British wildcat strikes spread: pleas for unity and solidarity

Two conflicting perspectives at the heart of the wildcat strikes spreading across Britain threaten to turn this conflict into a xenophobic safety valve for corporate business interests as we face global economic meltdown. The Italian company is importing cheap labour from abroad to the exclusion of local workers, pitting worker against worker in a classic case of divide and rule.

Some want them sacked and replaced with Brits. But there's a sizeable proportion of the strikers who see the cause lying squarely with the companies who are bringing in the cheap labour and pushing down wages, and not the hard-working stiffs being shipped in.

While the press has focussed on the nationalist anti-"foreign" worker fervour and depicted this as being a chauvinist matter between rival workforces, Gordon Brown's words from 2007 pledging "British Jobs For British Workers" have come back to haunt him. Together with the companies, whose interests in this are obvious, the media and the ailing government might succeed in turning the inevitable outpouring of anger at the prospect of a massive Depression and collapse of the whole system, on to fellow workers rather than, for example, banks who go cap in hand for bailouts while awarding 20 billion dollars in bonuses (according to Barack Obama in his latest TV address).

What the media are foregrounding — British jobs for British workers

The Socialist Worker's measured statement warns against pandering to the reactionary section of the strike as "British Jobs For British Workers" becomes the key slogan and the new workers are called "wops" and other choice epithets by the strikers. It lists some reasonable demands:
Fight all job cuts
No deals that cut wages or accept lay-offs
Smash privatisation and sub-contracting
Unity against the bosses, no to racism and the BNP.

Organised Rage supports the Lindsey construction workers' right to have a say in who is employed in their local industry and criticizes the company's accommodation of the influx in "flop houses".

"... the Italian company involved in the Linconshire dispute intends to house its work-force on converted barges moored in Grimsby dock, which amounts to housing workers in what is a large flop-house. It will also has the added effect of depriving the local economy of any real benefit of these workers being in the UK."

I agree with Harpy Marx's take here.

And there's a lively debate at Socialist Unity here and here. Someone said on one of the threads that during one black vs white strike in the 1930s, the US communists achieved a win-win settlement with no sackings and with more jobs created to satisfy the workforce all round. That's an outcome I'd like to see.

STOP PRESS:
Jon Cruddas Guardian article: "These strikes aren't about xenophobia". Discussion at SU.

Very clear item on the slogan versus the underlying cause from Charlie Pottins.

Europe-wide petition against social dumping.
European Court of Justice 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.

Striking oil workers: race or class?

Oil industry strikes are spreading across Scotland and northern England as British refinery workers protest over use of “foreign workers” to the exclusion of locals.

Angry workers at Lindsey and Conoco Phillips refineries in North Lincolnshire are striking over a new contract awarded to an Italian contractor who is only using Italians.

The big question is this: will the dispute continue to nail the employers for their profit-driven pursuit of cheap labour? Or will it tip over into an “Us” versus “Them” race diversion as being pushed by various right-wing forces and media?

A Very Public Sociologist points out in his latest post:

Drafting in migrant labour from overseas is a tried and tested method of undermining the pay and conditions of workers. Turning on the workers who come in to take advantage of employment opportunities opening up plays directly into the bosses' hands - it obscures the fact it is they who are attacking and driving down wages, and therefore the responsibility lies with them.

Another worker at Grangemouth says they were not objecting to foreign workers being used. He explained: "The objection is foreign companies clearly stating they will not start British workers on the job. We have no problems working with foreigners of any kind - we have Poles working here recently with us."

Which is a lot more enlightened than some on the left. One Socialist Workers Party and Stop the War Coalition leading light, John Rees, told me in a meeting that racism against the Chinese was of no consequence to them because “the axis of racism is black and white”, and that “it’s British workers who count, not Chinese.” They've never retracted these statements so, as far as I know, they still stand.

I'm reminded of the crap the Chinese had to go through when they were shipped into the US to build the railroads in the 1860s, and right into the 20th Century. The Labour movement at the time defined it as a matter of race, not class, and it weakened everyone. The Wobblies were far more enlightened and sought to bring the Chinese into the fold to take their place in the class alongside all the other workers. Even in Britain the unions attacked them, leading to nasty riots in places like Cardiff.

So let’s see how the left deal with this and if those striking workers like the guy from Grangemouth can turn this protest into something wonderful that helps all of us in the long run. All power to him.

STOP PRESS: Important point made by Eddie at the oil strike thread on Socialist Unity website. "I just spoke to a national GMB official and he was saying that a number of agencies involved in the sector are point blank refusing to hire UK workers in a deliberate attempt to smash union organisation and drive down wages."

Striking oil workers: race or class?

Oil industry strikes are spreading across Scotland and northern England as British refinery workers protest over use of “foreign workers” to the exclusion of locals.

Angry workers at Lindsey and Conoco Phillips refineries in North Lincolnshire are striking over a new contract awarded to an Italian contractor who is only using Italians.

The big question is this: will the dispute continue to nail the employers for their profit-driven pursuit of cheap labour? Or will it tip over into an “Us” versus “Them” race diversion as being pushed by various right-wing forces and media?

A Very Public Sociologist points out in his latest post:

Drafting in migrant labour from overseas is a tried and tested method of undermining the pay and conditions of workers. Turning on the workers who come in to take advantage of employment opportunities opening up plays directly into the bosses' hands - it obscures the fact it is they who are attacking and driving down wages, and therefore the responsibility lies with them.

Another worker at Grangemouth says they were not objecting to foreign workers being used. He explained: "The objection is foreign companies clearly stating they will not start British workers on the job. We have no problems working with foreigners of any kind - we have Poles working here recently with us."

Which is a lot more enlightened than some on the left. One Socialist Workers Party and Stop the War Coalition leading light, John Rees, told me in a meeting that racism against the Chinese was of no consequence to them because “the axis of racism is black and white”, and that “it’s British workers who count, not Chinese.” They've never retracted these statements so, as far as I know, they still stand.

I'm reminded of the crap the Chinese had to go through when they were shipped into the US to build the railroads in the 1860s, and right into the 20th Century. The Labour movement at the time defined it as a matter of race, not class, and it weakened everyone. The Wobblies were far more enlightened and sought to bring the Chinese into the fold to take their place in the class alongside all the other workers. Even in Britain the unions attacked them, leading to nasty riots in places like Cardiff.

So let’s see how the left deal with this and if those striking workers like the guy from Grangemouth can turn this protest into something wonderful that helps all of us in the long run. All power to him.

STOP PRESS: Important point made by Eddie at the oil strike thread on Socialist Unity website. "I just spoke to a national GMB official and he was saying that a number of agencies involved in the sector are point blank refusing to hire UK workers in a deliberate attempt to smash union organisation and drive down wages."