ACTIVISTS called for an all-out trade union-led campaign yesterday to stop the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in its tracks.

The Communist Party’s TUC fringe meeting The Truth About TTIP warned that “the greatest transfer of power to transnational corporations in a generation” was due to be implemented next year.

War on Want’s Jackie Simpkins attacked the secrecy surrounding the notorious trade deal, pointing out that the European Union (EU) had banned publication of key negotiating documents for the next 30 years — and that even British MPs were unable to access them.

Far from creating jobs, even the European Commission’s own study found TTIP would cost a million jobs in the EU and US.

And the Investor State Dispute Settlement would see corporations suing countries whose policies affected their profits.

Ms Simpkins pointed to existing treaties which have allowed Swedish firm Vattenfall to sue Germany for €3.7 billion over Berlin’s decision to phase out nuclear power as an example of what to expect once TTIP goes ahead.

The NUT’s Gawain Little said unions should not be distracted by trying to renegotiate individual elements of a treaty “designed specifically to destroy public services” and slammed Labour’s refusal to take a stance until a final text was ready — by which point it will be too late to resist.

And Communist Party general secretary Robert Griffiths pointed to years of similar pushes by the EU for deregulation and privatisation.

“Trade unionists need to wake up to the true character of the European Union. How many privatisations, how much austerity, how many European Court of Justice rulings will it take?” he asked.