it easier for companies to locate themselves in countries where wages are lower and workers are less able to resist…Read more…
Future economies: what next for globalisation and trade?
Last week I was invited to the British-German Forum – a symposium for young people from both countries – at Wilton Park, an agency of the FCO, to talk with my colleague Jan Stern from the German trade union confederation the DGB, about the issues facing globalisation. Here’s an…Read more…
Is #Brexit Britain at the front of the queue for a US trade deal, or the end of the line?
When Prime Minister Theresa May visited newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump in January, Brexit supporters were cock-a-hoop about how post-Brexit Britain would be at the front of the queue for a trade deal with the US Trade Representative (USTR – not that there was one when Mrs…Read more…
Free trade: what would it take to get union backing?
Today I was asked to give a speech at the Foreign Office by Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade, about free trade. This is an edited version of my remarks. The debate over free trade is a timely one, given that those who advocate prote…Read more…
First European Parliament NO vote to CETA from the employment committee
Yesterday the Employment and Social Affairs committee of the European Parliament voted to reject the notorious EU-Canada (CETA) trade deal because of the negative impact it would have on workers. While this vote was not binding – the vote on whether to accept the deal will ultimately be made in the…Read more…
CETA is not dead yet, UNISON warns
With the EU-Canada trade deal in limbo, the union calls for full parliamentary scrutiny of all post-Brexit trade agreeements
The article CETA is not dead yet, UNISON warns first appeared on the…Read more…
Why trade agreements are bad for our health
Our understanding of trade deals is limited because they have largely been a matter for the EU. Post-Brexit, we should be concerned about what’s happening in Europe, as well as what sort of trade…Read more…
Trade deals still on the Brussels agenda – we say no!
Despite the Prime Minister’s mantra that “Brexit means Brexit”, the UK is still engaged in negotiating so-called trade deals as part of the EU, so yesterday, the TUC sent a small…Read more…
CETA: why TTIP’s death is being exaggerated
The UK media this weekend has reported the death of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the EU-US so-called trade deal which – as Buzzfeed reported this week – would legalise corporate malfeasance and profiteering by including a discredited Investor State Dispute…Read more…
Prentis seeks top-level Brexit meetings with government
UNISON’s general secretary wants to ensure ‘the best possible outcomes’ for members
The article Prentis seeks top-level Brexit meetings with government first appeared on the UNISON National site.Read more…
Unite Policy Conference 2016 – Tuesday’s business
The biggest debate of the day was around local government cuts. An Executive Statement strengthened Unite’s policy, but didn’t go as far as the motions which fell as a result of it passing.
Composite 1 (Motions 1 & 2): Campaigning Against Privatis…Read more…
23 June: five key questions on the EU referendum
When you’re considering how to vote in the EU referendum later this month, here are five key points to have in mind
The article 23 June: five key questions on the EU referendum first appeared on the…Read more…
Jeremy Corbyn has adopted a different and welcome tone in the EU debate
Like UNISON, Jeremy Corbyn has long-standing criticisms of the European Union, but also appreciates what membership provides for the British people – especially in terms of workplace rights,…Read more…
EU launches consultation on social impact of TTIP
Last week, the European Commission launched a consultation on its latest ‘Sustainability Impact Assessment’ report of the EU-US trade deal known as TTIP. Beneath this rather technical title lies an important opportunity for campaigners to call for TTIP negotiations to dramatically change direction…Read more…
Leaked treaty texts confirm TTIP threatens democracy
TTIP would undermine the ability of governments to promote health and safety and protect the environment against corporate depredation…Read more…
Brexit won’t save us from #TTIP: Our own government are part of the problem
A common argument from the Vote Leave camp in the upcoming EU referendum is that Brexit could save us from the many negative impacts of the EU-US TTIP trade deal. But unfortunately there isn’t a quick way out. The truth is that outside the EU we would be facing the prospect of even worse…Read more…
#TTIPleaks show the UK government is actively choosing not to protect NHS and public services
Some have been using the Greenpeace leaks of negotiating texts from the EU-US trade deal known as TTIP to claim Britain should leave the EU to escape damaging trade rules being imposed on us by shady Brussels negotiators. But disturbingly, what they actually show (adding to evidence we had from…Read more…
#ISDS: Government position shows ideology trumps evidence
We’re often told that Governments are committed to ‘evidence-based policy making’, although it often seems that it’s the other way round. Now we see, starkly revealed, how far the UK government’s trade policy is based far more on ideology than evidence. A Freedom of…Read more…
Rhondda Cynon Taf becomes latest council to condemn TTIP
UNISON congratulates south Wales council on adopting motion condemning secretary trade deal
The article Rhondda Cynon Taf becomes latest council to condemn TTIP first appeared on the UNISON site.Read more…
Clinton & Sanders show the way on ‘trade’ agreements
While the current Democratic President of the USA, Barack Obama, tours Europe to raise support for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the two candidates scrapping to be his successor back home are setting out markedly different …Read more…