Union boss: Treaty not backed by colleagues

The Government’s job of selling the EU fiscal treaty has become harder after the country’s most senior trade union leader admitted that none of his colleagues supported it.

Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary David Begg said it was a matter of record that he was against the treaty but that there were serious consequences if Ireland voted no.

“We’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t,” he said.

Union chiefs under congress met yesterday but were split on which way to vote. Mr Begg and his colleagues on the executive council have decided not to take an active stance on the vote. This means it will not make any recommendation to affiliated unions as to how they should advise members.

Instead, a briefing paper by Mr Begg will be given to members as a guide.

While union leaders are against the idea of the treaty, the stumbling block centres on the consequences for Ireland if it votes no and is therefore locked out of the EU’s future bailout fund.

Access to the Emergency Stability Mechanism, which Ireland may need once funding runs out at the end of 2013, will be blocked for EU states that do not sign up to the treaty.

However, some union leaders want to use pension funds instead to help the ailing economy.

ICTU’s decision means that individual unions are free to make up their minds on the issue. Unite, Mandate, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, and Siptu dealt the Government a major blow in recent days by refusing to unconditionally back the pact.

Trade union sources say a fifth union, the CPSU, could signal its opposition to the treaty at its conference tomorrow.

Mr Begg refused to say which way he would vote, adding: “Nobody at all in our ranks is in agreement with the fiscal treaty. Everybody thinks it’s a bad treaty ... it was something which has been put to us by dent of circumstances, a sort of force du jour arising from the peculiar economic conditions in Europe. In that sense we don’t feel any ownership of it nor do we see any particular merit in it in the current situation.”

Any court challenge to measures under the proposed EU fiscal treaty if is passed is unlikely to succeed, Mr Begg warned in his paper.

He also said a yes vote would restrict wage rises and keep labour costs to strict limits.

A rejection of the treaty and a subsequent inability to access further bailout funds could lead to harsh cuts and even more taxes, he told unions.

ICTU’s decision came as Finance Minister Michael Noonan hinted that his department would finally bow to the inevitable and reduce its growth forecast for this year.

In recent months, the Government stuck to its budget forecast of 1.3% GDP growth for 2012 even though the EU, IMF, Central Bank, and most independent commentators were predicting lower growth.

Mr Noonan said his department’s forecast was “in line with the consensus at the time”.