Democrat September 2007 (Number 104)
Ammunition for the labour and trade union movement
Pamphlet Review
The Big EU Con Trick -Why trade unionists should demand a referendum on the EU's on the Renamed Constitution:Trade Unionists against the EU Constitution
This pamphlet published by Trade Unionists against the EU Constitution is of high quality both in content and form. It was published in time for delegates to the TUC Congress to read about the gravity of the implications of the EU Constitution.
The foreword is by RMT General Secretary Bob Crow who is also chairman of TUAEUC who makes clear that the Constitution "represents a new and significant threat to workers' rights to collective bargaining in the interest of creating a 'single internal market' without giving us the right to strike".
A list is given of the identical items in the original and those in the renamed EU Constitution, the so-called 'Reform Treaty'. This list clearly shows there is no difference between the two treaties as stated by several government leaders in other member States.
Further sections in the pamphlet outline the proposed attack on workers' rights which would be put into position if the new Treaty were to be ratified by all 27 member States..
'Flexicurity' is analysed which comes from a Green Paper published by the European Commission entitled "Modernising labour law to meet the challenges of the 21st century". The erroneous claim made in the Paper is that 'security' is ensured if workers embrace flexibility hence the new word 'flexicurity'.
A section on the vexed principle of the right to strike and the Charter of Fundamental Rights makes quite clear that draconian laws like the anti-trade union legislation in Britain will remain in place under what is called 'subsidiarity'. The Foreign Office has stated categorically that the Charter does not create the right to strike.
This pamphlet is a must to provoke discussion and provide ammunition in the debate about the EU Constitution.