The Citizen, Tanzania
Trade unions set terms for EPA talks
By The Citizen Reporter
3 March 2009
The East Africa Trade Union Congress (EATUC) has joined groups that want the deadline for the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) between the East Africa Community and the European Commission extended.
A general meeting of the umbrella body for all trade unions in the region listed a total of ten conditions, which they say, are crucial to the the continuation of the EPA negotiations.
In a press statement detailing resolutions of the meeting held in Uganda last week, EATUC Secretary General Mr Emmanuel Nzunda said members called for extension of the July 2009 deadline to allow for further consultations.
Nzunda said the trade unions demanded to be fully involved in the negotiations for assurance of social securities to hundreds of employees in several sectors bound to be affected once the EPA agreement is signed.
The call for extension of the deadline comes after similar ones by Oxfam International and a grouping of other civil society organisations, including some from Tanzania that want EAC to reconsider its economic negotiating stand points.
The trade unions want, among other things, EAC member states of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi limit the final EPAs only to goods and avoid any negotiations on services, investment, competition policy, government procurement, and intellectual property.
Regarding the commitments on goods, Nzunda said members said the EC�s demand for liberalisation of up to 80 per cent of trade products should be reviewed as it could undermine industrialisation in the region.
They are also demanding that provisions be inserted in the agreement that will ensure development benchmarks were linked to every liberalised sector. This way, the unions noted will enable countries to measure social economic impacts.
"We also want the inclusion of a social chapter to address the social and employment impacts of the liberalization and to ensure full protection of workers� rights," said Nzuda.
The Kampala meeting called for the creation of regional committees to make sure the social agenda is included in the negotiated EPAs through participation of trade unions and other actors.
Another proposal was for insertion of a mandatory review clause allowing for a full renegotiation of the agreement on a regular basis while giving priority to regional integration.
"The development of regional markets offers more promising perspectives for the fight against poverty and for economic development than the hypothetical growth of international markets," they said while cautioning against rushed conclusion of the EPA agreements.
"EPAs must guarantee that development, human and social rights are accorded more importance than commercial and financial aspects," read the statement issued yesterday from Arusha.
Nzunda said the main problem appears to be the lack of appropriate consultation and urged the EU and EAC countries to hold consultative meetings to ensure that economic, social and political interests of the people of East Africa are brought on board during the negotiations of EPAs.
The unions claimed that EAC partner states were forced to sign the interim EPA against their liking due to changes in WTO rules.
"WTO commitments by our countries remain very limited when it comes to agriculture, manufacturing and services," said Nzunda.
The Kampala meeting was meant to analyze EAC-EC Interim EPA that was signed at the end of 2007 and design a trade union strategy and plan of action to advance EATUC position.
The EAC Heads of State in 2007 agreed to sign the EPAs with EU as a bloc and the trade unions said so far the negotiations have shown continued power imbalances. Africa has little negotiating power if any, they said.