TUAEUC welcomes Unison call to respect the Irish people's decision

Trade Unionists Against the European Union Constitution welcomes the recent decision of UNISON Conference to call for respect for Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty and the recognition that the renamed EU Constitution is now dead. It calls on all unions to follow a similar course of action.

Trade unionists and the left were very much in the leadership of the no vote campaign, just as they were previously in France and Holland when voters there rejected the EU constitution in 2005. There is an increasing recognition that the anti-social drive enshrined in the EU Constitution is designed to weaken the power of trade unions. Trade unions are in the employers' sights because we are the last defence against the price rises, pay cuts, privatisation and de-industrialisation so central to the EU project.

Three recent European Court of Justice ECJ decisions - in the Viking, Laval and Ruffert cases, have also shown that the EU is determined to put the needs of capital and the free movement of labour and services above trade union collective bargaining. A further ECJ judgment recently ruled against the way in which Luxemburg has implemented the Posting Directive was an "obstacle to the free provision of cross border services".

According to the European Trade Union Confederation leader John Monks it proves that the ECJ and Commission are "demanding the primacy of the economic freedoms over fundamental rights and respect for national labour law and collective agreements". Working class concerns over these attacks on workers' rights had been central to the no vote in Ireland.

That is why transnational companies and the elites that run the EU are so scared of letting the people decide. The Irish, according to the terms of the Treaty itself, have killed it off and trade unions must ensure this democracy is respected.

Read our 'Let the people decide leaflet' here>