After seven years of complex and arduous negotiations that stretched to nearly 30 rounds, the heads of state of the 16 RCEP nations met in Bangkok today (4 November) to seal the deal, but the summit ended in failure as India refused to endorse the final texts.

PSI welcomes this outcome as the RCEP framework is fundamentally biased against public services, workers, and communities, while it privileges powerful corporations.

For this reason, PSI has actively contributed to building a credible union alliance against the RCEP in the Asia Pacific region.

In the past years, our affiliates have held meetings and protests to inform workers, the general public and government officials on the dangers of RCEP.

Today's outcome shows that workers mobilisations have had a positive impact.

As the RCEP is now deferred to 2020, we will continue to work towards defending quality public services and promoting trade justice.

For more info, check out the Unions For Trade Justice website