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The hidden threat of the TTIP deal
JOHN HILARY of War on Want raises the alarm on the secret EU-US negotiations that threaten jobs, the NHS and democracy itself

The government’s austerity programme is the primary focus of political movements up and down the country, and rightly so.

As a founding member of the People’s Assembly, War on Want will be proudly taking its place in the national demonstration on June 21.

But the austerity programme is not the only mechanism being used to restore the neoliberal capitalist programme and turn the pain of economic crisis onto ordinary people.

  • Under its “investor-state” dispute settlement mechanism, TTIP will give corporate investors new powers to bypass domestic courts and sue national governments before international tribunals for loss of profits caused by national policy decisions — just as Veolia is already using a similar mechanism to sue the Egyptian government for raising the minimum wage.
  • TTIP aims to remove regulatory “barriers” to US corporations seeking to trade across the Atlantic — including crucial labour standards, environmental regulations and food safety standards such as the ban on GMOs and hormone-injected beef.
  • TTIP will lead to a new wave of liberalisation of public services and government procurement contracts. The European Commission has confirmed that health services, including the NHS, are included within the TTIP negotiations — and once privatised it will be near impossible under TTIP to take such services back under public control.
  • July 8, Birmingham, Carrs Lane Centre
  • July 9, Manchester — NW Unison Regional Centre
  • July 10, London — NUT, Hamilton House The events (full details of which are below) will feature speakers from the vibrant anti-TTIP movement in the US and continental Europe, where trade unions have already joined environmental activists and campaign groups to demand an end to the TTIP negotiations.
  • Full details of the speakers’ tour to Birmingham, Manchester and London plus the national day of action against TTIP are available from www.waronwant.org/news/events/18143-no-ttip-national-tour-a-day-of-action
  • An introductory guide to TTIP (plus link to versions in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Greek) is available at www.waronwant.org/campaigns/trade-justice/more/inform/18078-what-is-ttip
  • You can view an open letter from GMB, Unison, UCU, NUT, War on Want, WDM, Friends of the Earth and People & Planet calling for an end to TTIP negotiations here: www.gmb.org.uk/newsroom/halt-eu-us-trade-deal-talks
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