Siptu fails to back Lisbon without union legislation

The country’s largest trade union Siptu has said it will not support the Lisbon Treaty unless the Government gives a commitment to introduce legislation to allow collective bargaining for workers.

Siptu said that collective bargaining was enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights to which the treaty would give effect, however, the union said that at present the Government has not provided in domestic law for such collective bargaining rights.

Siptu president Jack O'Connor said that the union would not support "a watered down version" of the treaty that exposed workers to its free market aspects while denying them the benefit of balancing measures which were integral to it.

Earlier this week The Irish Timesrevealed that the Government had opposed the introduction of legislation on mandatory trade union recognition in a confidential paper submitted to the national pay talks.

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is understood to favour amending existing legislation to take account of trade union and employer concerns.

It believes mandatory union recognition would be completely unacceptable to employers and that an agreed rather than an imposed outcome is preferable

Mr O'Connor said the union's position was informed by the fall-out from the Nice Treaty, which it said undermined workers rights.

"We supported the Nice Treaty for the best of reasons and actively campaigned for it," Mr O'Connor said.

"Shortly after ratification the Government opened the borders to workers from the new accession states in the interests of business, without enhancing our employment protection legislation by one syllable.

"This facilitated a 'Race to the Bottom', the large scale casualisation of jobs and an explosion of employment agencies. None of these regressive events can be attributed to the EU. The authorities here were to blame for all of them," he said.

The Siptu president accused the Government of playing a key role in maintaining a blocking minority to prevent the EU adopting a directive to provide minimal protection vulnerable workers.

"While many critics of the Treaty are understandably concerned at the potential threat some of its provisions could pose to our health and other 'common good' services, the reality is that the greatest threats to these services are home grown and reflect the policies of the Government and champions of the neo-liberal agenda. 

In contrast, the tradition of the EU has been consensual, balancing the demands of the market place and competition with the needs of ordinary working people," he insisted.

But Labour’s spokesman on European affairs Joe Costello accused Siptu of playing politics when, he said, the union should be judging the treaty on its merits and voting accordingly.

Mr Costello said Siptu was failing to give leadership and guidance to its members on the Lisbon Treaty referendum. 

He said the union is now mirroring the stance of the Irish Farmers' Association "who are making their support conditional on the Government exercising a veto on the outcome of the World Trade Organisation trade talks".

He claimed the treaty was "very robust" in the area of workers rights, saying Article 28 represented a clear message to the Irish Government and all member States that the right of collective bargaining is a desirable objective of  the European Union.

Minister of State for Enterprise Billy Kelleher acknowledged the union's concerns about the status of collective bargaining here and the capacity of trade unions to be effective in protecting and representing their members.

But Mr Kelleher said these are issues of domestic, not European, law and policy.

"Siptu state explicitly that the right to collective bargaining will not be improved by rejecting the Treaty.

"Accordingly the logic of Siptu's position is support for the Treaty, as a basis for enhancing the status of workers' rights and protection, while issues of concern at domestic level are dealt with through our own arrangements," he said