Brown knows full well that he is powerless to act. This EU law is
only part of British law because Blair ditched Britain's opt-out,
previously negotiated by Jon Major and the Tories. The Swedes faced
this problem earlier but lost two cases in front of the politicised
European Court of Justice.
Peter Hain in all the quotes I give comes nearest to the truth. As
you can see he said ""We should stop gold plating EU regulations and
we should stand up for the British people, that is why I understand
the anger at job losses."
He said he couldn't see how giving EU workers transportation and
housing at the same price as local workers and therefore he said he
felt "something fishy might be going on".
I partticularly draw your attention - as I did two days ago - to the
fact that nobody appears to have checked on the employment conditions
of this imported 'brigade' of workers. Are they charged for their
accomodation ? Are they paying tax under PAYE and National
Insurance. Are their 'perks' taxed? Is the floating 'hotel' safe
and sanitary ? THESE are the things the British government should
b e doing NOW if they haven't already!
Then the Sunday Times reports a rumour that the government is going
to the EU on bended knees to get the law changed. That sounds
deadfjully like a bit of government spin to me!!
But at the end of all this the consumer pays. But it doesn't have to
pay TOTAL , who is the ultimate employer of these men.
xxxxxxxxxx cs
A final red rag to the proverbial bull --- "You can go and work in
Europe, Mandelson tells strikers - Independent on Sunday
========================
ANANOVA 1.2.09
Brown condemns wildcat strikes
Gordon Brown condemned wildcat strikes as indefensible amid frantic
efforts to prevent the row over the use of foreign labour escalating
into mass industrial action.
The Prime Minister said he recognised people were "worried" about
jobs being taken by workers from other countries, but stressed that
the UK was part of a "single European market".
He also sought to explain his pledge of "British jobs for British
workers", insisting he had only meant people would be given the
skills to compete against other nationalities. [He knows that he
intended us to think he meant what he said, He's wriggling -cs]
The comments, in an interview with the BBC's Politics Show, came as
efforts continued to stop tensions spiralling out of control.
Officials from government departments, unions, employers and the
mediation service Acas have been in frantic discussions following a
series of wildcat strikes that erupted across the country on Friday.
The protests were prompted by a decision to bring in hundreds of
Italian and Portuguese contractors to work on a new £200 million
plant at the giant Lindsey Oil Refinery at North Killingholme, North
Lincolnshire. Unions claim Britons were not given any opportunity to
apply for the posts.
In his interview the Prime Minister was asked what his message would
be to those thinking of staging sympathy strikes on Monday.
"That that's not the right thing to do and it's not defensible," he
replied. "What we've set up as a process to deal with the questions
that people have been asking about what has happened in this
particular instance."
He went on: "When I talked about British jobs, I was taking about
giving people in Britain the skills, so that they have the ability to
get jobs which were at present going to people from abroad and
actually encouraging people to take up the courses and the education
and learning that is necessary for British workers to be far more
skilled for the future."
However, the Government's stance was given short shrift by the
unions. Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB, said: "No company
should be able to discriminate against anyone on the grounds of where
they were born. You simply cannot say that only Italians can apply
for jobs as has happened in this case. No-one is saying that
different countries cannot bid for different contracts. What is
happening here would be illegal under UK domestic law."
=========================
SUNDAY TIMES 1.2.09
Ministers seek to change European rules to head off protests against
foreign workers
Sam Coates, Chief Political Correspondent
Gordon Brown will go to Europe to seek new legal safeguards for
British workers in an attempt to head off the growing industrial
unrest and the prospect of a fresh wave of strikes this week. [The
paper gives absolutely no evidence for this at all. Brown spoke on
the matter this morning and never mentioned it! - cs]
European laws have been distorted by two rulings by the European
Court of Justice at the end of 2007, which ministers believe water
down the rights of British workers.
The Government will now seek fresh directives to ensure that workers
cannot be brought in from overseas on lower salaries and fewer
benefits than domestic workers would be entitled to.
However, the Government has not yet mapped out how it will seek to
overturn the judgments, and it is unclear how fast any changes could
be made.
