Transnational Corporations

Global Civil Society letter on the Nairobi Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO), December 9, 2015

9 December, 2015
As members of 453 civil society organizations including trade unions, environmentalists, farmers, development advocates, and public interest groups from over 150 countries, we are writing today to express extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO. We urge you to take seriously the need for the upcoming Nairobi Ministerial to change existing WTO rules to make the global trading system more compatible with people-centered development, and to forestall efforts by some developed countries to abandon the development agenda and replace it with a set of so-called “new issues” that actually are non-trade issues that would impact deeply on domestic economies and constrain national policy space required for development and public interest.

CUPE delegates in Colombia to oppose secret TISA deal

13 July, 2015
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
The Frontlines Initiative is a joint project of four national public sector unions - the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) - which joins forces with sister unions in Colombia to fight against the privatization of public services and to strengthen each other’s struggles to defend human and labour rights. The delegation in Colombia received an important briefing on the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), a proposed international trade treaty that, if ratified, will put public services in Colombia, Canada and 48 other countries at extreme risk.

Time to wave the white flag on TISA secrecy - Prof. Jane Kelsey, July 2, 2015

2 July, 2015
Scoop.co.nz
Today, Wikileaks has posted recent texts from April and May 2015, including the proposed core text and annexes on domestic regulation and transparency, and provided expert analysis of those texts (wikileaks.org/tisa/).

Just Before Round of Negotiations on the Proposed “Trade in Services Agreement (TISA),” Wikileaks Releases Second Set of Updated Secret Documents

2 July, 2015
Today, Wikileaks released a second batch of the most updated draft texts on the proposed TISA, along with substantive analysis, on each of four cross-cutting annexes: Financial Services, Telecommunications, Electronic Commerce, and Maritime Transport. This follows on their release yesterday of texts on Domestic Regulation, the “Movement of Natural Persons,” Transparency, and Government Procurement, along with what WikiLeaks called the journalistic holy grail: the TISA’s Core Text.

Wikileaks Releases Updated Secret TISA Documents Just Before Negotiations - The Huffington Post, July 2, 2015

2 July, 2015
The Huffington Post
Today, Wikileaks released a second batch of the most updated draft texts on the proposed TISA, along with substantive analysis, on each of four massive services sectors: Financial Services, Telecommunications Services, Electronic Commerce, and Maritime Transport. This follows on their release yesterday of cross-cutting annexes on Domestic Regulation, the "Movement of Natural Persons," Transparency, and Government Procurement, and the Agenda for next week's negotiations, along with what Wikileaks called the journalistic holy grail: the Core Text of the proposed agreement.

TiSA WikiLeaked: Winners & losers of multinational trade deal - RT

2 July, 2015
Russia Today
WikiLeaks has published secret “core text” related to the controversial trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors between the US, EU and 23 other countries. Big corporations look to be the biggest winners in the deal.

LEAKED: How the Biggest Banks Are Conspiring to Rip Up Financial Regulations around the World

2 July, 2015
Wolf Street
It’s almost impossible to keep anything secret these days – not even the core text of a hyper-secret trade deal, the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), which has spent the last two years taking shape behind the hermetically sealed doors of highly secure locations around the world. According to the agreement’s provisional text, the document is supposed to remain confidential and concealed from public view for at least five years after being signed! But now, thanks to WikiLeaks, it has seeped to the surface.

TISA Exposed: 'Holy Grail' of Leaks Reveals Detailed Plot for Corporate Takeover

1 July, 2015
Common Dreams
Days ahead of another round of secret international negotiations, WikiLeaks on Wednesday released what it described as "a modern journalistic holy grail: the secret Core Text for the largest 'trade deal' in history." Fifty-two-nation Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) uses trade regulations 'as a smokescreen to limit citizen rights,' says labor leader

Wikileaks Releases Updated Secret Documents on TISA - OWINFS Press Release, July 1, 2015

1 July, 2015
Today, Wikileaks released the most updated draft texts on the proposed TISA, along with substantive analysis, on each of four cross-cutting annexes: Domestic Regulation, the “Movement of Natural Persons,” Transparency, and a previously-unreleased annex on Government Procurement. In addition they released the Core Text with accompanying analysis and the agenda for the negotiations next week. The negotiating texts are supposed to remain secret for five years after the deal is finalized or abandoned.

