Why Should Trade Unionists Vote in the European Elections?

9 Apr, 2014

member briefings

ERIS European Election Briefing 1: Why Voting in the European Election May 2014 is Important for Trade Unions?

Introduction:

The purpose of this briefing is to provide information about the European Elections on Thursday 22 May, 2014. Europe is a highly charged issue in the UK and euro-scepticism and anti-European voices often drown out any reasonable and measured discussion about the pros and cons of what UK’s membership brings to its citizens. This briefing seeks to provide some background information and outline why it is important for trade union members to vote in the European Elections.

Background:

The European Union was not constructed by bureaucrats but born out a response to war and conflict in Europe. European leaders including Churchill saw the need for greater European integration and as early as 1949 the Council of Europe was created. The first economic and social institutions were formed in April 1951, with the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, followed in March 1957 by the Treaty of Rome. Since this time the first six countries (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and West Germany) have been steadily joined by new nation states including the UK in 1973. In 1975, the Labour government held the UK’s first ever referendum on should the UK stay in the European Market. The ‘Yes Vote’ won a large majority of over 67%. In 1993, the European Community agreed greater cooperation and policy sharing and today the European Union is a political union between 28 member states. Despite the referendum, UK involvement in Europe has been a major fault line in British politics and public attitudes to Europe are often divided.

What are you voting for?

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution that provides citizens with representation in Europe. The parliament is made up of 766 MEPs from across the 28 member states. Seats in the European Parliament are shared in relation to the population of each nation state. The UK has 73 MEPs who sit in parliamentary groups: Labour with the S&D Group (Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats); the Conservatives in the ECR Group (European Conservatives and Reformists) a right-wing alliance of anti-federalists that separated from traditional pro-European centre-right parties; the Liberal Democrats sit with the ALDE Group (Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe); and UKIP in the EFD Group (Europe of Freedom and Democracy) including various nationalist and right wing Eurosceptic parties. MEP’s are elected for five years and vote on new and existing EU legislation and budget controls. MEPs also sit on the twenty-two parliamentary standing committees. The make-up and chairing of the committees reflects the outcome of the election results with different parliamentary groups acting as chairperson on foreign affairs, transport, employment, social affairs, environment, health and safety and many other European wide issues. Since the signing of the Lisbon Treaty the European Parliament has increased lawmaking and budgetary powers and now decides on the majority of EU legislation and elects the President of the European Commission.

What has Europe ever done for you?

Depending on the viewpoint Europe is either a ‘threat to national sovereignty’ or ‘an entry ticket to civilisation’. Whichever, the EU currently providers its 507 million citizens with a wide range of rights and protections including:

Freedom of movement and residency across the EU member states. An estimated two million British live, work, study or are retired in other EU countries.
Citizen rights including the right to vote and stand in local and European elections.
Right to state healthcare including the European State Health Insurance scheme.
Right to trade within the world’s largest economy without trade and border restrictions. The EU is the UK’s major trading partner and many jobs are linked to Europe.
Consumer rights including caps on mobile phone charges and flight delay compensation
Employment rights and protections including adherence to labour, equality and social rights set out in the European Social Charter; Health & Safety rights and protections including introduction of the ‘six pack’, working time directive and workplace regulations; the ICE regulations on the right for workers to be informed and consulted; increased worker participation with the introduction of works councils; the Charter of Fundamental Rights providing legal rights including the right to fair working conditions and protection against unjustified dismissal, the introduction of the right to paid annual leave; and commitment to the European Social Model i.e. the promotion of sustainable employment, improved living and working conditions, social protection and dialogue between employers and trade unions.

How will a vote make a difference?

The greatest threat in the forthcoming European Elections is voter apathy with only 34% of the electorate participating in the last election. The 2009 results saw the rise of UKIP, a single-issue party with many people offering their support as a ‘protest vote’. The Conservatives and UKIP gained over half the MEP seats and sit alongside ultra-ring-wing and fascist groups voting against a range of directives and legislation that offer greater protection to working people. Their position and attitude towards most European legislation is hostile. For example, UKIP recently opposed increased worker protection and health support for workers exposed to asbestos and much of the supposed ‘red tape’ they seek to rip up contains essential employment rights and protection. Meanwhile, the Conservatives try to outflank UKIP with similar lurches to the right with David Cameron believing that a repatriation of power will provide a ‘best-of-both-worlds’ situation for the UK. The Labour Party, Lib-Democrats and Green Party are the only broadly pro-European mainstream parties in the UK.

ERIS Comment:

ERIS is not a pro-European Union organisation but believes in a Europe for working people, working together with other trade unions to secure employment, improved living and working conditions, social dialogue and partnership. The current EU is not without faults but is often the source of better employment rights than the UK government offers and a check and balance on essential health & safety, working-time or maternity protections.

The Conservative and UKIP vision for Europe needs scrutiny. Cameron’s repatriation and ‘red-tape’ rhetoric is in reality an attempt to ‘opt-out’ from the hard-won employment rights and protections in the workplace today. The Conservatives and UKIP often make patriotic claims and state a ‘common sense’ approach to protecting the interests of ordinary working people yet also support an anti-trade union agenda and want to dilute the European Social Model in favour of privatisation and free-market economics.

The European Union can and must be reformed in a positive way and reflect the lives of its citizens. Europe needs a new economic model that promotes jobs, growth and investment in place of austerity, provides world-leading education and training linked to sustainable jobs and technological investment and builds robust democratic structures.

The European Elections matter because British MEPs are already involved in European decision-making. Your vote can therefore either help select MEPs who will influence rules and policies that support working people or, be used by anti-European Union and Eurosceptic parties in protest. UKIP recently admitted that it may take up to ten years before they could negotiate an EU exit, a slow death for UK investment and job security whilst the Conservatives repatriation policy given a thumbs down by the French and Germans. Trade union members therefore need to support political parties with a pro-European outlook and commitment to legislation that supports workers and the workplace.

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