The Workers’ Party have said that the Taoiseach’s outright rejection of SIPTU’s plea for the strengthening of workers right to representation as a condition of support for the Lisbon Treaty shows that the government has no commitment to protecting workers from the worst excesses of globalisation.

Speaking while canvassing in Dundalk town centre this weekend, Louth Workers’ Party spokesman Peter Short said the response to SIPTU’s reasoned demands by the Taoiseach gives the lie to the government’s propaganda about the Charter of Fundamental Rights which the Workers’ Party has already described as a ‘toothless tiger’”.

“On the one hand the government is telling that their rights are strengthened under the Lisbon Treaty, and in particular that they will enjoy greater protections due to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, but the stark reality is that the government fully supports the increasing power of employers to hire and fire as they wish with no built-in safeguards to prevent worker exploitation or mass dismissals of workers so that cheaper labour from another member state can be employed”, said Mr. Short.

“Workers have been under constant attack over the last few years due to globalisation and the European Union has at all times stood with the bosses instead of the workers.  There are no real safeguards for workers in the Lisbon Treaty and the Workers Party believes that workers will now see through the government’s false promises concerning the Charter of Fundamental Rights”. 

“The Taoiseach has rebuffed SIPTUs conciliatory tone and I believe that the majority of trade union members will now vote No to the Lisbon Treaty.  That is certainly the feedback that we are getting on the streets of Dundalk this weekend and our members throughout the country are getting”, said the Workers’ Party spokesman.