Neo-liberal charter will threaten jobs, workers’ rights and consumer safety
October 20th: Unite Regional Secretary Jimmy Kelly today called on the Irish Government to confirm whether it has urged that “new momentum” be injected into the TTIP talks, which Mr Kelly branded a ‘neo-liberal charter’ which will cost thousands of Irish jobs, is being negotiated behind closed doors and will undermine our democracy through unaccountable investment court procedures.
Mr Kelly’s remarks follow the leaking of minutes of the EU Trade Policy Committee meeting on July 24th which discussed the 10th round of EU-US negotiations on TTIP. The 11th round is currently taking place.
“According to the leaked document, published on the German news website Correktiv, Ireland expressed concern at the slow progress of the negotiations and called for “new momentum”.
“It is symptomatic of the secrecy surrounding TTIP that we need to rely on leaked documents to discover the position being taken by Irish representatives in our name.
“We do know that these closed-door negotiations – which the Irish Government is seeking to expedite – will cost thousands of Irish jobs, not least in the food and agribusiness sector; will incorporate unaccountable ‘investment court procedures’; and will impact on the ability of the EU and member states to regulate on matters such as labour rights and food safety among many others.
“TTIP is nothing less than a neo-liberal charter which will put at risk Irish jobs, workers’ rights and consumer safety. I am calling on the Government to confirm whether it is in fact seeking ‘new momentum’ in these talks, as detailed in the leaked minutes, and I am calling on the Labour Party to state whether the Government is in agreement on this issue ”, Mr Kelly concluded.
