We've moved to a new site!

Join us at publicservices.international - for all the latest news, resources and struggles from around the world.

We are no longer updating world-psi.org and it will be progressively phased out: all content will be migrated to the new site and old links will redirect eventually.

No Trade in Public Services

The recent wave of trade agreements are direct threats to the provision of Quality Public Services. These new agreements encourage privatisation, restrict governments’ ability to regulate in the public interest and create new and powerful rights for large multinational corporations. They are also a threat to democracy and accountability of government. They are being negotiated in secret, without proper consultation and will bind future governments, often regardless of the decisions of national elections, parliaments and courts. PSI urges all affiliates to understand the implications and join our allies to oppose the harmful effects of these agreements.

Public services unions of the Americas are on the offensive against new international trade agreements

23 April 2015

Public services unions across the Americas are determined to oppose the new wave of trade agreements driven by corporate interests and negotiated in secret. On 23 April, in Mexico City, the first regional demonstration to oppose TPP, TTIP, CETA and TISA.

EU Parliaments must remain vigilant on international agreements

21 April 2015

Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of Public Services International (PSI) addressed the Conference of Speakers of European Union's Parliaments, on 21 April in Rome, in a session about the role of Parliaments in trade agreements currently under discussion.

Global Day of Action on Trade and Investment Treaties

14 April 2015
Photo: Creative Commons - MehrDemokratie - Charlie Rutz

A coalition of civil society groups and unions around the world has organised a global day of action on 18 April to demonstrate against the negotiation of harmful trade agreements. PSI endorses this day of action and encourages affiliates to participate.

Press release: Why Public-Private Partnerships don't work

16 March 2015
Worker

The report “Why Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) don’t work” by Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) assesses the PPPs experience in countries both rich and poor.

TTIP: Replacing geopolitics with geo-economics

12 March 2015

Stop counting carrier fleets, fighter jets and cruise missiles, Stephen Phillips wrote in the Financial Times. The US failure in Afghanistan and Iraq exposed the limits of military might to the rest of the world. Since then, geopolitics are being replaced by geo-economics and the troubled global power has discovered trade agreements as a new means to protect its hegemony in the international system.

Report finds Trans Pacific Partnership bad for your health

03 March 2015
Pills - Photo: Creative Commons - E-magineart

Prominent health academics show that the Trans Pacific Partnership poses a risk to health in areas such as the provision of affordable medicines, tobacco, alcohol policies and nutritional labelling, reveals a report released last night in Australia.

TISA: leaked document reveals secret talks to promote health “tourism” and privatisation

03 February 2015
Photo: Zdenko Zivkovic - Creative Commons

The Trade in Service Agreement (TiSA) is aiming to commodify health care services globally, with higher costs for governments and poorer performance for patients, to the benefit of large health corporations and insurance companies.

TISA: another leaked document reveals secret talks to promote health “tourism”, privatisation and to raise health costs

03 February 2015

PSI, 4 February 2015 – A new trade proposal is aiming to commodify health care services globally, with higher costs for governments and poorer performance for patients, to the benefit of large health corporations and insurance companies in a USD 6-trillion business.

TISA: new leaked document reveals US corporations’ threat to privacy and data protection

17 December 2014
Photo: Koeb

Consumers’ protections and privacy are at risk, along with national governments’ sovereignty, at the sole benefit of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) corporations.

Briefing on US TISA proposal on E-commerce, Technology Transfer, Cross-border Data Flows and Net Neutrality

17 December 2014

A proposal by the US Trade Representative (USTR) dated 25 April 2014 to the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) negotiations has been leaked. It focuses on e-commerce, technology transfer, cross-border data flows and net neutrality.

Trade unions and civil society make a critical assessment of the EU Neighborhood Policy

15 December 2014
Rachid Malaoui, SNAPAP, Algeria

On International Human Rights Day, PSI affiliate leader Rachid Malaoui (SNAPAP/CGATA, Algeria) participated in a dialogue on cooperation between the EU and the MENA region at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium.

German politicians and the protection of workers‘ and consumers‘ rights in CETA and TTIP

04 December 2014
Photo Christopher Dombres

Sigmar Gabriel, the German Minister of Economics, Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the German social democratic party SPD, has repeatedly declared opposition to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in CETA and TTIP.

CETA: Trading away democracy

20 November 2014

The EU's Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada could unleash a wave of corporate lawsuits against Canada, the EU and its member states – including through the Canadian subsidiaries of US multinational corporations. This in-depth analysis of CETA’s investor rights by Corporate Europe Observatory and 14 other environmental NGOs, citizens’ groups and workers unions from both sides of the Atlantic outlines the threats.

Outcomes of PSI Steering Comittee SC-18

17 November 2014

PSI Steering Committee (SC-18) met in Geneva on 12-13 November 2014.

The agenda covered all items relating to the implementation of the Programme of Action with a special focus on the global campaigns PSI is leading on trade agreements and tax justice.

Photos: Global Trade in Services Forum

23 October 2014

PSI’s Global Trade in Services Forum, From GATS to TISA, held in partnership with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) network, held on 17 October 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland, is the first ever global conference to provide a critical perspective on the TISA.