Builders Strike last Tuesday???

Apparently there was supposed to be one. If you didn't blink you might have noticed it. Well that is what this quote was meant to be suggesting.....

"A blizzard of text messages on mobiles all over the country seems to herald the first serious grass-roots effort to mobilise a national building site strike in the campaign for British Jobs for British Workers.

The texts read “A national strike has been called on Tuesday 24th Feb in protest over how we are being ignored. We call on all sites across the country to down tools and walk. This concerns the whole country or we’ll soon have nowhere to work! The L O R Committee. Please pass this on”.

Saying how much he and the BNP support the aims of the protesters, BNP leader Nick Griffin suggested that the Tuesday effort could be a ‘dry run’for a bigger protest on a Friday or a Monday early in March: “Fridays or Mondays are always good days for a one-day walk-out. They extend the weekend, and also make it harder for employers to disprove the excuse of sickness that workers in some places may have to come up with to avoid victimisation for taking unofficial industrial action”.

“We certainly wish those involved all the very best. It’s a shame that the greed of the banksters, the stupidity of the political elite, and the short-termism of some big employers have combined to force ordinary decent British workers to such desperate measures to protect their jobs. But it’s far better to see people standing up and fighting back than sitting moaning into their over-taxed beers. And the fight is only just beginning!”

I got the quote from u75 discussion board. Its accuracy? No idea. But if it is true and I have heard that the BNP site mentioned it pre Tuesdays' massive show of anger (Not that I visit the BNP website, of course) the words 'organise', 'piss up' and 'brewery' come to mind.

Or it could be that there is a media conspiracy of silence?

Full Employment Rights for Agency Workers now

The treatment of Agency workers at BMW's Cowley plant underlines the brutal side of the economic downturn. The Union at Cowley it seems took the brunt of the flak from these vulnerable workers who 'enjoy' worse rights than their full time colleagues they work along side.

Tragically the law is on the side of the employer and they can dismiss the Agency Workers at a moments notice. A lot of them probably realise this weakness after all they signed contracts and were given terms and conditions that outline their weakness. Remember as well, the employer of these workers is, I assume Manpower, who were given the nod to release the 850.

There is an important lesson for the union. Negotiate an agreement with the client company, in this case BMW, that gives notice periods and lay off/redundancy pay no less favourable than the rest of the workforce. Make sure the Agency workers are represented by elected shop stewards and force the client to recognise them along side the BMW stewards. Once an agreement is in place it would be enforceable by collective action if necessary.

No one wants to work for an agency by choice as BERR have stated. The flexibility that the government and employer worship is completely meaningless in the current economic downturn and while there will be always a steady stream of applicants forced into an employment relationship with an Agency, let us be clear that without full employment rights workers will be used and dumped at the click of a finger.

The Government should have dealt with this problem years ago. To their shame we are still waiting.

(PS I was very surprised that the only action taken by these workers was to have a go at the Convenors and scratch a few cars. A wildcat occupation would have soon got the Employer and the Government to sit up and take notice.)

Titian and the Tories

Sign of desperation to me. They have been out of power for so long its really beginning to hurt the spivs who run the Conservative Party.
It will be mind boggling what they will do if they get voted in!!

Workers pay for the crisis caused by Capitalism.

Every week the economy gets worse. Free enterprise has been completely discredited.

Cars remain unsold world wide causing lay offs and redundancy.

Personal bankruptcies are at highest level.

Manufacturing is sliding so fast it could be far worse than the early 80s.

Pay freezes are becoming fashionable since Ford renege on theirs.

Still, some Bankers might do all right. I thought Mandelson was ok about people getting stinkingly rich?

New Offer.

A new offer will be put to the strikers tomorrow. Unite has put a release on their website here.

IREM the Company at the centre of this dispute need to come clean on a number of issues. Why arent they signed up to the NAECI agreement which is supposed to operate on the Lindsey site? Why havent TOTAL, the client, ensured this has happened?
Why dont IREM be transparent and show the unions the rates they pay their workers and the terms and conditions the are under? To just say its the same, as Mandelson believes, is bollocks.

