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Trades Union Congress |
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2008 |
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TUC delegates vote to oppose European court rulings and Lisbon treaty Trade Union Congress delegates meeting in Brighton overwhelmingly backed a call for Europe-wide protests against European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings that represent a fundamental attack on collective bargaining and the right to strike. The successful motion from the RMT union also pointed out that the Lisbon Treaty would exacerbate attacks on trade union rights by handing the misnamed EU court huge new powers in order to act like a supreme court. RMT general secretary Bob Crow told delegates that recent ECJ rulings in the Viking, Laval , Ruffert and Luxembourg cases sought to turn the clock back a hundred years by undermining trade union rights in various ways. “These ECJ rulings constitute a Taff Vale judgment for the 21st century. The supposed crime of the Associated Society of Railway Servants back in 1901 was to be “in restraint of trade” by calling strike action,” he said. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber could not muster enough opposition to the RMT motion but accused the union of “smuggling contraband” into a congress debate about trade union laws by introducing the Lisbon treaty. However, Bob Crow warned delegates that if the discredited treaty was imposed, despite the Irish rejection of the rehashed EU constitution, trade union rights would be under further attack in the name of the ‘free movement of goods, services and labour within the EU. Unison delegate Bob Oram also cited recent ECJ cases as one of the main reasons why Irish workers voted against the Lisbon Treaty in June. He said that the court ruled that strikes are justified "only where there is a serious threat to jobs and conditions of employment" and even this it is "subject to a criterion of "proportionality'." In other words, said Mr Oram, "employers' rights of establishment trumps the right to strike".
In 2005 Congress delegates voted overwhelmingly to oppose the EU constitution and, last year, Congress demanded a referendum on the constitution’s discredited offspring the Lisbon Treaty. This year delegates reaffirmed their opposition to the EU’s anti-democratic constitutional project as a part of a wider campaign to fight anti-union laws. In the face of this unprecedented attack on the trade union movement, delegates agreed to support: · A demonstration and lobby of Parliament to annul ECJ rulings · call for a European-wide demonstration facilitate meetings of affiliates to promote the campaign |
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2007 |
EU Reform Treaty
Congress notes that: i) the work to give effect to the June 2007 agreement on the EU Reform Treaty has begun with the aim of new draft legislation agreed by the Council of Ministers in December 2007; ii) the target for ratification is before June 2009; iii) there will be a referendum in Ireland following the Irish Taoiseach's statement that 90 per cent of the previous Constitution is included in the new Reform Treaty; iv) the Labour Party Election manifesto pledged that the UK electorate would be given the final say, in a referendum, on the ratification of the Constitution; and v) the ETUC position prior to June 2007 was 'no legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights - no Treaty' and this demand has been satisfied for 26 EU Member States. Congress considers that: a) the Labour Party should honour this pledge and hold a referendum on the ratification of this new Reform Treaty; and b) the pledge was right at the time of the election and is right now - Europe can only be developed with the wholehearted support of its citizens. Congress is also concerned that the competition protocol in the Reform Treaty could be a Trojan horse to promote unfettered privatisation throughout the EU. Congress is bitterly disappointed that the Charter of Fundamental Rights will not apply to British workers and their trade unions and calls on the Government to show commitment to Europe's social dimension as this is necessary for British trade unions' support for the future development of Europe. |
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TUC delegates vote to continue to oppose Lisbon Treaty in amendment to Composite on Posted Workers Composite C1 Posted Workers Directive Composite of motion 1 and amendments Congress notes with interest the massive programme of work which will need to be undertaken by the UK engineering construction industry if the Government is to meet the commitments contained in its energy policy. Congress therefore urges the Government to take all necessary steps in order to establish a level playing field for all contractors engaged in the UK engineering construction industry by supporting the introduction of pre-award auditing of contracts ensuring compliance with national agreements. To this end, contractors who discriminate actively against workers who expect to be paid in accordance with the national agreement in favour of workers the contractor can exploit must be excluded from the procurement process. Also contractors who class workers as self-employed in order to avoid paying national insurance contributions, pensions and other benefits, thereby denying workers employment rights, should also be excluded from the procurement process. To ensure compliance with EU regulations when applying nationally agreed terms and conditions, the Government needs to amend its interpretation of the Posted Workers Directive and to take advantage of the provisions in the Directive which allow national governments to introduce measures to extend coverage to include sectoral or national collective agreements in companies operating in any sector. Congress therefore calls on the General Council to investigate ways of: i) reforming UK employment law and practice so the directive will not undermine existing workforce agreements and protections ii) developing procurement practices that promote labour, equality and environmental standards. Congress further calls upon the General Council, as part of its wider campaign to redress the imbalance between the social and business needs of the EU, to: a) support lobbies of the UK Government to amend the terms of the Posted Workers Directive, as it is applied in the UK b) support ILO action to address the undermining effect of recent ECJ judgments on collective agreements and trade union freedoms enshrined in ILO conventions 87 and 98 c) seek urgent revision of the EU Posted Workers Directive in order to maximise protection of collective agreements generally applied in UK industries. Congress reaffirms its opposition to ECJ rulings such as the Viking case, which also allow for attacks on collective agreements, and it reiterates that the Lisbon Treaty would exacerbate attacks on trade unions by handing greater powers to the ECJ to interpret disputes concerning the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Mover: Unite Supporters: UNISON, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport |