The revised EU services directive is still a bad deal for Irish workers, writes Bairbre de Brún.
Now that the EU services directive has passed the first hurdle at the European Parliament, we must examine its far-reaching implications for the rights of workers and for the quality of public services.
Despite the measure of consensus reached by the two largest groups in the parliament (the right-wing European People's Party and the Socialist Group), 215 MEPs voted to reject the directive, with 394 in favour and 33 abstentions. In spite of the spin and hype advanced by the Labour Party in particular, a substantial number of MEPs are tuned in to the fact that the directive will still damage both public services and workers' rights.
Sinn Féin and others have long argued that those on the left of the political spectrum should unite to fight against the full-frontal assault on workers' rights and the future of quality public services. This will become more difficult given that the majority of the Socialist Group, including the Labour Party, is now wedded to advancing a damaging compromise proposal which still leaves a bad directive in place.
Given that some people in Ireland are not yet aware of the EU services directive, never mind its implications for their everyday lives, it is important that we analyse what it all means.
The directive will allow major service providers, using the employment legislation of countries with weaker standards and lower wages, to offer their services throughout the EU through the use of "self-employed" workers. This could put many service providers in Ireland out of business, or impel them to cut wages and to cut corners to compete for a part of this market. The "country of origin principle", which will allow for this to happen, has been renamed "the freedom to provide services" in the Conservative/Social Democrat compromise reached on February 16th, but it has not been removed. So even that compromise, which the European Parliament accepted, would make it impossible for a democratically elected Irish government to protect and defend the rights of consumers and workers living in Ireland. The Labour Party should explain why they support such a flawed proposal.
The key amendments adopted by the parliament were deceptive. The country of origin principle remains at the heart of the directive. Right-wing groups can barely conceal their joy at having got three-quarters of their proposals through with the support of so many from the Socialist Group. And while Mr McCreevy is uncharacteristically coy about the implications of the vote in the parliament, he and the other EU commissioners know they have succeeded in convincing the parliament to back a proposal which will fundamentally shift the balance of power away from workers. In spite of several opportunities at the recent meeting of the National Forum on Europe to deny that the country of origin principle is still contained in the compromise passed by the parliament at its first reading, Mr McCreevy steadfastly refused to do so. The parliament (often helped by the vote of the Labour Party) rejected proposals to explicitly exclude various important sectors from the scope of the directive, including public services, consumer protection, energy, education, culture and environmental services.
Fortunately the parliament did remove some (but not all) of the health service, as well as social services. Unfortunately our proposal to exclude education was rejected. The construction industry, architects, accountants and the information technology industry are all still included in the scope of the directive.
For the above reasons Sinn Féin rejected the directive. It will in effect commercialise most services within the EU and will deny millions of people the quality public services they deserve. It also represents a considerable blow against workers' rights and social protections. The directive is symptomatic of the agenda of privatisation, deregulation and attacks on workers' rights across the EU. Rejection of the port services directive by the European Parliament in January demonstrates that workers can exert pressure on politicians to reject attacks on their rights, pay and conditions. This is a lesson for us all.
The fight back is not confined to the corridors of Brussels and Strasbourg. All across Ireland people and communities are standing up for their rights - from the people in Rossport and the Gama workers to the thousands of people who took to the streets to oppose the treatment of the employees of Irish Ferries and to insist that no one should be asked to accept less than the minimum wage, no matter where they come from.
It would be easy to become downhearted about the current right-wing obsession with eroding the rights and conditions of workers, but we need to prepare for the battles ahead. The EU services directive will now be considered by national governments and will go forward for adoption in the Council of Ministers.
Trade unionists, politicians and all those who wish to avail of quality public services should mount a proactive campaign against this proposed legislation and should call on the Government to reject the directive when it comes before it for ratification.
The Taoiseach has recently stated that the protection of workers' rights is a key priority for the Government. It is essential that he keeps his promise.
Bairbre de Brún is a Sinn Féin MEP