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27
February 2009
Recent protests at the
Lindsey Oil Terminal in Lincolnshire and elsewhere in Britain
have led to calls from unions for EU laws to be changed after
the European Court Judgments. Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary
said:
"These
various judgments have distorted the original intention [of
the Posting of Workers' Directive] and we need to bring in
fresh directives to make it absolutely clear that people cannot
be undercut in this way."
But we say a revision
of the Posting of Workers' Directive will not be enough. After
the ECJ decisions, attempts to strengthen workers' rights
at the expense of those of businesses will at least require
a "social progress protocol" called for by the ETUC.
Meanwhile, in spite of
the anti union laws in the UK, the recent protests have taken
the form of 'wildcat strikes' or "unofficial" industrial
action.
"Secondary action"
has been taken by construction workers from work places including
on Humberside, in Yorkshire, South Wales, Sellafield in Cumbria,
Fiddlers Ferry and Heysham in the North West of England and
Grangemouth, Longannet and Cockenzie in Scotland. Polish workers
also joined the action in sympathy, stopping work at Langage
power station near Plymouth. Some 6,000 workers across over
20 construction sites at power stations and oil refineries
took unofficial action as part of the dispute.
At an official level,
union leaders have done well to express understanding of the
workers plight without crippling the unions coffers, which
the anti union laws are designed to achieve.
Workers protesting at
the Lindsey Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire returned to work
after management promised an additional 102 jobs would be
made available to "British" workers previously earmarked
for Italian and Portuguese workers at the plant. The unions
have predicted that more protests would soon flare up at other
sites over the issue.
The issue concerned the
exclusion of British workers for the convenience of the employers.
The British National Party (BNP) attempted to exploit the
issue for their own ends but were rightly chased off many
of the picket lines.
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