CTU President concerned at direction of US-New Zealand Council meeting in Christchurch

NZCTU President Helen Kelly says she is concerned at the direction the US-New Zealand Council is taking over the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations in its meeting in Christchurch over the weekend. She is a member of the Council and has attended several meetings, including one in Washington, over the last two years. She has decided not to attend the Christchurch meeting.

She is also calling for the Council to support greater openness in the Transpacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations, including releasing drafts of the agreement for public scrutiny.

Helen Kelly said: “The focus of the meeting will be the negotiations over the TPPA. As the Council now acknowledges, there is growing concern in New Zealand at the implications of this agreement. The Council should not continue to act as cheerleader for the TPPA and begin to reflect the genuine concerns of unions and many other New Zealanders. The meeting is very one-sided, with an overwhelming business focus while failing to reflect the richness of the relationship between New Zealanders and the people of the US, and the potential dangers in the proposed agreement.”

As one immediate example Kelly said the Council could take up the increasing call by many in New Zealand and internationally for openness in the negotiations. “This call is supported by the Greens and, in an announcement this morning, by the Labour Party. Openness should include regular releases of draft chapters of the agreement for public scrutiny well before it is signed and sealed.”

“Part of the relationship with the US is the CTU’s cooperation with the US union movement’s main union centre, the AFL-CIO, along with union centres in most of the countries negotiating the TPPA.”

The Council's insensitivity is heightened by its choice of sponsors for the meeting. They include Warner Brothers, a company that ruthlessly used the Hobbit production to insist on changes to New Zealand’s employment law that strip New Zealand workers in the film industry of their basic work rights, Kelly said.

She concluded: “This raises our concern that the TPPA will provide further levers for overseas investors to undermine New Zealand's social and labour standards, and reduce the power of the government to change laws in the interests of New Zealanders rather than investors.”

For further information contact:
 
Helen Kelly, President, CTU
04 802 3812 / 021 776 741