SIPTU MEMBERSHIP CALLS FOR NO VOTE ON NICE

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday October 11, 2002 16:18 by Justin Moran - Sinn Fein maigh_nuad at yahoo dot com

Conference didn't go the way Des wanted it.

SIPTU MEMBERSHIP CALLS FOR NO VOTE ON NICE

Sinn Féin’s Nice Campaign Director Daithí Doolan has welcomed the vote at the SIPTU Dublin regional conference in Nice where grassroots members voted to call for a No vote on the Treaty by 184 votes to 131. The motion, proposed by SIPTU Education branch, called for a rejection of the Treaty on the grounds that it opened the way to greater military intervention and further economic liberalisation

Mr Doolan, who was at the conference said: “I am delighted that this motion was put to the conference and passed. It is a clear sign that on the issue of Nice the Trade Union leadership is completely out of touch with the grassroots of the Labour movement on this issue.

“Despite what has at times seemed to be a media ban on the issue of the economic liberalisation aspects of the Nice Treaty, ordinary Trade Union members are extremely concerned at the implications of this Treaty for essential public services. This decision will be a huge morale boost for those of us on the left campaigning for a No vote on the grounds that it threatens Irish neutrality and has a privatisation agenda backed by European big business.” ENDS