[CTC_TRADE] Reps. Ryan and Michaud -- China Currency Letter

[Citizens Trade Campaign]

LABOR DECLARATION ON THE NEGOTIATION OF

THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP TRADE AGREEMENT

March 15, 2010

 

On March 15, 2010, the governments of Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile,
New

Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States of America and Vietnam will
commence

negotiations for a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement
(TPPTA). The

undersigned unions are not opposed in principle to trade agreements. As
always,

however, the agreement will not have our support unless it is well balanced,
foments the

creation of good jobs, protects the rights and interests of working people,
leads to longterm,

balanced economic development and promotes a healthy environment. We set out

below what that means in practice. Throughout the negotiations, we urge
negotiators to

adopt a jobs lens, which asks how decisions at the negotiating table
contribute to a

coordinated strategy for the promotion of high-quality jobs and sustainable
economic

development among TPPTA member countries. It is time for a new trade
framework that

will make a positive difference in the lives of working people. We cannot
afford another

trade agreement that privileges substantial new opportunities for investors
over good jobs

for workers. Further, to work well, trade agreements must also be fairly and
consistently

enforced.

 

This declaration outlines the substantive and procedural principles for the
negotiations,

which if respected, will result in an agreement that may benefit us all.

 

PROCESS

 

1. A Single, High-Standard, Fair Trade Agreement

For many, the TPPTA represents the second or third potential trade agreement
with

another party to the negotiations - all of which failed to meet our
aspirations. We believe

that the only way to truly bring trade policy into the 21st century is for
the TPPTA to

supersede the existing agreements to the maximum extent possible, bringing
them up to

the highest standards. Of course, we realize that individual countries,
especially

developing countries, may pose unique challenges that may call for some
variation in the

text from country to country. However, we believe the core principles should
be

common to all.

2. Transparency and Civil Society Participation:

In the past, civil society organizations have been excluded from any
meaningful

participation in trade agreement negotiations. This is unacceptable and must
be remedied

this time around. All the participating governments must conduct regular and
meaningful

consultations with their respective civil societies throughout the
negotiations - both

during and between negotiating rounds. Further, draft texts, proposals and
requests

should be made available for public review and comment. Without access to
such

information, informed participation in the negotiating process is
impossible. Finally, the

2

respective legislatures must have an opportunity to conduct full and open
hearings and to

amend the agreement.

SUBSTANCE

1. Worker Rights

Labor rights are an essential component of trade. Workers who are able to
exercise their

fundamental labor rights are empowered to bargain collectively for better
wages and

working conditions, ensuring that the benefits of trade accrue not only to
capital but also

to labor. Unfortunately, most of the agreements among the proposed TPPTA
parties

contain either no labor provisions or very weak ones. The TPPTA must at a
minimum

require that each party adopt and maintain laws and regulations consistent
with the

International Labor Organization (ILO) core labor rights and effectively
enforce those

rights, as well as all domestic laws with regard to wages, hours of work and
safety and

health. Further, parties must commit not to derogate from these laws. A
violation of

these and other labor obligations should be subject to effective dispute
resolution

procedures with strong remedies up to and including trade sanctions should
more

cooperative efforts fail. The monitoring of these provisions should include
workers' and

employers' representatives, and the agencies responsible for enforcement
must be

adequately resourced.

Further, as labor laws of each of the potential TPPTA parties fall short, to
varying

degrees, of the core labor rights, we urge governments to initiate
immediately a process,

together with workers and employers representatives, to identify ways in
which to bring

labor laws into compliance with those international minimum standards. Those
efforts

should be concluded in tandem with completion of any TPPTA.

2. Investment

Most current trade agreements contain investment provisions that allow
foreign investors

to claim substantive and procedural rights above and beyond those that
domestic

investors enjoy. Further, flawed investor-to-state dispute resolution
mechanisms contain

none of the controls, such as an exhaustion of remedies requirement or a
standing

appellate mechanism that could limit abuse of this private right of action.
Under certain

existing investment chapters, investors have used the rules on
expropriations and the

minimum standard of treatment to challenge environmental laws and public
health and

safety protections, among others. Together, these and other investment
provisions may

provide foreign investors greater rights than the rights available to
domestic investors in

their own legal systems. The TPPTA should not include an investor-to-state
dispute

resolution mechanism, nor should the rules allow for challenges to
legitimate public

interest regulations. Foreign investors simply must not be given any greater
rights than

those enjoyed by domestic investors.

