Rights ‘under great threat’

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey joined nine other trade union leaders in urging union members to vote to remain in the EU.

In a letter published in the Guardian today (June 6), McCluskey, along with Dave Prentis of Unison, Tim Roache of the GMB, Manuel Cortes from TSSA, John Smith of the Musicians’ Union, Dave Ward from the CWU, the FBU’s Matt Wrack, USDAW’s John Hannett, Gerry Robinson of Bectu, and Roy Rickhuss from Community, explained why remaining in the EU would be in the best interests for Britain’s workers.

They emphasised that their decision was not made lightly but they concluded after long deliberation that “the social and cultural benefits of remaining in the EU far outweigh any advantages of leaving.

“Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s the British trade union movement worked in solidarity with our European partners and fought hard to secure valuable working rights legislation at EU level,” the letter read.

“To this day these rights – including maternity and paternity rights, equal treatment for full-time, part-time and agency workers, and the right to paid leave – continue to underpin and protect working rights for British people.

“If Britain leaves the EU, we are in no doubt these protections would be under great threat,” the trade union leaders argued.

“Despite words to the contrary from figures like Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Gove, the Tories would negotiate our exit and, we believe, would negotiate away our rights. We simply do not trust this government if they are presented with an unrestricted, unchecked opportunity to attack our current working rights.

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn also made the same case for remaining in the EU in a Guardian comment today (June 6), and pointed to the fact that, if there were any doubt about the true motivations of the Leave camp, voters need only take into account what prominent Tory Brexit backers have already said.

Benn pointed to Tory minister Priti Patel’s recent speech to the Institute of Directors in which she called EU employment law “a burden”.  Leader of the House of Commons and one of the most outspoken Brexit supporters Chris Grayling called health and safety decisions “crazy” and said he wanted to reform such laws protecting workers so that bosses aren’t to blame if workers get hurt.

Trust

“Why should we trust a Conservative government in Westminster to protect [rights guaranteed by the EU] if we leave, when so many Tory Brexiters clearly have so little enthusiasm for them?” Benn asked.

“Of course, the reason why the Brexiters won’t go into any more detail about their plans is because they know British workers would be appalled,” he argued. “And the vast majority of businesses don’t want these rights to be eroded either.”

Both Benn and shadow secretary for business, innovation and skills Angela Eagle called on the Leave campaign to outline exactly which workers’ rights they would scrap if the UK left the EU.

A petition launched by Labour calling for the same has as of writing received nearly 40,000 signatures in three days alone.

McCluskey and the other trade union leaders highlighted also the problems with Europe in their letter, but they wrote that these were not enough to outweigh the advantages of remaining.

Call for change

“Europe needs to change – its political direction over the past few years has taken governments down a path of austerity and liberalisation – but we believe this direction is not irreversible, and will endeavour to work with our trade union colleagues to help shape a Europe with a renewed social agenda and a Europe that values investment in our public services,” they wrote.

Their letter today came as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn outlined his party’s case for remaining in the EU last week (June 2) in which he argued, too, that the UK remaining in a reformed Europe would be best for British workers.

“A Labour government will protect the gains that have benefited our people, while energetically pushing for progressive reform in Europe, in alliance with our allies across the continent,” Corbyn said in speech at the Institute of Engineering Technology in London.  “A vision of a Europe of co-operation and solidarity.

“We can reform to get a better deal for consumers; to strengthen workers’ rights across Europe and prevent the undercutting of wages; to meet the challenges posed by migration and the refugee crisis; to end the pressure to privatise public services; to democratise the EU’s institutions and bring them closer to people; and for reforms to ensure we generate prosperity across Europe to the benefit of all,” he argued.

As the EU referendum campaign heats up, only one day remains to register to vote in what will be a historic decision for the UK on June 23 – the deadline to register is tomorrow (June 7).

You can register to vote online here – it takes only a few minutes.