PSAC Social Justice Fund  

FTAA - November 20, 2003

A day that started with a forum on the FTAA and public services sponsored by the Public Services International ended with a peaceful 20,000 person rally in the face of an overwhelming para-military presence.

The rally route was lined with armed tanks and water bombers and thousands of police in riot gear, while helicopters hovered overhead.

In fact, throughout the week the governments of the United States , the State of Florida , Dade County and Miami City consistently and continually overreacted to what they perceived as something akin to an apprehended insurrection.

What happened here in Miami was completely different.   Labour, community, environmental, poverty and social groups from the 34 hemispheric counties came together to say no to an insurrection of a different kind.   A corporate insurrection designed to strip elected governments of decision-making authority in a range of public policy areas, enhance and entrench a charter of rights for business in general and multi-national corporations in particular.

The framework agreement reached among trade ministers in Miami just confirms some of our worse fears about the FTAA.   The agreement includes nothing on culture and the environment.   It includes nothing on labour, and the protection of workers' rights.   And hemispheric governments will have limited ability to set policies and laws to   the benefit of their citizens – in the areas like environmental protection and other key public interest issues.

These issues and concerns, highlighted throughout the week, were brought into focus in the context of public services during the pre-rally FTAA and the Public Services Forum that included a presentation from the Citizens Trade Organization in the United States and a panel presentation that featured representatives from Canada , Nicaragua and Jamaica .

Examples of successful campaigns against the privatization of public services in Minnesota and Canada were cited. Some of these, including the privatization of water and sanitation services, were evaluated from the perspective of a ratified set of FTAA rules. In one case, 65 percent of residents in a mid sized United States community had signed a petition, and successfully halted the privatization of water services with a commitment that any future privatization attempt would require a referendum. To add to the victory, the cities water and sanitation workers organized into a Union , increased wages and improved working conditions.

Under the FTAA, the express wishes of the population are meaningless, since a company will be able to insist that the water and sanitation service be opened to tender with the company submitting the lowest bid being granted the contract without a referendum, and regardless of what the people want. As was said at a hearing on health care held earlier in the week, “In the context of water, there is no compromise.   Water must be excluded from trade agreements.   Otherwise, our health will suffer”.