John Monks, European Trade Union Confederation general secretary and former TUC GS was interviewed on Sky TV and handled this difficult issue every well, I thought. It spelt out the issues for workers' rights in europe and in the UK.
I note also that one of the strike leaders said they had sent the BNP packing when they showed up to support them. Brown and Mandelson need to realise that a failure to properly transpose the Posted Workers Directive into UK law and take other measures, means that in deep recessionary conditions, there will be further support for the BNP among the unemployed and poorly paid.
Immingham is an important test point for UK politicians and for the CBI; for if they do not care, as long as British employers can have access to cheap labour anywhere in Europe or at home, the chickens will surely come home to roost. It is a very important test point for the unions as well, as Immingham is one of the few places in the Yorks/Humber/Nth Lincs region where they still have some bargaining power. These are guys who are pretty tough and being paid quite well in a sea of lower wages.
I have seen an analysis of average BNP support across the North West in advance of the European elections and it is rather optimistic that it is not widespread enough to win a seat, albeit it very strong in pockets as around Burnley etc, but the point is that it is very high indeed in depressed regions, such as the former mining towns in both West and East north of England. If that depression grips more towns then BNP support will increase....the LP is nearly moribund in many places in the north and the unions are very weak indeed at local trades council level.
What is interesting in what I have read is that the press are broadly sympathetic for once to the workers' side and do not seem to have mentioned that the strikes are actually illegal, with the unions subject to fines if they are not ordering their members back to work, around the country.
For Brown and Mandelson, it is the toughest test of all, as it will decide if they remain 'free market Keynesians' more sympathetic to the employers' side, or true inheritors of Roosevelt and his New Deal for labour (he gave orgainsing rights to american unions in the 1930s as part of the New Deal) On that I am a sceptic, I'm afraid, but unless they do make it clear that they stand on the side of working people, they will may well fail in reviving the British economy.......their strategy of throwing so much money at it, without trying to lift the people's spirits, is unlikely to succeed. They need to give new rights to workers and to unions to organise, as Roosevelt did and try to secure an EU style social dialogue agreement which the unions can also deliver on.
Immingham is an important test point for UK politicians and for the CBI; for if they do not care, as long as British employers can have access to cheap labour anywhere in Europe or at home, the chickens will surely come home to roost. It is a very important test point for the unions as well, as Immingham is one of the few places in the Yorks/Humber/Nth Lincs region where they still have some bargaining power. These are guys who are pretty tough and being paid quite well in a sea of lower wages.
I have seen an analysis of average BNP support across the North West in advance of the European elections and it is rather optimistic that it is not widespread enough to win a seat, albeit it very strong in pockets as around Burnley etc, but the point is that it is very high indeed in depressed regions, such as the former mining towns in both West and East north of England. If that depression grips more towns then BNP support will increase....the LP is nearly moribund in many places in the north and the unions are very weak indeed at local trades council level.
What is interesting in what I have read is that the press are broadly sympathetic for once to the workers' side and do not seem to have mentioned that the strikes are actually illegal, with the unions subject to fines if they are not ordering their members back to work, around the country.
For Brown and Mandelson, it is the toughest test of all, as it will decide if they remain 'free market Keynesians' more sympathetic to the employers' side, or true inheritors of Roosevelt and his New Deal for labour (he gave orgainsing rights to american unions in the 1930s as part of the New Deal) On that I am a sceptic, I'm afraid, but unless they do make it clear that they stand on the side of working people, they will may well fail in reviving the British economy.......their strategy of throwing so much money at it, without trying to lift the people's spirits, is unlikely to succeed. They need to give new rights to workers and to unions to organise, as Roosevelt did and try to secure an EU style social dialogue agreement which the unions can also deliver on.
Immingham is a case in point - will they commit themselves to resolve the inadequacy of the Posted Workers Directive transposition in the UK and press to have the recent European Court of Justice judgements on cross border employment cases resolved in EU legislation? They could set this down as collateral for the unions, in return for bailing out CBI members with taxpayers money. It is the government's choice - will they remain false "Rooseveltians" and in the end just hand power to Cameron, who will care even less at the end of the day and is leader of a party which has by no means resolved its European arguments?
No comments:
Post a Comment