{"id":10908,"date":"2016-12-23T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10908"},"modified":"2017-01-05T15:11:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T15:11:27","slug":"by-len-mccluskey-unite-general-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10908","title":{"rendered":"What unites all of us"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

It would be easy to simply say \u00e2\u20ac\u201c let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pull up the drawbridge. However, that would be entirely impractical in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world, as well as being undesirable.\u00c2\u00a0 Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not forget the many economic and cultural benefits Britain has secured from migration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Moral arguments may be fine 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

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s have no doubt \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the free movement of labour is a class question.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Karl Marx identified that fact a long time ago. \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

 <\/p>\n

So it is today. 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

 <\/p>\n

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. 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

 <\/p>\n

The benefits of this are easier to see in Muswell Hill than they are in Middlesbrough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Argument that wage rates are not affected does not stand up to scrutiny either. 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

 <\/p>\n

Organise workers<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, there is a straightforward trade union response – 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

 <\/p>\n

And we should join the Labour Party 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

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

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. Yes, more labour contributes to growth here, but that is growth foregone in poorer countries by that logic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is another more immediate argument for the 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. 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

New approach<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

So we need a new approach. I believe it is time to change the language around this issue and to speak instead of safeguards for communities, for workers, and for industries needing labour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the core of this must be the reassertion of collective bargaining and trade union strength.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite has proposed 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

 <\/p>\n

Put together with trade unions own organising efforts this would change the race-to-the-bottom culture into a rate- for-the- job society.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It would end the fatal attraction of ever cheaper workers for employers 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

 <\/p>\n

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 since the referendum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those are the anti-racist priorities of today. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not let pandering to UKIP on the one hand or a utopian ultra-leftism on the other divide us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This comment first appeared in the\u00c2\u00a0Morning Star, December 23 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.   It is those same communities \u00e2\u20ac\u201c traditionally Labour-supporting \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where our Party is now struggling.   It would be easy to simply say \u00e2\u20ac\u201c let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[486],"wps_subtitle":"Free movement of labour is class issue","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10908"}],"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=10908"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10915,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10908\/revisions\/10915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}