Printed- Wednesday 20th Feb
A chara,
It is very telling that the Labour Party - who purport to be "committed to making Ireland a fair place to work and live through the development and enforcement of decent labour standards and working conditions for all" - are in fact in favour of the Treaty of Lisbon. Considering the Lisbon Treaty will allow the European Commission to liberalise all public services and the bad deal that this will be for workers, it is difficult to fathom the logic behind their endorsement of the Treaty. It is well known the damage liberalising services and privatisation can do to workers and services. The Lisbon Treaty will change current EU law to ensure that new "economic and financial conditions" will be placed on the Services of General Economic Interest (Article 16B) allowing for healthcare and education to become subject to the rules of competition, something which it appears the Labour Party have forgotten the potential of. Social justice and equality should not be sacrificed in the name of competition. They cannot demand accessible public services on one hand and support a Treaty which is inherently opposed to such provisions.
Furthermore, the Protocol on the Internal Market & Competition instructs the EU to ensure that "competition is not distorted". The "distortions" refferred to here include state funding, state 'monopolies', and workers rights legislation. This procedure will not only undermine the Social European Model and the welfare state, it will also serve to accelerate the "race to the bottom" for wages and workers rights and a widening of the gap between the haves and the have-nots. GAMA and Irish Ferries style situations will subsequently become more and more frequent as a result.
The democratic reform of the EU that Treaty defenders such as the Labour Party tell us this will bring is a myth. There will be no ability to democratically reject laws which are not in our best interest. There will be no recourse to parliamentary debate or national referenda on decisions the EU will make for us. The General Secretary of ICTU David Begg has even acknowledged the direction of the EU proclaiming that this EU Commission is the "most neo-liberal we have ever had". It is now pertinent to ask why then in light of all this has the Labour Party, the self-proclaimed "party of the working man" chosen to completely disregard this?
Is mise le meas,
Stephanie Lord
Sinn Fein Droichead Atha.
It is very telling that the Labour Party - who purport to be "committed to making Ireland a fair place to work and live through the development and enforcement of decent labour standards and working conditions for all" - are in fact in favour of the Treaty of Lisbon. Considering the Lisbon Treaty will allow the European Commission to liberalise all public services and the bad deal that this will be for workers, it is difficult to fathom the logic behind their endorsement of the Treaty. It is well known the damage liberalising services and privatisation can do to workers and services. The Lisbon Treaty will change current EU law to ensure that new "economic and financial conditions" will be placed on the Services of General Economic Interest (Article 16B) allowing for healthcare and education to become subject to the rules of competition, something which it appears the Labour Party have forgotten the potential of. Social justice and equality should not be sacrificed in the name of competition. They cannot demand accessible public services on one hand and support a Treaty which is inherently opposed to such provisions.
Furthermore, the Protocol on the Internal Market & Competition instructs the EU to ensure that "competition is not distorted". The "distortions" refferred to here include state funding, state 'monopolies', and workers rights legislation. This procedure will not only undermine the Social European Model and the welfare state, it will also serve to accelerate the "race to the bottom" for wages and workers rights and a widening of the gap between the haves and the have-nots. GAMA and Irish Ferries style situations will subsequently become more and more frequent as a result.
The democratic reform of the EU that Treaty defenders such as the Labour Party tell us this will bring is a myth. There will be no ability to democratically reject laws which are not in our best interest. There will be no recourse to parliamentary debate or national referenda on decisions the EU will make for us. The General Secretary of ICTU David Begg has even acknowledged the direction of the EU proclaiming that this EU Commission is the "most neo-liberal we have ever had". It is now pertinent to ask why then in light of all this has the Labour Party, the self-proclaimed "party of the working man" chosen to completely disregard this?
Is mise le meas,
Stephanie Lord
Sinn Fein Droichead Atha.
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