David Begg's Speech to IMPACT Conference 16 May
16 May 2008
EU Reform Treaty
Two of the four key issues on our negotiating agenda for the current national talks find a resonance in the debate about Europe.
For several years now the Commission has been trying to get agreement on a draft Directive to regulate the activities of Employment Agencies. The most recent initiative by the Portuguese Presidency revolved around a compromise whereby equal employment conditions would apply to agency workers in any employment after six weeks placement. Unfortunately, this effort was frustrated by the British and Irish Governments. It may be that the initiative will be revived by the French but the point to be made is that the EU is attempting to resolve a serious problem on our domestic agenda.
When the Reform Treaty was published last year the British Government, and initially the Irish Government too, sought to reserve their position on the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Under pressure from Congress - we resolved at our Biennial Delegate Conference not to support the Treaty unless the Government opted into the Charter - the Taoiseach changed his position. Why were we so concerned about this?
The fact is that the Charter of Fundamental rights gives legal status under the Treaty to a range of individual and collective rights supporting the values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity. Specifically, Article 28 states:
"Workers and employers, or their respective organisations, have, in accordance with union law and national law and practices, the right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements at the appropriate levels and, in the case of conflict of interest, to take collective action to defend their interests, including strike action".
The right of workers to bargain collectively with their employer through their trade unions is a burning issue since the Ryanair Supreme Court judgement. It is also a major issue in the current talks.
It must be understood that Article 28 would only be effective in domestic Irish Law if and when the Irish Government is 'implementing' EU law relevant to it. But if these rights, endorsed by the people, become fundamental rights when implementing EU law it is hard to see how the Supreme Court could disregard them in another context. Put another way, if the people vote for the Treaty then the people might also be deemed to have rejected a jurisprudence which holds that the rights are not fundamental. It follows that ratification of the Charter through referendum might yet have profound implications for the protection of these rights as a matter of domestic constitutional law.
Many people within the trade union movement are disenchanted with the European project. They regard the concept of Social Europe as having been put on the back boiler at best, or sacrificed on the alter of the neo-liberalism at worst. The experience of the efforts by the Commission to introduce the Services Directive in its original form has left a bad taste. These fears are not irrational for the present Commission is probably the most neo-liberal ever.
And yet the Commission is not all of Europe. The European Parliament played a vital role in the final solution to the Services Directive issue. The Parliament's powers are increased in the Reform Treaty. It is also true that, its neo-liberal orientation notwithstanding, the Commission is more progressive on social policy than our own Government as evidenced by the efforts to resolve the Temporary Employment Agency impasse. However, most important from a trade union viewpoint is the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It would, in my view, be a serious error of judgement to miss the opportunity to give legal effect to the Charter. It would also be illogical to oppose something important to us, even if less than perfect, while we are desperately trying to achieve the same thing in domestic law through negotiations and against implacable opposition. We have to be very hard headed and pragmatic about this.