UNIONS:SENIOR EUROPEAN trade unionists are reconsidering their long-held support for the European Union because it is now continually favouring business interests at the expense of workers, an Irish union leader told delegates.
Recent European Court of Justice judgments in Finland and Sweden threatened the ability of unions to enforce past agreements, allowing firms to bring in cheap workers from other EU states, said Unite regional secretary, Jimmy Kelly.
"This is about the subordination of social Europe below corporate Europe. They have given the green light to social dumping," Mr Kelly told the ardfheis. "Let's be clear about all of this: employers are turning workplaces into war zones, demanding real wage cuts and taking off with the profits.
"The spectre of wage exploitation is becoming a reality. Senior trades unionists throughout the European Union are rethinking their relationship with the EU, if this is what they are going to get."
Louth TD Arthur Morgan said workers' rights had come under sustained attack in Ireland in recent years, "the likes of which we have not seen since the early part of the last century".
It was an ever-quickening "race to the bottom", he added, "backed up by the nonsensical mentality that to improve our economy we must abandon workers' rights and try to compete with economies like India and China".
Ruthless employers were now using poorly paid agency workers, who were initially only used to cover short-term gaps, to fill all types of jobs, "displacing directly employed workers who have rights and entitlements that some employers see as costly".
Mr Morgan added: "This is not just an issue that affects migrant workers. Existing Irish workers are being displaced and forced to join agencies, particularly in the construction sector. There are trades people all over this State who are being turned away from sites and told they must join an agency before they will be employed. "
Sinn Féin, he said, wanted legislation to offer equal pay to agency workers, along with sick pay, holiday pay, protection from dismissal and company benefits, union membership rights.
"If we do not get legislation based on the principle of equal treatment soon we risk casualisation taking hold of our labour market. We will see one hundred years of workers' rights legislation become worthless. That's how serious this is," he said.
