Involvement of Trades Unions in EU lawmaking

Yesterday the TPA released their latest report into the abysmal use of taxpayers funds by bodies and organisations that should not be in receipt of your hard earned cash. The report gave a detailed breakdown on the huge amounts being granted by government departments and NGO’s to Public Sector Trades Unions, both in direct grants and in paid time off for union ‘duties’.

Trade unions received £85.8 million from public sector organisations in 2009-10, made up of £18.3 million in direct payments from public sector organisations and an estimated £67.5 million in paid staff time.

You can read the full TPA report here.

The biggest of the Unions involved in this skimming of taxpayer funds, Unison, were not slow to issue a press release slamming the report itself as a waste of taxpayers money by utilising the Freedom of Information Act to gather the information together.

Of course Unison is not the only Union benefiting from this use of taxpayers funds, nor is it limited to the public sector although the TPA report only included public sector Unions. Most British Trades Unions cash in on grants and paid time brought in under rules produced by the Labour government of the past 13 years.

Most members of the public would expect Unions to finance their own staff, so that organisers, activists, negotiators and shop stewards etc are paid for out of Union membership subs, whilst the political activities of these Unions are paid for by the political levy placed upon their membership. The use of taxpayers money to subsidise the political activities of Unions is anathema to most British taxpayers.

But what both sides have failed to mention are the uses that this money and paid time off gained by the Unions is put to, beyond political lobbying and campaigning in the UK.

Further research by the Albion Alliance, all in the public domain at no cost to the taxpayer, shows us that British Trades Unions are heavily involved in the basics of the formulation of EU laws, many of which are introduced into UK law without recourse to our parliament.

This involvement in the key committees of the various EU instutions, agencies and plenary bodies is something that Unions in general keep very quiet about and Unison in particular fails to disclose at all on its website and to its membership.

The quantity and types of laws, both Directives and Regulations, coming out of Brussels that Unions have been instrumental in formulating are varied, but tend to be of the kind that force social change, curtail basic human rights in favour of communal ones, and in the main are the laws which involve the heaviest financial burden on the public.

Through their membership of advisory and policy committees in such institutions as the European Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the little known Assembly of European Regions (AER).

For example these committees have been responsible for input into the Europe Wide Smoking Ban, Minimum Pricing on Alcohol and the European Land Fill regulations which have directly resulted in disruption to bin collections, introduction of compulsory recycling projects and bin taxes, and many of the worst hair brained eco projects.

Unions are not only responsible for the formulation but also the implementation of these adopted policies through the creation of EU projects via UK Regional structures,  the European Federation of Local Government Chief Executives and the Local Government Association (LGA).

You have to ask a couple of questions at this stage. Like who pays for each and every participant in these organisations? The answer of course is you, the taxpayer. This is why your taxes are already so high.

A second question would be, who gave the permission for these people to act and make policy, as it sure as hell wasn’t the voters.

So when our government is looking at cuts, or reforms, what they will be doing as I have explained before, is undermining and removing the British institutions and British law, and replacing them slowly and deceptively with EU institutions and EU law, slice by slice selling our national soul to the beast of empire.

Its all important stuff because it affects you directly. 50 per cent of regulation affecting local government already originates from EU legislation and other international agreements, the Local Government Association’s European and International Unit says on its website.

If we look at the members of the European Economic and Social Committee, we see the various committees that formulate policy recommendations which are then presented to the European Commission to create regulation.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body that gives representatives of Europe’s socio-occupational interest groups, and others, a formal platform to express their points of views on EU issues. Its opinions are forwarded to the larger institutions – the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. It thus has a key role to play in the Union’s decision-making process.

So here are the UK members of the EESC. All pro-EU, and I suspect all in it for what they can get out of it, and not one of them elected. (click on their names to see what they have been involved with).

How many of them are being paid for by British Taxpayers? Unknown but researching. Heck, the whole damn edifice is taxpayer funded, so whether its direct or indirect taxation, you pay for it.

How many decisions/recommendations will be paid for by British Taxpayers? All of them as they are introduced here in the UK.

