Workers’ rights would be advanced under the Lisbon Treaty, Blair Horan of the Civil Public and Services Union has said.
Addressing the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting in Athlone, Mr Horan said the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which will be made legally binding by Lisbon, would give the right to collective action equal status with other Treaty freedoms.
He admitted recent judgments by the European Court of Justice had given rise to concerns the court was prioritising so-called “economic freedoms” over fundamental rights such as the right to take collective action.
But he maintained the cases were “primarily technical” and had resulted from member states failing to properly transpose EU directives into national law, “and had little relevance to Ireland”.
Continuing his war of words with Joe Higgins, Mr Horan repeated his allegation that the Socialist Party MEP deliberately altered the text of an article in the Charter of Fundamental Rights to distort its meaning and bolster the argument that the charter was subservient to the market.
Mr Higgins has denied the error on his website was deliberate, insisting it had been inadvertent mistake which had subsequently been corrected.
In his address, Mr Horan said it was not surprising that as the obvious economic benefits of European Union membership diminished with prosperity, “some people would seek to justify their opposition to further integration on the grounds that Europe has changed from the economic community that we joined 36 years ago”.
“But the truth is that it hasn’t,” he said, claiming much of the content and values of the Treaty were similar to the initial treaties and communiqués which established the EU.
Ratifying the Treaty was “the only means” to maintain the political and economic independence the State had gained over the past century, he said.
"While people won’t be persuaded about the Lisbon Treaty just by reference to past benefits, it is nonetheless important to remind people that Europe has been the source of most of the improvements for workers’ rights over the past thirty years, " Mr Horan said.
Mr Horan said the Treaty should be supported by those who wished to see economic progress and improved living standards, “alongside the progressive enhancement and protections for workers rights”.
“For those who argue that Lisbon should be rejected due to concerns regarding workers rights I challenge them to show how they can improve matters as the reality is that a No vote is a vote for the status quo, while a Yes vote is a vote,” he said.