The European court rulings, known as the Viking and Laval cases,
prevent unions from protesting against companies that bring in
foreign workers and undercut collective bargaining agreements.
Britain could expect to be supported by France in its push for
reform, but the Czechs, who hold the presidency of the EU, appear to
be resisting any quick changes.
There is considerable nervousness about the wildcat strikes in
Britain after it emerged that the British National Party is promoting
the strikes on its website, using the "British jobs for British
workers" slogan coined by the Prime Minister in a 2007 speech.
Sadiq Khan, the Communities Minister, said yesterday that ministers
had to prevent the situation becoming a "tinderbox" for wider unrest.
"What we cannot have is the perception that foreign companies are
abusing the rules of the EU to penalise British workers who have the
skills to do the job," he said.
The unions stepped up the pressure yesterday, with Derek Simpson, the
joint general secretary of Unite, calling on the Government to use
corporate social responsibility rules to force companies that receive
public money to consider domestic workers.
Mr Simpson is in the middle of a battle for re-election as joint
leader of his union.
Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary and a former trade union leader,
outlined the Government's plans this morning. He told the BBC that
although the strikers were wrong to take unofficial industrial
action, the issue needed to be examined.
"As a result of those [European court] judgments we need to look
again to make sure our intention of this free movement is actually
being supported by workers themselves, because it is reciprocal and
it is not based on being undercut on your terms and conditions."
He highlighted a case in Italy where the Government stepped in after
protests and prevented British contractors from bringing in 100
highly skilled British workers.
Gordon Brown said in a BBC interview today that the strikes were
indefensible, although he too conceded that the issue had to be
addressed. "No government in history is doing more to try and find
ways that we can help people who are unemployed back in to work as
quickly as possible," he said.
However Lord Mandelson, a strong defender of the free movement of
workers in the European Union, angered unions by taking a tougher
stance.
He said: "It would be a huge mistake to retreat from a policy where,
within the rules, UK companies can operate in Europe [NO THEY CAN 'T
see above -cs] and European companies can operate here. Protectionism
would be a sure-fire way of turning recession into depression."
The protests started at the Total oil refinery in Lindsey,
LIncolnshire, on Friday, in protest at the award of a construction
contract to an Italian company that will use Italian and Portuguese
workers. Many protesters held placards with the slogan "British jobs
for British workers".
Mr Johnson and Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary sought to defend Mr
Brown's much-criticised use of the phrase, saying that he was
referring to helping workers with new skills to ensure they are
competitive.
But Keith Vaz, the Labour chair of the Home Affairs Select Sommittee,
reiterated his unhappiness at its original use. "I wouldn't have used
[the words] myself," he told Sky News.
Ministers used television appearances this morning to defend Mr
Brown, who has been buffeted in recent weeks by poor poll ratings.
Mr Straw conceded that Mr Brown had taken "knocks" in the media, but
insisted that he was still the right man for the job.
Mr Johnson said: "In this particular situation, which the IMF say is
unprecedented, it needs a steady hand, a clear head, to get the
country through."
It's legal
The government says that IREM, the contractor which triggered the
dispute in Lincolnshire with plans to bring in up to 400 Italian and
Portuguese workers, is acting within EU laws.
The 1999 EU Posted Workers' Directive sets out the rules for
employers who temporarily move workers to another member state.
There is no obligation to pay the staff the same market rates of the
host country, but employers must comply with local minimum wage rates
and statutory benefits.
========================
ECONOMIC 'Short' 1.2.09
BBC ONLINE
=Glaxo 'to cut thousands of jobs'
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline is set to announce thousands of job cuts
as it faces increasing competition from generic drug makers, reports
suggest.
More than 6,000 jobs are set to go according to reports in the
Observer, The Sunday Times and The Telegraph
=========================
POLITICS HOME 1.2 09
COMMENTS
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Andrew Marr Show, BBC 1 at 09:32
Hague: Brown's British jobs remark was fiction
William Hague, Shadow Foreign Secretary
Mr Hague said Gordon Brown's "British jobs for British workers"
remark had been an "unbelievably ridiculous and silly fiction"
because it could never be guaranteed.
