Yes camp ‘failed to convince workers’

SIPTU said the Government’s failure to convince workers meant it only had itself to blame for its failure to get a yes vote on the Lisbon treaty.

The union, which has 276,000 members, had been prepared to back the treaty if the Government was prepared to back the collective bargaining aspect of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. On two occasions in the past three weeks the union demanded a commitment from the Government on collective bargaining before it advocated a yes vote.

It said the Government never gave such a promise.