SIPTU leadership 'throws in the towel' by backing Labour to return Fine Gael to power

THE National Executive of SIPTU has been accused by Mary Lou McDonald of “throwing in the towel” and betraying working people by its call on Wednesday for members to vote Labour to counterbalance Fine Gael in Government, despite five years of failure by Labour to defend services and working families struggling with punitive taxes.

Ireland's largest trade union says that while it would “obviously” prefer a left-of-centre government, there is no feasible prospect of this happening – even though there is a week of campaigning to go and a raft of left-of-centre candidates. Most notably there are more than 100 candidates contesting the 158-seat parliament who have signed up to the Right2Change principles.

SIPTU has urged its members to vote Labour first and then for other left-leaning candidates.

The call comes in a statement from the SIPTU's National Executive published in the union newspaper, Liberty.

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said:

“Before a vote has even been cast, the SIPTU National Executive has thrown in the towel and backed a Fine Gael-led government and its plans to give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest in our society.

“This is a betrayal of working people.

“Luckily, ordinary workers are wiser than the leadership of SIPTU.”

The Dublin Central TD said that reality is that, for the first time in the history of the state, people we have an opportunity to elect a progressive government under the Right2Change principles – backed by six trade unions and including the scrapping of water charges and the family home tax, and developing a major programme of investment in public services such as health and housing.

SIPTU would serve its members in a much better fashion if would throw its weight behind this effort, Mary Lou said.

“It must realise that the Labour Party has abandoned the ‘left of centre’ space that it speaks of and that another Fine Gael-led government can only mean more chaos for the people SIPTU represents.”

● Read also: Time for trade unions to reconsider their links to Labour Party