SIPTU leader's call for a vote for Labour is a vote for Fine Gael, says Sinn Féin

SIPTU President Jack O’Connor's call for people to vote Labour to try and prevent an overall Fine Gael majority government is tantamount to a call for the re-election of Fine Gael, Sinn Féin Senator David Cullinane says.

In September, the Labour parliamentary party formally agreed to a vote transfer pact with Fine Gael.

Responding to Jack O'Connor's call, Waterford Sinn Féin Senator David Cullinane (pictured below) said it is very disappointing that the leader of the largest trade union in the country would seek the re-election of a conservative, pro-austerity government.

He said that Jack O’Connor, writing in the new issue of SIPTU newspaper Liberty, is clearly drawing the battle lines for the general election.

“But, unfortunately, Jack O'Connor is standing on the wrong side of the line,” the Sinn Féin Workers' Rights spokesperson said.

“At a time when progressive forces are aligning under the banner of Right2Change to give voters a real alternative to the conservative parties, it is extremely disappointing that the leader of the largest trade union in the country would seek the re-election of a conservative, pro-austerity party.”

Rejecting the SIPTU leader's claim Labour would somehow moderate Fine Gael policies was rubbished by the Sinn Féin senator.

“The problem for Jack, and for the Labour Party, is that we have been here before,” David Cullinane said. “At the last election, Labour promised to blunt the edge of the Fine Gael knife but they broke that promise and it is the people who are paying for that betrayal.

“To go to the workers once again and to ask them to support another Fine Gael/Labour Government is not good enough from the leader of SIPTU.”

David Cullinane added:

“Sinn Féin wants to lead an alternative government, an anti-austerity government that can deliver a fair recovery in line with the Right2Change principles.

“That is what we will work for but, unfortunately, Jack O’Connor has once again called for a vote for Labour when it is clear that a vote for Labour is a vote for Fine Gael.”