3

3. Services

Except for the very limited situation in which no private providers compete
with a

government provided service, any public service can be subject to the rules
of a trade

agreement. This allows parties to challenge domestic policies that protect
governmental

services if they believe these policies put private providers at a
competitive disadvantage

- even where government involvement is necessary to guarantee access to
essential

services in areas such as health care, education, and utilities. Services
rules also penalize

governments that reverse privatizations, even if such privatizations have
lowered service

quality or have led to less public accountability and access.

The TPPTA must include a broad, explicit carve-out for essential public
services,

including education, employment services, health care, post, sanitation,
social services,

transport and utilities. Public services should be excluded regardless of
whether or not

the public provider competes with private providers. In addition,
governments must

retain their ability to regulate foreign service providers in order to enact
and enforce

certification and licensing standards, consumer protections, and other
public interest

laws. We also urge that the negotiations proceed on a positive list
approach.

Further, we are concerned that existing trade agreements contain ambiguous
language

that may constrain the ability of governments to adopt prudential financial
regulations,

including structural separation between commercial and proprietary trading
banking

institutions. We urge negotiators to make absolutely clear that efforts by a
country to

prudentially regulate its financial sector will not run afoul of financial
services rules.

4. Environment

Protection of the environment is a critical trade policy objective. Trade
rules should

require full compliance with an agreed-upon set of multilateral
environmental

agreements, with effective sanctions for non-compliance. At the same time,
the

agreement must ensure that other rules, such as investment rules on
expropriation, do not

jeopardize efforts to enact and enforce environmental laws and regulations.

5. Procurement

Often, governments use procurement policy in furtherance of important public
policy

aims such as local economic development and job creation. Governments have
also

conditioned procurement to promote environmental and social goals.
Governments

should ensure that the procurement chapter does not constrain the ability of
central,

regional or local governments and authorities to carry out these objectives.

6. Intellectual Property and Health

Intellectual property rules and other provisions in trade agreements have
been used to

weaken the ability of governments to supply medicines to their citizens at
an affordable

4

cost. We oppose any government efforts in the context of the TPPTA to
negotiate

language that would reduce access to affordable medicines.

7. Consumer Protection

Our domestic consumer safety and trade policies must be crafted to prevent
tainted or

defective products from reaching our shores and, subsequently, our shelves.
Such goods

present a serious threat to the general public. Thus, the agreement should
include

language that would further facilitate cross-border food and consumer and
industrial

product safety inspections by, for example, giving safety inspectors of a
TPPTA member

enhanced rights to inspect the facilities of another member. The TPPTA
should also

include language requiring country of origin labeling, which would clearly
identify the

origin of food and consumer goods, as well as labeling of GMO-containing
goods.

8. Market Access

In many previous trade agreements, tariff reductions have not resulted in
new access.

We urge negotiators to pay particular attention, and give particular
emphasis, to ensuring

that any market access expected from the agreement is actually achieved.
Effective

market access depends on addressing both tariff and non-tariff measures,
though we

recognize that non-tariff measures to protect health, public safety and the
environment

serve an important purpose if fairly applied. Further, while taking into
account the

complexity of the global supply chain, the rules of origin should be
negotiated such that

the signatories are the primary beneficiaries of any new market access.

9. Trade Remedies

The TPPTA should not in any way weaken trade remedy and safeguard
mechanisms.

10. Competition Policy

We are greatly concerned that the current competition chapter of the P-4
agreement could

compromise the right of governments to provide services on a privileged or
monopoly

basis, and to support economic development. We oppose any move to make the
P-4

language with regard to public services enforceable in the TPPTA and urge
greater

protection for public services and economic development.

11. Temporary Movement of People

We do not believe that a trade agreement is the proper instrument to make
commitments

on the temporary movement of people.

12. Beneficiaries

Negotiators should ensure that countries not party to the agreement cannot
gain its

benefits.

5

The unions that are signatory to this Labor Declaration have a broad range
of interests not

limited to those mentioned above. We reserve the right to raise other issues
jointly or

individually, and expect to be consulted on developments in the negotiations
as they

arise.

Signed,

Sharan Burrow, President

Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)

Helen Kelly, President

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU)

John De Payva, President

National Trade Union Congress (NTUC)-Singapore

Richard L. Trumka, President

American Federation of Labor &

Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)

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