My view is that to go to the trouble of moving a company and its workforce from the otherside of Europe, the client must make it worth their while, and considering that pay, terms and conditions are the most expensive outlay for any business, signing up to the NAECI would not have made business sense. This company in my view were undercutting the workers here and using European Law to do it, and unless someone can show evidence to the contrary..........

.......er, the contracts are confidential!!!

This offer does not solve the problem of social dumping. Only strong , organised Trade Union opposition can stop it.

Mark Seddon in the Guardian yesterday. (Hat tip Socialist Unity)

Offer rejected!!

Just heard the news here.

Will give my thoughts later.

Polish support for the strike here puts paid to all that bollocks peddled by the 'mad' BNP (look at the comments box in the link to see how detached from reality these people are!!)

Left positions on the Refinery Strikes

Thought I would list left positions I would agree with outside of the Union remit.

Firstly I would bring your attention to the LRC position here. The Socialist Party , who have done some very credible work amongst the strikers and deserve applause can be found here.
The CPB position can be best demonstrated by buying the Morning Star and due to the miracles of modern technology the MS view can be found here and here.
Permanent Revolution have a good position here.
Andy Newman has blogged on the issue in a consistent manner here.

I have been extremely let down by the SWP and the normally good Lenin, the AWL and the Workers Power micro grouplet who have taken confusing and extremely unhelpful positions.

My apologies to anyone I have forgotten including the Labour Party who have just, well , forgotten!!

BNP activist being ask to leave Strikers Picket line

Courtesy of Channel 4 News here.

Sellafield Workers Out.

Report here.

Keep up to date on some of the discussions going on amongst Construction Workers here.

Mandelson pisses off Construction workers.

This is surely not a constructive way in making sure workers vote Labour at the next general election.

This guy is a liability.

Albert Einstein and Capitalism.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor - not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.

The World As I See It, 1949.

"Bloody Egghead with his head in the clouds. What does he know?" Tories would say.

Pretty relevant today, eh?

Brown just doesnt get it

The Observer today

In an interview with the BBC's Politics Show to be broadcast today the Prime Minister condemned those threatening wildcat strikes, saying "that's not the right thing to do and it's not defensible." He also said that when he had talked about British jobs for British workers he was referring to "giving them the skills" so that they could get jobs that were going to foreigners.

I am amazed but not surprised by this reaction. He doesn't understand that this dispute is about Trade Union Organisation and protecting agreed terms and conditions. Brown gives the green light to any company employing what-ever nationality from any part of Europe to , lets be clear here, undercut the existing terms and conditions on site.

This is not an argument against the 'free movement of labour', it is about the ability of a company to use EU Law to make bigger profits.

Here is what Employment Law Solicitors advise Employers .

You can now see that with increased outsourcing and sub contracting in both the private and the public sector COMPANIES CAN COME FROM WHATEVER PART OF EUROPE WITH CHEAPER LABOUR AND TRASH EXISTING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. THERE IS NOTHING THE UNIONS CAN LEGALLY DO ABOUT IT. BROWN KNOWS AND CLEARLY SUPPORTS THIS 'SOCIAL DUMPING'!!

UNITE is a big donor to the Labour Party. This is the detail of the campaign they are running.

Unite the Union launches petition against social dumping

Unite the Union has launched a new petition against social dumping within the European Union.

Following three rulings by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which have potentially dire consequences for workers' rights across Europe including the undermining of collective action and the right to strike.

ECJ rulings in the cases of Laval, Viking and Ruffert have determined that

* Unions cannot take action against companies employing imported workers at rates below those agreed with local workers

* workers' rights to collective action are less important than market freedom of access for cheaper workers

* Union members are prevented from being able to take collective action to defend industry agreement

* Outlawing action aimed at 'levelling up' wage rates of imported workers.

The campaign website is promoting a Europe-wide petition for the following

* An amendment to the posted workers directive to at least clearly spell out how mandatory standards can be guaranteed through collective agreement and also defended through collective action.

* An agreed temporary agency directive as quickly as possible.

* A social progress clause making it clear that the fundamental right to organise and the right to strike are in no way subordinate to the economic freedoms.

Unite aims to persuade the Commission to honour their commitment. The purpose of their petition is to build up a groundswell of support for action.

http://www.lavalvikingruffert.eu/

Hope not Hate on the dispute here.