- Conference
- 2003 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 29 May 2003
- Decision
- Carried
Conference recognises that the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) aims to expose services world wide to competition, and is a real threat to public services in the UK. While GATS does not compel governments to liberalise, or privatise, services, there will be great pressure on them to do so. GATS is an ongoing process that will end only when all 160 service sectors are open to competition.
Conference notes the impact of liberalisation on UK services, where jobs have been lost and conditions of employment have deteriorated, and that this is being progressively “locked in” through the UK government commitments under GATS. GATS rules include an exemption for services “supplied in the exercise of governmental authority”, but this lacks clarification and key public services like education and health, where there is private sector involvement, could still be affected.
Conference notes that many governments are pre-empting and second guessing the outcomes of GATS in advance and pushing ahead with wholesale privatisation. Under GATS, foreign firms will be able to compete for public money to provide public services. Conference believes that the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) remit, which is concerned with trade, should not include the power to decide what is and what is not a public service. Consequently, Conference calls for all public services to be excluded from GATS disciplines, without qualification.
Conference is alarmed at the effect that GATS could have on services in developing countries. There is, as yet, no evidence to support the claim by the WTO and other bodies that liberalisation will benefit developing countries, by reducing poverty and inequality. On the contrary GATS is an opportunity for the rich, industrialised nations to exercise their competitive advantage through large transnational corporations. Developing countries lack the economic and regulatory power to protect their services, which could fall into the hands of these powerful organisations. GATS is a cornerstone of the neo-liberal economic philosophy of the free market which is devastating public services and undermines the pursuit of common ownership and the common wealth in communities worldwide, widening the gap between rich and poor and producing crumbling social infrastructure and the immiserisation of billions of people.
Conference welcomes the steps that UNISON has taken so far to publicise GATS among its members and the work it has undertaken with other trade unions and campaigning groups, in the UK and elsewhere. In particular it welcomes UNISON’s comprehensive response to the Government consultation on this issue, which involved service groups and other relevant bodies. We desperately need to educate our members and the wider public about GATS which is being allowed to happen without public debate. GATS is effectively irreversible and decisions about which services to open up will be taken by the end of March 2003.
Conference calls on the UK Government to undertake an extensive and independent assessment of the impact of GATS on the provision of public services, in particular the ability of public bodies to take account of local economic, social and environmental concerns when regulating in the interests of communities;
Conference resolves to use every effort within UNISON to:
1)disseminate information and initiate debate about GATS with councillors, MPs and MEPs, our members and the wider public;
2)work with service groups and regions on a programme of work to ensure they are fully briefed on the implications of GATS for public services;
3)provide branches with material on the major themes related to GATS and the key service sectors affected;
4)assist branches to raise these issues with their employers;
5)clarify the impact of GATS on the provision of public services, in particular article 1.3 of the GATS agreement which is ambiguous in its interpretation;
6)ensure increased transparency with regard to GATS and the negotiation process and to consult with trade unions and local communities;
7)support and attend Social Forum meetings where appropriate, which represent a form of organisation offering organisational and political space in which to develop strategies of effective opposition against the global free market.
Conference calls on the National Executive Council to:
a)call for a greater transparency of the GATS process and the full disclosure of all information related to the requests and offers by WTO members;
b)put pressure on the Government to halt the GATS process until the effects have been properly researched, assessed and publicly debated;
c)consider sending delegations to all future anti-GATS demonstrations;
d)seek to ensure regional delegations to meetings of the World Social Forum and the next European Social Forum;
e)consider this motion, suitably reworded for submission to the TUC.