Now is the winter of our discontent
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"About 2,000 workers at 17 sites across the country have been taking part in unofficial strikes protesting at the use of foreign labour. The protests started at the TOTAL Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire. An Italian company that has been subcontracted to work on the site is using its existing employees. Trade unions maintain that the jobs ought to have gone to British workers" - The Times, 31 Jan 2009
"NOW IS THE DISCOUNT OF OUR WINTER TENTS" - sign in camping shop window, Stratford-Upon-Avon
It is the Italian workers I feel sorry for.
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Holed up in a floatel, wanting to work.
The UK is bound through membership of the European Union to welcome workers from other EU states.
The contract was won fairly and the contractor used its employees.
The UK is bound through membership of the European Union to welcome workers from other EU states.
The contract was won fairly and the contractor used its employees.
I have no idea what the phrase "British jobs for British people" means. It sounds like something from 70 years ago.
British workers who are unable to find jobs in a severe downturn have understandable reason for frustration, but it is economically illiterate to suppose that domestic living standards and employment are damaged by the free movement of labour.
Economists refer to the “lump of labour fallacy”. This is the notion that there is a fixed amount of work to be done in the world, so that if jobs are taken by foreign workers then domestic workers will lose out.
A similar grievously mistaken notion was advanced, and refuted, when women entered the labour force in large numbers for the first time.
Workers not only take jobs, they also create jobs. When they spend their wages, they increase the demand for consumer goods and services. Even large-scale immigration has only a minuscule effect on unemployment and wage levels.
Economists refer to the “lump of labour fallacy”. This is the notion that there is a fixed amount of work to be done in the world, so that if jobs are taken by foreign workers then domestic workers will lose out.
A similar grievously mistaken notion was advanced, and refuted, when women entered the labour force in large numbers for the first time.
Workers not only take jobs, they also create jobs. When they spend their wages, they increase the demand for consumer goods and services. Even large-scale immigration has only a minuscule effect on unemployment and wage levels.
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In 1936, The Jarrow March was a protest march against unemployment and extreme poverty suffered in North East England. The 200 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London, a distance of almost 300 miles, to lobby Parliament. When the marchers completed their feat, very little was done for them. The ship industries remained closed and all that they were given was £1 each to get the train back from London.
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