Our concerns about the strikes should not just be focusing on whether or not the action taken by the workforce is legal, but by taking a long, hard look at company employment practices.

People don’t strike without reason. I worked in the trade union movement and I know that it needs a significant shift in the mindset of most people to take this step. People are angry that their livelihood is being threatened and little action or notice has been taken. Striking is as an action of last resort, taken, when people feel they may have nothing left to lose.

This is not about individual greed or xenophobia. People are worried about losing their jobs and how they will pay their mortgage and bills, how they will feed their family and how they are going to find another job during a recession. They need to be given some answers that demonstrate how Government is on their side and will protect their futures.

We are experiencing problems now as a result of so many British-based companies being part of larger global corporations or wholly-owned by companies based abroad.

The growth of some companies has been achieved through ‘efficiency savings’ and ‘off-shoring’, such as moving call centres abroad. Employees can have less employment rights, low pay and poor conditions in comparison to the UK; contracting out and subcontracting, long-term use of temporary and agency workers; all these practices undermine our hard-won employment rights with company profits often achieved at the expense of British jobs and decent workplace conditions.

We must scrutinise current employment practices and understand that genuine workplace efficiencies can not be based on the ‘social dumping’ of lower wage EU nationals or the erosion of employment rights.

Tags: climate change, copenhagen

Posted on February 2, 2009 in Environmental and Green Issues.