{"id":14976,"date":"2018-04-16T15:52:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T14:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14976"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:03","slug":"unite-brexit-gibraltar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14976","title":{"rendered":"Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pit workers against workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gibraltar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief minister has praised Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role in helping him develop constructive relationships with Spanish political parties over the Rock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s post-Brexit future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Speaking at Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gibraltar<\/a> regional Brexit conference last week, Fabian Picardo said the union had helped him \u00e2\u20ac\u015bprosper and grow\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 political relationships in Spain through its work with Spanish trade unions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since 2014, Unite has worked with Spain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s two biggest trade unions, CCOO and UGT, on the Cross Frontier Group (CFG).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Relations between the Spanish and Gibraltarian unions were further strengthened last year with the creation of the Southern inter-regional trade union council (IRTUC) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c set up to ensure that the interests of Gibraltar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers are not side-lined during the Brexit process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Difficult issues <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Picardo told the conference that although there are still many difficult issues to be resolved in the discussions over Spain and Gibraltar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s post-Brexit relationship, Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s efforts have helped to strengthen the bonds and shared goals between politicians in Gibraltar and Spain who are working to protect working people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a strong ideological bond between the Gibraltar government and the left in Spain.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Picardo said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn respect to the discussions we have with those who are ideologically at the same position as us in Spain, or Spanish politicians in Brussels, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very fluid, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very positive and we are almost always on the exactly the same page.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn fact, one of the things Unite has helped me to do very successfully is to ensure those links prosper and grow through the Cross Frontier Group and with the relationships in particular with CCOO and UGT,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Spanish trade unions have lobbied their government and opposition parties, emphasising the need to avoid a damaging hard Brexit and to not approach negotiations with Gibraltar in an opportunistic way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Positive change <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite member Michael Netto, who sits on the CFG, said the cross border collaboration had produced a positive change in the way political parties in Spain are talking about how Brexit should be handled in terms of Gibraltar.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOne of the things we have seen recently is that there is a shift in the way the political parties in Spain see the issue of Gibraltar,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat has come about by the way the Cross Frontier Group has spoken to (left-wing parties in Spain). This is definitely something that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to thank the Spanish trade unions for.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CCOO head of international relations, Francisco Alfonsin, told the conference that Brexit was an attempt \u00e2\u20ac\u015bto make the rich richer and the poor poorer\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and should be seen as part of a wider effort to reduce workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights<\/a> across the EU by those who want to see a race to the bottom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are all implicated in Brexit because of the threat it presents to us all. The Spanish trade unions will support Unite all the way in defending cross-frontier workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Proud<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Head of Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s international department Simon Dubbins said he was proud that the Spanish and Gibraltarian unions were \u00e2\u20ac\u015bworking together and strengthening our solidarity\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will not allow the nationalists in Spain and the nationalists in the UK to play worker against worker and we will fight to make sure workers on both sides of the border here are properly looked after in this process and not punished,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Dubbins said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gibraltar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief minister has praised Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role in helping him develop constructive relationships with Spanish political parties over the Rock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s post-Brexit future.   Speaking at Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Gibraltar regional Brexit conference last week, Fabian Picardo said the union had helped him \u00e2\u20ac\u015bprosper and grow\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 political relationships in Spain through its work with Spanish trade unions.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[486,591],"wps_subtitle":"Unite Brexit team in Gibraltar","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14976"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14976"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26273,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14976\/revisions\/26273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}