Siptu chief calls for unified leftist alternative

In spite of concerted criticism that the party is failing its leftist ideals, Siptu president Jack O’Connor has said Labour is “defending working people and civil society within Government to the limits of its electoral mandate”.

In an address to his union’s biennial delegate conference in Dublin, Mr O’Connor also said the union did not indulge in describing Sinn Féin’s economic policies as “fantasy economics”, but said those policies were largely consistent with trade union research.

He also called for parties on the left to build a “unified, cohesive, and credible alternative” and warned it was not sufficient to vie for leadership of the opposition but should seek to construct policies for Government.