Ireland makes a Mockery of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
9 Dec 2008
Successive Irish governments have made a mockery of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by failing to guarantee the rights of trade unions to represent their members, Congress said today (December 9).
In a statement issued to mark the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration, Congress said Irish trade union rights were among the worst in the developed world and that Irish people had no right to be represented by trade unions, contrary to the 1948 declaration.
According to Congress official Esther Lynch, the stance of successive government means that "while they speak the language of international human rights, they do not practice it. Thus, while an individual worker may join a union, he or she has no right to be represented by that union or have a union negotiate on their behalf - which is a bit like giving people access to a doctor but refusing to allow that doctor to treat them.
"In this regard, Ireland is out of step with the rest of the developed world and with our EU colleagues. The government research into the defeat of the Lisbon Treaty identified fears about workers' rights as the single greatest concern amongst all voters. That is hardly suprising given the inferior rights that prevail in this jurisdiction.
"If government wants to fully honour the letter and the spirit of the Universal Declaration, it should legislate immediately to provide unions with the right to represent and bargain on behalf of their members."
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