In the statement, IMPACT outlined its concerns in relation to the outcome of the trade agreement negotiations which will affect the lives of 800 million people in the US and EU. The union’s summarised its concerns about TTIP as follows:

• IMPACT holds the view that TTIP, as it is currently constructed, is fundamentally anti-democratic and constitutes a real threat to sovereignty because it enables corporations to take governments to court, in a manner that limits the legislative powers of sovereign states.

• TTIP is a far-reaching agreement with consequences for all EU and US citizens. As it currently stands, TTIP’s advantages are weighted in favour of corporate interests rather than the 800 million people whose lives will be directly affected if TTIP is agreed.

• This can only be corrected if TTIP is reconfigured to foster a virtuous cycle of good wages driving demand and creating decent jobs, and if it incorporates measures to ensure that the improvement of living and working conditions on both sides of the Atlantic and safeguards from any attempt to use the agreement to lower employment standards.

• Of particular concern to IMPACT, as a public service trade union, is that TTIP seeks to create a less regulated trade in services. IMPACT is very firm in its view that public services should be run by EU member states exclusively in the public interest, and would caution against a change in the regulatory environment in which those services are exposed to the possibility of privatisation.

You can read the full IMPACT statement here.