
ITUC – Asia Pacific Statement on RECP
17 November 2020
NO RCEP: Insubstantial
Agreement without People, Decent Work, Planet and Sustainable
Development for building forward better after COVID-19
The 10 ASEAN Member States and its 5 key
partner countries – Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand –
signed a trade pact, ‘the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)’,
at the 37th ASEAN Summit on Sunday, 15 November 2020 in the midst of
the unprecedented COVID-19 global pandemic. The RCEP will cover most economic with
wider and significant economic, social and even health impacts.
The ITUC - Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP) strongly
denounces the RCEP that does not meet our standard of just and fair trade
rules. Shoya Yoshida, General Secretary of the ITUC-AP, expressed his great
dismay at the agreement by saying, ‘the deal would jeopardise the potential for
a sound industrial base for most countries, aggravate inequality and
social-economic vulnerability, and lower income for workers and farmers.’. He
also criticised the participating countries for 8 years of a series of
undemocratic and closed negotiations. “Obviously, they even filed to meet their
own guiding principle and objective to create ‘an open, inclusive and
rules-based trading system to make trade work for all’.”, said Shoya
Yoshida.
The
agreement has no people in it as there was no social dialogue and no comprehensive
impact assessment of the deal for workers and farmers against adverse impacts
in the process of negotiations.
The
agreement has also no labour in it without an enforceable and effective labour
chapter with a robust monitoring mechanism. Shoya Yoshida pointed out continued
and rampant violations of labour rights in the RCEP participating countries and
he warned of the risks of further regression in respecting rights of vulnerable
workers in informal and precarious employment, and a continued downward
pressure on wages and deterioration of working conditions.
The
agreement fails to have Environmental Standards so that It is clear that the
RCEP does not care our planet.
Furthermore, the RCEP would hinder our efforts
to build back better after COVID-19 towards a sustainable, inclusive, and
resilient world by escalating the division of labour in global supply chains,
privatisation of essential services, and the dominance of corporations on our
governments. Public services as well as the governments’ ability to regulate in
the interest of own people would be weakened. Therefore, the agreement is
clearly against our prosperity in future.
Shoya Yoshida said, ‘the RCEP has no people,
labour and our planet even though those should be put at the centre of building
a prosperous future with sustainability, more inclusiveness and resilience. Therefore,
the ITUC-AP strongly calls on all democratically elected legislatures in the
participating countries to not ratify it.”
The ITUC-AP will continue its campaign for an
open, inclusive and rules-based trading system for all including blocking
ratification of the agreement together with our affiliates from the signatory
countries.
Please read
our statement on the RCEP here.