Adams, Richard Consultant in social, environmental and ethical business and project development		Group III (Various Interests)
Blower, Christine Acting General Secretary, National Union of Teachers (NUT)		Group II (Employees)
Boyle, Sandy Former President UNI Finance and Uni-Europa Finance; Past President Scottish TUC		Group II (Employees)
Burns, Brendan Director of Burns, Burns and Burns – Former Vice Chairman and Policy Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)		Group I (Employers)
Cassidy, Bryan Former Member of the European Parliament (1984-1999)		Group I (Employers)
Coldrick, Peter Head of Brussels Office of the Trades Union Congress (TUC)		Group II (Employees)
Crook, Nicholas International Officer, public sector union UNISON		Group II (Employees)
Curtis, Brian Regional Organiser, Wales and the West of England, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)		Group II (Employees)
D’Sa, Rose Consultant in EU, Commonwealth and International Law – Consultant in Legal Education/Distance Learning		Group III (Various Interests)
Fraser, Kenneth Corporate adviser		Group I (Employers)
Jones, Tom Legal Services Commissioner – Vice-president of the Wales Council for voluntary action (WCVA) – farmer		Group III (Various Interests)
King, Brenda Chief Executive, African & Caribbean Diversity – Commissioner, Women’s National Commission (WNC) – Advisory Board, Hays Executive – Advisory Board, Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO)		Group I (Employers)
McKnight, Judy Former General Secretary, National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO)		Group II (Employees)
Morgan, Peter Partner, P.W.L. Morgan & Associates; Director of a portfolio of companies; Former Director General, Institute of Directors		Group I (Employers)
Morrice, Jane Communications Consultant – Director, Photographic and Media Production Company, former member Northern Ireland Assembly and Deputy Speaker, former Head EC Office Northern Ireland, former BBC correspondent		Group III (Various Interests)
O’Neill, Maureen Associate Mowat Research Board; Member, Scottish Social Services Council; Development Director, Faith in Older People; Consultant in Charity Governance (NHS QIS)		Group III (Various Interests)
Osborn, Frederic Adrian Chair, Stakeholder Forum for our Common Future		Group III (Various Interests)
Peel, Jonathan Business and Trade Consultant		Group I (Employers)
Sears, David Former Deputy Director-General, British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)		Group I (Employers)
Sharma, Madi Entrepreneur with businesses in import-export, education and property. Consultant in the fields of entrepreneurship, education, corporate social responsibility, gender equality, diversity and social inclusion		Group I (Employers)
Sharma, Sukhdev Chairman Southwest Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust		Group III (Various Interests)
Smyth, Michael Economist – University of Ulster , Belfast; Economic Adviser to the Northern Ireland Assembly		Group III (Various Interests)
Taylor, Monica Executive Council Member, Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU)		Group II (Employees)
Weimann, Dörthe Research Officer – Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT)		Group II (Employees)

Just who are all these self appointed people? They are not elected. You can look at all the documentation of the EESC here, so you can see just how much damage to your life the Unions have done by influencing the plethora of rules and regulations coming out of Brussels.

As I said right at the beginning, this is not confined to public sector unions, nearly all UK Unions are involved in the EU at this level, even if they deny it, nor its not confined to one EU institution, you can find a list of all the EU institutions here, either in the top tab or in the sidebar, you can dig for yourselves and find Union involvement in all these repressive laws coming out of Brussels.. you know, the ones that they claim to oppose at home.

Happy hunting…

Adams, Richard Consultant in social, environmental and ethical business and project development		Group III (Various Interests)
Blower, Christine Acting General Secretary, National Union of Teachers (NUT)		Group II (Employees)
Boyle, Sandy Former President UNI Finance and Uni-Europa Finance; Past President Scottish TUC		Group II (Employees)
Burns, Brendan Director of Burns, Burns and Burns – Former Vice Chairman and Policy Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)		Group I (Employers)
Cassidy, Bryan Former Member of the European Parliament (1984-1999)		Group I (Employers)
Coldrick, Peter Head of Brussels Office of the Trades Union Congress (TUC)		Group II (Employees)
Crook, Nicholas International Officer, public sector union UNISON		Group II (Employees)
Curtis, Brian Regional Organiser, Wales and the West of England, National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)		Group II (Employees)
D’Sa, Rose Consultant in EU, Commonwealth and International Law – Consultant in Legal Education/Distance Learning		Group III (Various Interests)
Fraser, Kenneth Corporate adviser		Group I (Employers)
Jones, Tom Legal Services Commissioner – Vice-president of the Wales Council for voluntary action (WCVA) – farmer		Group III (Various Interests)
King, Brenda Chief Executive, African & Caribbean Diversity – Commissioner, Women’s National Commission (WNC) – Advisory Board, Hays Executive – Advisory Board, Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO)		Group I (Employers)
McKnight, Judy Former General Secretary, National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO)		Group II (Employees)
Morgan, Peter Partner, P.W.L. Morgan & Associates; Director of a portfolio of companies; Former Director General, Institute of Directors		Group I (Employers)
Morrice, Jane Communications Consultant – Director, Photographic and Media Production Company, former member Northern Ireland Assembly and Deputy Speaker, former Head EC Office Northern Ireland, former BBC correspondent		Group III (Various Interests)
O’Neill, Maureen Associate Mowat Research Board; Member, Scottish Social Services Council; Development Director, Faith in Older People; Consultant in Charity Governance (NHS QIS)		Group III (Various Interests)
Osborn, Frederic Adrian Chair, Stakeholder Forum for our Common Future		Group III (Various Interests)
Peel, Jonathan Business and Trade Consultant		Group I (Employers)
Sears, David Former Deputy Director-General, British Chambers of Commerce (BCC)		Group I (Employers)
Sharma, Madi Entrepreneur with businesses in import-export, education and property. Consultant in the fields of entrepreneurship, education, corporate social responsibility, gender equality, diversity and social inclusion		Group I (Employers)
Sharma, Sukhdev Chairman Southwest Yorkshire Mental Health NHS Trust		Group III (Various Interests)
Smyth, Michael Economist – University of Ulster , Belfast; Economic Adviser to the Northern Ireland Assembly		Group III (Various Interests)
Taylor, Monica Executive Council Member, Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU)		Group II (Employees)
Weimann, Dörthe Research Officer – Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT)		Group II (Employees)