(26 March 2015) Water activists and trade unionists from across Europe joined a demonstration in Brussels on 23 March, the day after World Water Day, to highlight the European Commission’s failure to act on the Right to Water European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). It is now already a year since the Commission published its response to the ECI and the European Parliament is now discussing its position on the ECI and its reaction to the Commission’s proposals. This was an excellent moment for EPSU, together with the European Water Movement, to make very clear that our demands are alive and kicking. Our demonstrations outside the European Parliament and European Commission were joined by several MEPs. We are grateful to the Belgian colleagues and the many union members and others from Germany, Greece, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain who supported the action. This active cooperation between trade unions and local water activists makes for a strong movement for public water both in Europe and beyond. PSI, the global public services federation, is joining local struggles of unions across the world to make the case for public water and against public-private partnerships (PPPs), the risks of which were outlined in its new report.
EPSU has also been working in the corridors of Brussels institutions this week, again part of a broad alliance but this time on the issue of tax justice. The group, including EPSU staff, had several meetings with members of the cabinets of Commissioners, including finance commissioner Pierre Moscovici as well as Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and a number of MEPs. We outlined the case against austerity which has an impact on workers in tax administrations while at the same time tax dodgers like McDonalds are slashing their tax bills through complicated schemes that need resources and qualified staff to investigate. Our message is slowly getting through.
However, the scale of the challenge is demonstrated by the treatment of the Greek government. It continues to point out how austerity has been hitting the poor and how depriving Greek public services of resources has meant that the corporate and political elites escape paying their fair contribution to society to finance infrastructure, public services and social protection.
The Greek situation is the most urgent but the arguments can be made across Europe and I was part of the ETUC delegation that called for public investment, including in health and social services and which met with Commission President Juncker and the European Council President Donald Tusk in the Tripartite Social Summit. Our message was underpinned by the economists who contributed to the seminar on 20 March organised by the European Trade Union Institute along with EPSU and other European trade union federations and also by the activists in the broad coalition that blocked the celebrations of the opening of the new office of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt. Our ECB trade union colleagues unveiled a banner in the main hall of the Bank demanding democracy in and outside of this institution.
It is this broader social movement with which we seek to ensure that the European Parliament will oppose the trade agreements that are under negotiation such as the CETA agreement with Canada, the TTIP agreement with the USA and the multi-country TISA agreement on services. These undermine democracy, threaten to liberalise public services, do nothing at all to advance workers' rights but instead enshrine corporate dominance of our economies. The European Commission and the US government, spurred on by the corporate lobbies, are now engaging in a media offensive to sell the benefits of TTIP. In response to our concerns on TTIP raised by ETUC in the Tripartite Social Summit, BusinessEurope, the organisation representing large private sector employers across Europe, says its members are united (!). The global corporations on both sides of the Atlantic want this deal as it removes their activities further from national and local democratic control. This is also how we should see the joint statement of Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and the US ambassador on public services. No new text is being proposed that would address our concerns.
And in yet another attempt to protect corporate power, a united coalition of EU and US business interests seeks to firm up the proposed Trade Secrets Directive linking it to the TTIP. And it is again a broad coalition on our side that is demanding changes to this Directive that threatens freedom of information and weakens whistleblower protection. The importance of such protection is shown by the case of Antoine Deltour who exposed the scandalous tax deals in Luxembourg (#Luxleaks) and who we are supporting in the face of the threat of prosecution.
And this week another whistleblower, after years trying to get internal changes, revealed how his company is putting profits above patient safety as it continues to sell malfunctioning needle sticks. What is extremely worrying is that the (privatised) bodies that should control such companies are not doing their job. It is part of the sick and corrupt system that doesn’t prevent companies buying validation and CE trade marks for their product or service. It is one of the consequences of the philosophy that the market will do a good job no matter and hence you do not need strong public and democratic institutions. Together we can seek to change that and work towards the socially just society called for in the Alternative Europe resolution that was agreed at our Congress last May.
Unfortunately, our website was offline on Monday and Tuesday. It turned out that it had been hacked by "Morocco Hassan", possibly in connection with the messages we sent to our colleagues in Tunisia following the awful and despicable attack on the people working and visiting the Bardo Museum and a similar message to the Yemeni Federation of Trade Unions following the horror of the suicide bombings in the Badr and Al-Hashoosh Mosques in Saana. We continue to condemn the violence. Our sympathy and solidarity is with their difficult struggle for peace and prosperity in a society faced with civil war.
In solidarity
Jan Willem Goudriaan
EPSU General Secretary
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