WikiLeaks Exclusive: Secret core text from Trade in Services Agreement negotiations

1 July, 2015
The Saturday Paper
Leaked negotiations from a key trade deal show radical plans to deregulate services in Australia, including aged care and childcare.

New TISA leaks confirm PSI concerns on deregulation and secrecy: Public Services International (PSI), July 1, 2015

1 July, 2015
Public Services International (PSI)
PSI, 1 July 2015 – Yet another series of leaks confirm PSI’s repeated concerns on the restriction of governments’ right to regulate in the public interest as well as underlining the lack of transparency surrounding the Trade In Service Agreement (TISA) negotiations.

Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Press release by Wikileaks, July 1, 2015

1 July, 2015
Wikileaks
Today, 1500 CEST Wednesday, 1 July 2015, WikiLeaks releases a modern journalistic holy grail: the secret Core Text for the largest 'trade deal' in history, the TiSA (Trade In Services Agreement), whose 52 nations together comprise two-thirds of global GDP.

Massive leak of TISA trade documents “highlights madness of secrecy”: PSI

3 June, 2015
Public Services International
The largest ever leak of negotiating documents from the controversial Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) highlights the madness of secrecy and provides no comfort for users of public services.

Trade in Services Agreement - Press release of Wikileaks

3 June, 2015
Wikileaks
WikiLeaks releases today 17 secret documents from the ongoing TISA (Trade In Services Agreement) negotiations which cover the United States, the European Union and 23 other countries including Turkey, Mexico, Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Taiwan & Israel -- which together comprise two-thirds of global GDP.

Event at WTO Public Forum 2014: Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA)

1 October, 2014
The OWINFS network organized an event "Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA): Emerging Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainable Development" at the WTO Public Forum 2014 on 1 October 2014.

PSI and OWINFS Releases a Special Report on Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)

15 September, 2014
Public Services International (PSI)
On the occasion of Global Trade Summit convened by PSI and it's affiliates in Washington, D.C., on 15-17 September 2014, PSI and Our World is not For Sale (OWINFS) launched a new Special Report by Ellen Gould entitled "The Really Good Friends of Transnational Corporations Agreement" on the first day of the Global Summit. The report was launched with the objective to overcome the secrecy and complexity surrounding the negotiations on trade in services agreement (TISA) and bring it into the public sphere for a democratic debate.

TiSA: The threat to public services by the backdoor

11 September, 2014
Confédération Européenne des Syndicats Indépendants (CESI)
Following a hearing on TTIP in the Luxemburgish Parliament, CESI President Romain Wolff sees TTIP as a distraction to another important trade agreement, the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). Here, Mr Wolff warns of a threat to public services by the back door.

Why International “Trade in Services Agreement” (TISA) is Dangerous to Democracy, Development, and the Public Interest, and Must Be Stopped!

14 June, 2014
A memo on International “Trade in Services Agreement” (TISA) that provides details as to why this proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services is dangerous to democracy, development, and the public interest, and must be stopped!

International Civil Society Sends Letter to Governments Opposing Proposed “Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)”

16 September, 2013
Today, as governments meet in Geneva to negotiate a proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), 341 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people from nearly every developing and developed country, called on governments to abandon the talks. Among the endorsers were 42 major international and regional networks such as Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union, the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), the IndustriALL Global Union, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF), and the ATTAC European network. The letter was organized by the OWINFS network.

Global civil society says no to binding rules on Trade Facilitation in WTO, FTAs and EPAs

6 June, 2013
Global civil society organizations, representing hundreds of millions of members across the globe, urge WTO members to abandon the negotiations towards a binding agreement on Trade Facilitation in advance of the upcoming 9th Ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Bali. Further they call upon governments not to promote binding rules on Trade Facilitation either inside the WTO through the proposed Trade Facilitation (TF) agreement, nor through other avenues such as bilateral or regional Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) or Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).