The free flow of movement within Europe, which the Tories support,
meant no government could ever promise such a thing, he said.
"When Gordon Brown said British jobs for British workers it was a
fiction pretending that could be guaranteed because of the free flow
of movement in Europe. It was unbeleivably ridiculous and silly of
the Prime Minister to say that in the first place."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sky News at 10:17
Straw: Time for strikers to return to work
Jack Straw, Justice Secretary
Mr Straw said the government understood workers anger but said it was
time for them to return to work and let Acas seek a solution.
"We obviously understand the anger and concern of the workers who
feel they have not had the opportunity to do these jobs and are
replaced by Portugese and Italian labour.
"It is important to have a proper process to determine wherther these
contracts were let fairly and British firms and British workers had a
fair crack of the whip when it came to the tendering process.
"But now it is time to go back to work and allow the Acas system to
operate," he said. [The strikers can see that there's no point.
There's no 'conciliation' on offer - only surrender! -cs]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sky News at 10:42
Vaz condemns the far-right support for UK strikes
Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee
Mr. Vaz condemned the far right for hijacking the workers strike for
their own agenda and said that we must move on from Gordon Brown's
"British jobs for British workers" phrase
He said: "We have the far right calling on people to join the trade
union cause for their own agenda."
"As for British jobs for British workers the words have been used so
we must move on."
He added: "The problem we have is how the sentence is misused. I
don't think trade union movement has anything to do with the far right."
Mr. Vaz said he believed that the strike was a local issue that had
become a national dispute but also said Britain needs the European
workers just like Europe needs British workers. [This is clearly
seen as a 'one-way-street'. It is not individual Italians but
organised gangs being drafted in like ian invading army. If the far-
right ARE exploiting it ot is because the government are supporting
it. - The EU law may be terrible (which it is! ) but that is no
justification for the government to praise it]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Sky News at 10:48
Simpson: Contractors telling British workers they're not wanted
Derek Simpson, Unite General Secretary
Mr Simpson said sub-contractors in the engineering construction
industry were telling British workers they were not welcome.
"We believe some sub-contractors are saying no UK workers will be
employed. Some are even saying do not bother because you will not be
welcome," he said.
He said his union did not sanction the wildcat strikes but said it
was understandable in current circumstances.
"This problem has been coming for some weeks or longer," he said,
adding that there was a lack of "corporate social responsibility"
being shown by employers in the sector.
He also said he believed Gordon Brown remarks about "British jobs for
British workers" had been taken out of context.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Sky News at 11:07
May: "Moral capitalism is one that takes a wider not the immediate
interest"
Theresa May, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary
Ms May said Gordon Brown was inconsistent on the economy as he
"looked in two directions at the same time" and explained that the
latest Conservative moral capitalism rhetoric was about wider
interest not narrow self-interest.
She commented on the strike action: "We don't believe strikes are the
answer, but we do wish to see British workers receiving job contracts."
Ms. May claimed that Gordon Brown was raising false hope with his
British jobs phrase as he couldn't deliver.
"He looks in two directions - one turn at globalism then comes out
with a phrase like British jobs."
On moral capitalism she said: "It is a capitalism that takes a wider
interest not a just the immediate interest, it is part of the process
that has a broader face to it."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Weekend at One, BBC radio 4 13:30
Hain: Employment law has given inadequate protection for British workers
Peter Hain, Former Wales Secretary
Mr. Hain admitted that the UK employment law has lead to inadequate
protection for British workers and said that we stop stop gold
plating EU regulations.
He said: "The way that employment law has been implemented in
parliament has lead to inadequate protection for British workers as
business can outsource.
Mr. Hain added: "We should stop gold plating EU regulations and we
should stand up for the British people, that is why I understand the
anger at job losses."
He said he couldn't see how giving EU workers transportation and
housing at the same price as local workers and therefore he said he
felt "something fishy might be going on".
Mr Hain added: "We have got to look at the situation really quick,
but as Gordon brown made clear of course we have sympathy for workers
who have the skills, but cant get jobs, as in these circumstances I
would say they appear questionable.
"There does seem to be a concern that workers rights have been
undermined."
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