The Government must concede collective bargaining rights to all workers if their opposition to the proposals in the Lisbon Treaty is to be reversed, Siptu warned today.
The country's largest trades' union rejected the notion that people had turned down the referendum because of concerns about corporation tax.
Jack O'Connor denied that anti-immigration feeling lay behind the strong working class No vote
"It is very clear that workers are increasingly and justifiably concerned about the way people's rights at work are diminishing in this country," said Siptu President Jack O'Connor.
He denied that anti-immigration feeling lay behind the strong working class No vote which helped to doom the June 12th referendum. "The situation will not be helped by dangerous and ill-informed commentary representing workers' concerns in terms of anti-immigrant sentiment. Thankfully, we have little or no evidence of this in our workplaces," he said.
The Government must drop its opposition to granting collective bargaining rights to all workers, as are enjoyed by workers everywhere else in the EU.
Such rights are included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which was part of the Lisbon Treaty, though their implementation in member states would have depended upon national rules. In addition, it must move to block efforts to undermine registered employment agreements which fix craftmen's pay rates in the construction industry.
Most of workers' existing issues have nothing to do with the European Union, but are down to the Government's failure to take decisions, said Mr O'Connor, who published a "Lisbon Treaty. What Next?" pamplet at Liberty Hall this afternoon.
