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BOSSES in Britain are using the European Union’s “free movement of labour” policy to undercut wages and exploit foreign workers, a labour movement conference heard at the weekend.
The conference of the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) a union-backed think tank, was addressed by the general secretaries of two of Britain’s biggest trade unions — Len McCluskey of Unite and GMB’s Tim Roache.
Mr McCluskey condemned the right of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) for concentrating on undermining Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership instead of attacking the Conservative government.
He said that he had wanted to give a rousing speech but, “of course, it is hard to be rousing when you are as adrift in the opinion polls as Labour is today.
“There are many reasons for this present poll deficit,
one of them, of course, the summer wasted on an unnecessary bout of internal warfare triggered by some in the PLP.”
On immigration he said: “Let’s have no doubt — the free movement of labour is a class question.
“Karl Marx identified that fact a long time ago. ‘A study of the struggle waged by the British working class,’ he wrote in 1867, ‘reveals that in order to oppose their workers, the employers either bring in workers from abroad or else transfer manufacture to countries where there is a cheap labour force.’
“So it is today. Anyone who has had to negotiate for workers, in manufacturing in particular, knows the huge difficulties that have been caused by the ability of capital to move production around the world — often to China and the Far East or eastern Europe — in search of far lower labour costs and higher profits.”
Mr Roache, who is the think tank’s president, said: “The transnational corporations show less loyalty than ever to the countries they operate in. We have to keep responding to that and adapt quickly.
“It’s not going to be easy. No-one else is going to do it for us.”
He referred to GMB’s court victory against private vehicle hire firm Uber, which denies its drivers employment rights by designating them as “self-employed.”
“Every victory along the way encourages others and builds confidence that we can shape the future,” the GMB leader said.
