TRADE UNION RIGHTS

RMTnews :: november 2007 :: www.rmt.org.uk 8 R MT members have been urged to write to their MPs to demand a referendum on the rejected EU Constitution which was resurrected last month as the so-called Treaty of Lisbon. While EU leaders toasted their deal, around a quarter of a million trade unionists were marching outside the summit against this "neo-liberal" treaty in the biggest demonstration in Lisbon in 20 years. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that the Labour government promised a referendum two years ago and it was time to keep that promise. The government has claimed that the new treaty was different. However, the Labour-dominated House of Commons Scrutiny Committee recently came to the conclusion that the new treaty is "substantially equivalent to the Constitutional Treaty". The treaty will abolish over 50 areas of national veto, including transport, and give Brussels and its European Court of Justice huge legal and economic powers over all member states. The author of the Constitution Valery Giscard d'Estaing confirmed that the new treaty was “a catalogue of amendments” designed to be “impenetrable for the public”. He said that the tiny changes to the original constitution were made to "head off any threat of referenda". Trade Unionists Against the EU Constitution has produced a pamphlet outlining the contents of the treaty which is available from Unity House or from info@tuaeuc.org H undreds of trade unionists from across Britain converged on parliament last month to call for support for fair trade-union laws that allow workers the freedom to fight inequality and poverty. Protesters were joined by MPs and union leaders calling for support for the Trade Union Rights and Freedom Bill, which would remove some of the most punitive restrictions imposed by anti-union laws. The bill, introduced by John McDonnell MP, was scheduled to have its second reading the next day but a Tory MP deliberately filibustered, or talking out Parliament’s time, so that the Bill could not be debated. In spite of the lack of progress in the Commons, the bill has not gone away and indeed over 131 MPs have signed Early Day Motion 532 on the issue. The demonstration, called by the United Campaign to Repeal the Anti-Union Laws, was followed by a rally in the House of Commons. "This bill offered the ideal opportunity to re-establish basic civil liberties for trade unionists in this country," John McDonnell said. STUC president Phil McGarry said: "If we have a government that is listening and learning it should acknowledge the growing support for a bill that will right some of the massive wrongs that have undermined collective bargaining". Leading labour lawyer John Hendy QC said that nine waves of anti-union laws, all opposed by Labour in opposition, have “left working people having to jump through hoops to take industrial action at all”. The United Campaign will continue to campaign for the Trade Union Freedom Bill and will be producing a newsletter and details of forthcoming events in the near future. FOR TRADE UNION FRE DEMAND A REFEREN REFERENDUM: Members of RMT’s South East regional council hand out TUAEUC pamphlets to TUC delegates