{"id":10475,"date":"2016-11-08T12:33:55","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T12:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10475"},"modified":"2016-11-08T16:48:07","modified_gmt":"2016-11-08T16:48:07","slug":"safeguards-and-strong-unions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10475","title":{"rendered":"Safeguards and strong unions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite general secretary Len McCluskey’s spoke\u00c2\u00a0at the CLASS conference in London,\u00c2\u00a0on November 5<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Unite is proud of the part it played in establishing the movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very own think-tank [CLASS], and it is wonderful to see it now advancing its work by leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n

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Of course, it is hard when you are as adrift in the opinion polls as Labour is today. Most of what CLASS is advocating \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the policies it is developing across a range of issues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c will require a Labour government to put them into practice.<\/p>\n

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There are many reasons for this present poll deficit, one of them of course the summer wasted on an unnecessary bout of internal warfare triggered by some in the PLP.<\/p>\n

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But another is the subject I want to say a few words about today \u00e2\u20ac\u201c immigration, the free movement of labour or however you want to describe it.\u00c2\u00a0 What I would like to do is open up a debate on how our movement should respond, rather than pretend to say the last word on it.<\/p>\n

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There is no doubt that concerns about the impact of the free movement of Labour in Europe played a large part in the referendum result, particularly in working-class communities.<\/p>\n

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It is those same communities \u00e2\u20ac\u201c traditionally Labour-supporting \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where our Party is now struggling.<\/p>\n

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It would be easy to simply say \u00e2\u20ac\u201c let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pull up the drawbridge.\u00c2\u00a0 However, that would be entirely impractical in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world and it would also alienate many of those whose support the Labour Party needs to retain as part of its 2020 electoral coalition.<\/p>\n

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But we are well past the point where the issue can be ignored. Indeed, I can reveal that as long ago as 2009 Unite private surveys of membership opinion were showing that even then our members were more concerned about immigration than any other political issue.<\/p>\n

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And we are also, I would argue, past the point where working people can be convinced that the free movement of labour has worked for them, their families, their industries and their communities.<\/p>\n

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It is fine to argue values and perspectives for the middle distance, but if it comes up against the reality of people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daily experience, these arguments will fail.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Class question<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s have no doubt \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the free movement of labour is a class question. Karl Marx identified that fact a long time ago.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA study of the struggle waged by the British working class,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he wrote in 1867, \u00e2\u20ac\u015breveals that in order to oppose their workers, the employers either bring in workers from abroad or else transfer manufacture to countries where there is a cheap labour force.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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So it is today.\u00c2\u00a0 Anyone who has had to negotiate for workers, in manufacturing in particular, knows the huge difficulties that have been caused by the ability of capital to move production around the world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c often to China and the Far East or Eastern Europe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in search of far lower labour costs and higher profits.<\/p>\n

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Likewise, the elite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of immigration to this country is not motivated by a love of diversity or a devotion to multi-culturalism.\u00c2\u00a0 It is instead all part of the flexible labour market model, ensuring a plentiful supply of cheap labour here for those jobs that can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be exported elsewhere.<\/p>\n

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The benefits of this are for sure easier to see in Muswell Hill than they are in Middlesbrough. Of course, all socialists must ultimately look forward to a day when people can move freely across the world and live or work where they will.<\/p>\n

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But that is a utopia removed from the world of today, and would require international economic planning and public ownership to make a reality.<\/p>\n

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Argument that wage rates are not affected does not stand up to scrutiny either.\u00c2\u00a0 Put simply, if all you have to sell is your capacity to work, then its value is going to be affected by an influx of people willing to work for less money and put up with a lower standard of living because it nevertheless improves their own lives.\u00c2\u00a0 Supply and demand affects the sale of labour too, pitting worker against worker.<\/p>\n

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Of course, there is a straightforward trade union response \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we need to do everything necessary to organise all workers here into trade unions, wherever they may have been born and whatever their history, and fight for decent pay, proper working conditions and full rights at work.<\/p>\n

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And we should join Labour in demanding that this country \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the sixth richest in the world \u00e2\u20ac\u201c provides every worker, wherever they are from, with a decent job and every family with a decent home.<\/p>\n

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And unions here need to unite with trade unions in other countries to end to the playing off of workers in one part of the world against each other, to oppose the power of global capital with the power of a renewed international labour movement.<\/p>\n

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The problem is not cheap labour in Britain \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cheap labour anywhere. <\/em>And let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not pretend that free movement is a straightforward benefit to the countries workers are leaving behind, being denuded of young people and skilled labour.\u00c2\u00a0 We need to work with Socialists across Europe and indeed the world to create a system that works for everyone, wherever they are born.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Single market<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

There is another more immediate argument for free movement of Labour \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is the price for keeping access to the single market, which is essential for so many British jobs.\u00c2\u00a0 That problem needs to be frankly acknowledged \u00e2\u20ac\u201c fixed barriers to free movement will hardly be acceptable to the European Union if access to the single market is to be retained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So we need a new approach.\u00c2\u00a0 I believe it is time to change the language around this issue and move away from talk of \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfreedom of movement\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on the one hand and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcontrols\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 on the other and instead to speak of safeguards. Safeguards for communities, safeguards for workers, and safeguards for industries needing labour. At the core of this must be the reassertion of collective bargaining and trade union strength.<\/p>\n

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My proposal is that any employer wishing to recruit labour abroad can only do so if they are either covered by a proper trade union agreement, or by sectoral collective bargaining.<\/p>\n

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Put together with trade unions own organising efforts this would change the race-to-the-bottom culture into a rate- for-the- job society. It would end the fatal attraction of ever cheaper workers for employers, and slash demand for immigrant labour, without the requirement for formal quotas or restrictions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Add to this proposal Jeremy Corbyn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s commitment to fair rules and reasonable management of migration, as well as Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pledge to restore the Migrant Impact Fund for communities suddenly affected by large\u00e2\u20ac\u201dscale migration, and there is the basis for giving real reassurance to working people in towns and cities abandoned by globalisation.<\/p>\n

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And let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not forget what unites all of us: anger at the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disgraceful treatment of refugees, who deserve safety and protection; shame at the Tory attempts to use EU citizens already living and working here as a sort of negotiating card \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they must have the right to remain; and a determination to resist the rise in racist attacks and invective which has blighted our society past-referendum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But we can no longer sit like the three wise monkeys, seeing no problem, hearing no problem and speaking of no problem. We must listen and respond to working people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s concerns \u00e2\u20ac\u201c because that is the only way to earn their support. That way we can consign today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opinion polls to the dustbin and convince working people that the labour movement is their best protection in an uncertain present and their best hope for a prosperous future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article first appeared in LabourList\u00c2\u00a0 (November 6)<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey’s spoke\u00c2\u00a0at the CLASS conference in London,\u00c2\u00a0on November 5.   Unite is proud of the part it played in establishing the movement\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very own think-tank [CLASS], and it is wonderful to see it now advancing its work by leaps and bounds.   Of course, it is hard when you are as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1156,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[486,160,574,266],"wps_subtitle":"Collective strength key to making migration work ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10475"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10475"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10491,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10475\/revisions\/10491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}