by Our Foreign Desk

PUBLIC SERVICE unions around the world condemned the secretive Pacific Rim trade pact yesterday, after it was agreed this week.

Public Services International (PSI) and its affiliates said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement was bad news as long as the contents remained secret.

PSI general secretary Rosa Pavanelli called on the governments to publish the full text “to prove the truth of the signatories’ propaganda claims.

“We have seen a lot of media spin about the benefits of the TPP, but we have not yet seen the text after more than five years of secret negotiations,” she added.

The final draft of TPP, agreed by the 12 signatory nations in the US city of Atlanta on Monday, was hailed as a boost to trade and job creation.

But trade unions, environmentalists and consumer groups have criticised the top-secret nature of the negotiations as well as provisions to allow firms to override national laws under the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism.

The union federation welcomed moves to “soften” the ISDS, potentially excluding tobacco regulations, but nevertheless condemned the system as it “weakens the power of democratic elected institutions.”

Among PSI’s concerns are that common intellectual property regulations will only extend the monopoly of pharmaceutical corporations, ensuring that the price of medicines will increase at the expense of patients.

Ms Pavanelli vowed to continue the fight against TPP at a national level, where the pact has to be ratified, calling on MPs to reject it.