Other Campaigns - May 2017

CETA/TTIP
There is nothing to report in terms of action at present; CETA may still be agreed before Brexit so may still affect the UK.

University of Sheffield
Robert Burke (University of Sheffield) has offered to support collaboration with UoS over campaigns including Food Campaign.

ACTION: 

1. John to invite him to a Local Group meeting to discuss.

Trade Deals Update - February 2017

Actions to date have included a joint event with Global Justice, a petition and lobbying of local MEPs in Sheffield and Leeds.

The EU parliament voted on CETA. UKIP did not attend and local Labour MPs voted for it, so parts will rapidly come into effect, but individual countries need to ratify fully for full implementation. UK unlikely to oppose so it depends on other countries to block it.

Trade Campaign Update - January 2017

The International Trade Committee of the European Parliament has advised MEP's to vote against the CETA agreement on the basis that the economic benefits are too small. The final debate in the Parliament will be on 1st & 2nd February.

Trade Deals - December 2016

CETA: The EU vote will be on 2 Feb so there is a campaign planned for January with an EU-wide Day of Action on Saturday 21 Jan.

Trade Deals Update - November 2016

Whilst TTIP on hold post-US elections, CETA approval potentially happening very quickly – current campaign is to get local Labour MEPs in Sheffield and Leeds to at least ask for more time to consider before the EU parliament vote scheduled for 14 Feb 2017 but informal meeting not promising so next step is to send more formal letters setting out arguments against and asking at least for proper scrutiny.

Trade Deals Update - September 2016

The Festival of Debate will have a debate on trade agreements on Thursday 6th October, 6:30 pm at the Quaker meeting House (tickets are free but need to be booked in advance). There are also debates on climate change, fracking and of course, our cowspiracy film. See www.festivalofdebate.com to book tickets

CETA
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau will come to Brussels for the CETA treaty signature on 27-28 October. It is expected that  the treaty will be provisionally implemented within a few months (or weeks) of being signed, before it is ratified. At an unspecified date between December 2016 and early 2017, the EU parliament will be given a simple Yes/No vote on CETA, without the right to make any amendments. CETA proponents would prefer this to be as early as possible (on December 13-15).

We are lobbying our two regional Labour MEPs (R. Corbett and L. McAvan) to ask that the committees that they chair or belong to fully assess the impact of the treaty before they make their recommendations to the EU parliament (meaning the committees should take the time to consider arguments against the deal and independent expert opinion, not just follow the recommendations of the EU commission).

The Leeds members of the network against TTIP  have organised a public meeting with Richard Corbett in Leeds on Saturday 22 October, 11.00 am to 1.00 pm. Unfortunately, the activists could only find a small room so the "public" at the meeting will be limited to 20 people maximum by the room size. Francois will represent Sheffield Friends of the Earth.

The meeting with Linda McAvan will happen on a Friday or Saturday in October (a September date had been agreed but last week it was no longer possible hence the current re-scheduling in progress). The McAvan lobbying group has 5 members at the moment (including representatives of Global Justice Sheffield, Sheffield Friends of the Earth, Unison and "save our NHS"). As Linda McAvan has agreed to meet a maximum of 6 lobbyists, there may still be one place available if someone is interested, and perhaps more if one of the five can't make it on the date. Also, if anyone wants to help us prepare the lobbying then please let Francois know.

Trade Agreements Campaign Update - August 2016

Francois wasn't able to attend the meeting but he gave us an email update:

The CETA issue has become very urgent, The treaty is due to be signed in October and it still not clear if EU MEPs will have a debate before it is signed. Therefore Global Justice Sheffield has proposed to change the focus of our joint campaign. Instead of lobbying the city council to pass a symbolic motion the new plan is to lobby MEPs about CETA. I think it makes a lot of sense.
Sheffield campaigning groups will lobby Linda McAvan, who is based here. Other campaign groups in the Yorkshire and the Humber anti-TTIP network will lobby the other 5 MEPs.

Oliver from Global Justice Sheffield will send a letter to Linda McAvan to ask for a meeting in September.  I propose to represent Sheffield Friends of the Earth at the meeting with Linda McAvan in September.  Other campaigning groups that will have representatives are Global Justice Sheffield (Oliver Blensdorf), the Sheffield branch of UNISON and perhaps someone to speak for the NHS, e.g a member of Keep Our NHS public if they are interested.

