Jobs available in a community should be done by members of that community.
4 FEB 2009
Letter to press
The issues surrounding the wildcat strikes are complex and we should not let ourselves be tricked by xenophobic political groups into thinking otherwise. We cannot, and nor do the majority of strikers, condemn the Portuguese and Italian workers. They are victims of the same recession and are trying to find work and better their lives, as we all might do. Neither do we condemn the strikers at Lindsey and elsewhere who are trying to save their jobs in the midst of recession.
British citizens have the right to work in other EU countries and of 2 million from the UK who live in Europe, two-thirds are working in jobs which could be done by citizens of that country. That is more than the 1 million from other EU countries who work in the UK.
The employers who bring them in, however, have refused to recruit local people. If they are doing this so that they can pay lower wages and offer worse terms and conditions of employment, then they are to be condemned. The directive which was intended to protect the rights of workers employed in EU countries other than their own has been interpreted differently across Europe. In the UK it is only taken to cover statutory duties such as the minimum wage and working time directive. In other European countries it also covers agreements on pay and terms and conditions. If it was interpreted in that way in the UK there would be little advantage in shipping in foreign workers from EU countries.
The Green Party takes the local community as the base unit. This means jobs available in a community should be done by members of that community. This would help towards making communities sustainable. The Green Party is not an advocate of unregulated economic globalisation and we do not favour the mass movement of workers all round the world as multinational companies shift their operations to minimise costs and maximise profits. Instead, we believe the recession should be used as an opportunity to invest in creating green jobs. More workers should be employed in industries such as energy efficiency and renewable energy development. This would help reduce our dependency on overseas supplies of carbon fuels, and would foster UK manufacturing again so that we produce what we use rather than transport goods from sweatshops in China and Thailand.
Martin Hemingway
Lead Euro-candidate for the Yorkshire and the Humber Green Party
mhemingway@ntlworld.com
