Unions Join Call For EU Referendum
Yesterday, the National Union of Rail Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and Britain’s General Union (GMB) submitted formal motions demanding a referendum on the EU Constitution.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) also said that there would be a full debate on the EU Referendum issue at its annual conference in Brighton.
The question of Britain’s relationship with the European Union is, I believe, the greatest and most defining issue of our time. Not hospital waiting list times. Not the war in Iraq. And certainly not ‘climate change’.
The challenges that face Britain today can all eventually be traced back, in some shape or form, to the monolith institutions of the European Union and the binding legislation they create. These affect all aspects of British life including how much we spend on our hospitals, which criminals we can or can’t deport, control of our national borders and the core tenants of our criminal justice system. The EU now governs and presides over most aspects of how British people go about the business of their everyday lives.
The referendum announcements by the Unions are therefore, on the face of it, very good news. The more voices that collectively call for a referendum, the harder it will be for Gordon Brown and the Government to ignore us.
However, there is one slight drawback to all of this. While the Trade Unions are demanding a referendum, it’s not certain whether they will later campaign for a ‘no’ vote.
Currently the RMT and GMB are backing a referendum on the grounds that the EU Treaty is practically identical to the Constitution for which Labour promised a referendum – but also because the EU Treaty does not go far enough in its supposed labour reforms. Arguably, what the Unions in fact wish to see is ‘more EU’ rather than less – or none at all.
Despite this, and while the Unions and TUC deliberate over their next move, there is gathering pace behind an EU Referendum march and rally being organised in London for the 27th of October which aims to assemble more than half a million protesters. The rally’s excellent website and further details can be found here.