We decided at our meeting that we are happy for Francois to keep lobbying on behalf of Sheffield Friends of the Earth.

Action Points

1. Francois to lobby on behalf of Sheffield Friends of the Earth,

Trade Agreements - July 2016

CETA is a new business deal between the EU and Canada which is due to be signed in Brussels this October despite Brexit. It could have big ramifications for the environment and will come into force within months and implemented without ratification.

We have a campaign to lobby MEPs, probably in September. We also need to lobby Sheffield City Council to become a TTIP and CETA free zone. This is supported by Global Justice; there is a network meeting in August which Francois is going to attend.

TTIP is unpopular and therefore on hold for the time being.

TTIP Update - June 2016

There isn’t much progress with TTIP at the moment and we will have to see what happens with the campaign after the decision to leave the EU. Francois will keep us updated on this campaign.

TTIP, CETA and TISSA Campaign Update

CETA, the trade agreement between the EU and Canada has been finalised and will be ratified next month. It is more urgent as there could be some implementation before the final date. It is not quite so bad as TTIP as it does not have the ISDS section where corporations can sue governments if there is a policy change.

The main discussion was on trying to look at ways of talking to Sheffield City Council to make Sheffield a TTIP free zone, as we did so Sheffield is now Frack Free. We would be looking at discussing with other environmental groups to help with the lobbying of SCC. Beatrice will email SCA, Global Justice, etc. If anyone has any contacts which you think would like to be included please let us know.

Kirklees CC was successful in passing a motion (at the moment it is still pending) to be TTIP free zone so we are looking at their model.

The next stage would be to ask councillors to attend a workshop to discuss the effects of TTIP. We would definitely need help with this. Global Justice has suggested that the workshop would be held in September which should give us time. The first step is to work out our aims and objectives and pass these round other groups to discuss.

TTIP Campaign - April 2016

We have been working with Global Justice (Oliver and Julie Ann) on the issue of TTIP and we are now deciding what can be done after the elections.

We have had responses from MEPs to the emails sent on 1st March. Labour is very critical of TTIP but Conservatives are very much pro TTIP. The response from Timothy Kirkhope MEP can be read here.

TTIP Update - March 2016

The Yorkshire and Humber TTIP group is to lobby MEPs to vote against TTIP. It was decided CETA should be the future action. Find out more here.

We had a discussion about whether we want the Sheffield City Council to become TTIP free and we'll work with Global Justice on this (the Euro referendum will be an important backdrop to this).

François wants to approach local councillors - need to identify which ones.

TTIP Update - February 2016

François gave his apologies for not being able to attend the February meeting and therefore we didn't have an update on the TTIP campaign.

Actions:  

1. Francois to keep us up-to-date with TTIP

Campaigning News in Brief - July 2015

TTIP
Unfortunately François was not present so there was no update. This matter was adjourned to the next meeting. John thanked Francois for all his hard work on this issue.

Green Commission
There was no information on this subject as Beatrice was at the Green Commission SHED talks which clashed with our meeting.

Child Friendly Green Film
John had not been able to find any family friendly environmental films. Richard suggested The Lorax, which is based on a Dr Seuss book. There might be some good Disney or Dogwoof films. All suggestions will be gratefully received. Walkley would be a good venue for the next festival.

HS2

It was felt that Sheffield FoE should have an agreed position on HS2, as the subject was broached by anti-HS2 campaigners at the Beighton stall. Opinions in the group are mixed but we will try to get national FoE's views on this campaign.

Paris Climate Meeting
On Sunday 29 November, the biggest climate protest ever will be taking place in London on the eve of the crucial Paris climate talks, which will take place from the 30th November to the 12th December. 

Around the world, in major cities, people will be coming together to demand that our governments take action to save our beautiful planet. Across the UK, people will be working together to make this the biggest, most poignant demonstration yet, and our unified voice will resonate across the globe to call for a serious change in policy attitudes towards the climate. 

Time to Act will be working alongside a variety of other groups and activists for mass mobilisation to really show solidarity with our French neighbours.

