TUC rejects EU constitution

The annual conference of the Trades Union Congress, held in September 2005, voted in favour of a resolution that rejected the proposed EU constitutional treaty.

The 2005 conference of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), held in Brighton on 12-15 September, adopted a resolution put forward by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) rejecting the proposed EU constitutional treaty. An amendment which sought to soften the resolution’s stance by calling for the TUC to 'reflect on' the rejection of the constitution in the referenda held in France and the Netherlands was defeated.

The move reverses the stance taken by the TUC’s 2004 conference when unions voted against a 'Euro-sceptic' motion, also proposed by the RMT, and in favour of a statement by the TUC general council, which put off taking a formal position on the constitution pending further consideration of the issues involved (UK0410102N). In April 2005, the TUC held a special conference to consider the constitutional treaty. However, following the rejection of the treaty by French and Dutch voters in the early summer, and the UK government’s announcement that the UK referendum, planned for 2006, would not now take place, the TUC took no further action on the issue.

As well as rejecting the proposed EU constitution and calling for the ratification process to be brought to an end, the RMT’s motion expressed concern that parts of the unratified constitution were being 'imposed' in any event, including the development of an EU diplomatic service and the creation of a defence agency 'to militarise the EU further'. It also rejected the 'increasingly neo-liberal policies emanating from Brussels', including EU directives that enforce the liberalisation of freight and passenger rail services across the EU, and reaffirmed the TUC’s opposition to the draft planned directive on services, which 'threatens to undermine decent public services, wages, conditions and social protection across the EU and beyond'. More broadly, the resolution rejected 'a European agenda which is elitist, militarist, corporate and anti-democratic', and called instead for an end to neo-liberal policies and the privatisation of public services, the strengthening of trade union and workers’ rights, and international peace and solidarity.

Speaking on behalf of the TUC general council, which supported the RMT motion, general secretary Brendan Barber sought to place the resolution’s rejection of the EU constitution in the context of the TUC’s positive approach to the European social model.

He accepted that, as a result of the votes in France and the Netherlands, the EU constitution was 'no longer viable', but argued that 'there are much bigger issues now at stake than a sterile semantic debate over whether something should be rejected which is already in the mortuary'. The EU had in fact been a 'key ally' for the TUC in fighting the neo-liberal agenda, and 'crucial social advances' had been won through Europe. It was vital for unions to 'win the battle for a strong social dimension to the EU and make the case for the European social model'. He said the general council accepted the motion against the background of 'a solid body of established TUC policy' underpinning its work in Europe.

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