by John Stevenson

Jane Carolan

UNISON's Jane Carolan slammed EU proposals for the ‘flexisecurity' threat to workers' rights as she ‘supported critically' a statement on Europe from the STUC General Council.

While the statement said the EU Reform Treaty was a ‘Trojan Horse for unfettered privatisation', Jane was concerned that criticism of the ‘flexisecurity' concept was not explicit enough.

The term ‘flexisecurity' had been introduced by the EU Commission to "suggest that if a worker accepts flexibility, job security at work will follow. There are pigs flying over the River Ness at the moment!" quipped Jane.

"Flexisecurity is a fundamental attack on workers' rights designed to remove collective bargaining rights and casualise the job market", said Jane.

"We are sleepwalking into a Europe of monetarism, dominated by business interests, privatisation and exploitation. The European response to globalisation is to drive down wages and the social wage - a race to the bottom", warned Jane.

The STUC agreed to continue to highlight the dangers of the EU Treaty and campaign for the UK to play a full part in defending ‘Social Europe' and supporting existing legal protection for workers.