We hope to take part in the march and work with Sheffield Climate Alliance to promote the event.

We also hope to have a stall at the Climiate Alliance national conference in Sheffield on 19 September.

Finances

Liddy has received £100 from FoE. Can be spent on flagpoles and a printer cartridge if Kiran has not already spent this amount on other FoE items.

TTIP Campaign Update - June 2015

The EU was supposed to be voting on TTIP but it was postponed as there were too many amendments. The MEPs tried to force the vote but they missed it by two votes. There were various stunts:

• On a national level the Yorkshire and Humberside network group against TTIP have been sharing information and lobbying MEPs. 25 of the group met with Richard Corbett Labour MEP for Yorkshire and Humberside to have ISDS removed but they still approve of TTIP. With all the letters and emails only Labour and UKIP have replied but non from the Conservatives.

• Locally we will write letters to local MPs and the Yorkshire Post. As this is a network Francois will let us know when it is our turn.

• In the US Obama has accepted the fast track but not all Republicans accept it. They are worried about jobs. At Basecamp it was suggested that we use this as a bargaining tool as it will not be signed until after the next election.

• Sheffield has been declared as a no TTIP zone, but this is more of a supportive action rather than anything which can prevent TTIP.

TTIP Update - May 2015

The European parliament will have a non-binding vote on TTIP on 9th June and the Yorkshire and Humber Network Against TTIP  (YHNAT) had planned at their last meeting to lobby MEPs in advance of this vote. YHNAT is the network that coordinates sharing of information and the lobbying of MEPs for the Yorshire and Humber region. Francois has been representing Sheffield Friends of the Earth in it. Other groups from Sheffield that are in it include the SCA and Global Justice Sheffield.

A working subgroup has now produced two letters, one for the Labour MEPs (Linda McAvan and Richard Corbett), the other letter for the other MEPs. The  letters will be sent to the MEPs on Saturday 23rd May.

The general letter:
Re: Vote on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on 9th June 2015.
Dear <name MEP> 

We are a group of Yorkshire and Humber residents who oppose the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. We believe that it will give corporations more power than ever and will threaten our public services, environment and democracy. The UK government is a major supporter of this deal, which would tighten the grip of big business over our society.

TTIP could:

• Grant corporations the power to sue governments in secret tribunals;
• Lock-in the privatisation of public services like the NHS and education;
• Undermine workers’ rights;
• Undo regulations that protect food-safety and the environment, giving harmful industries like fracking an easier ride;

We don’t accept that this deal would benefit the UK.  All economic projections are necessarily highly speculative – for example, a hypothetical boost to GDP of 0.5% is so small as to be within margins of error.  In other words, it would be an unnecessary gamble and the result could well be a flow of jobs out of our country.  All that we would be left with would be poorer or dangerous consumables and no freedom to set our own standards.

Please could you contact us to let us know how you intend to vote on 9th June? 

Jude Kirton-Darling MEP has tabled an amendment to oppose secret tribunals (ISDS) in any form. The ISDS is one of the most anti-democratic aspects of TTIP and it is dangerous because it would make governments afraid to regulate. Will you support this amendment?

Please could you confirm that you will not vote for any deal with an ISDS? This includes the proposed agreement with Canada (CETA), the text of which is available. Will you definitely vote against CETA? 

Please could you confirm that you will support Labour MEPs' amendments on food safety standards and employment rights?

Will you oppose the European Commission's proposal to create a 'Regulatory Cooperation Council' which would give business a permanent oversight of laws?

We realise that this is quite a long letter, with many questions, but TTIP is a massive subject with extremely wide-ranging implications so we would be very grateful for your response.

We hope to hear from you soon. Please could you reply no later than 1st June? 
Yours sincerely 
<your name>

TTIP Day of Action - April 2015

We held a stall in collaboration with Global Justice on Saturday 18th to raise awareness of and take action against TTIP. It went really well with over 300 signatures in 3 hours. Thank you François for organising this.

François has been attending TTIP meeting on behalf of the group. His first meeting was 2 weeks ago and he will carry on attending.and feeding back information to the group. It is hoped future actions will take place later in the year.

See https://www.foe.co.uk/page/ttip-secret-eu-us-trade-deal and http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/tags/ttip for more details.