TRADE unions abandoned their support for the EU yesterday, condemning moves for more privatisation and new rules that allow firms to pay migrant workers poverty wages.

The TUC backed a motion rejecting the European constitution, amid fears that it could be revived in some form next year, and opposed the services directive that will enable migrant workers to be paid in their country of origin. This would allow companies to pay workers from Eastern Europe in line with average wages in their own countries, far less than the British minimum wage. Unions fear this will trigger a “race to the bottom” for pay and conditions.

The vote denotes a marked shift towards Euroscepticism by the unions, which have broadly supported the EU in recent years, believing closer ties would deliver better working conditions.

Although some unions have had reservations about Europe in the past, they have been counterbalanced by pro-European unions, such as Amicus. But even Amicus has changed its tune and yesterday backed the Eurosceptic motion to oppose any revival of the EU constitution.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, said that a revival of the constitution, which has been rejected by France and the Netherlands, would create a “European superstate that backs big business to privatise the services”.

He said that the majority of people did not want public services to be operated by the private sector and that their future should not be controlled by “an unaccountable central bank”. The unions’ new-found hostility to Europe is a further blow to ministers, who are currently struggling to revive Britain’s ailing presidency of the EU. The six-month term, which started in July, risks becoming a washout, with Tony Blair’s attention diverted by terrorism, followed by a long summer holiday and now the Labour Party conference.

It will be particularly embarrassing for Mr Blair if at the Labour conference this month the unions pick a fight over the future direction of the EU. Quarrels among EU member-states over the fate of the constitution and the future budget are unlikely to be resolved before December, which may leave Britain having nothing to show for its six months in charge.

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