An entirely sensible piece on labour and immigration by a trade union leader. I don’t say I agree with everything, but it’s entirely sensible and well informed.
What next? A politician who actually works for the good of the voters?
Brendan Barber
In
3 responses
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I suppose we should have anticipated Brendan Barber’s notable silence on joining up with the Eurozone and Britain’s relations with the EU, especially with this in the news:
“The euro area, which in 2005 did not include any new member states, recorded an employment rate of 63.5 percent – even worse than the average in the EU-25. Good performers in 2005 were Denmark (75.9%), the Netherlands (73.2%), Sweden (72.5%) and the United Kingdom (71.7%).”
http://euobserver.com/9/22388/?rk=1
Apart from the UK, Denmark and Sweden aren’t part of the Eurozone either. In all, not much of a recommendation for joining the Euro, is it? Of course, the interesting insight is that John Monks – who was Brendan Barber’s predecessor as TUC General Secretary – used to be a high-profile enthusiast for joining the Euro in his time. How times change. -
Perhaps I should mention in passing that according to the Public Finance section of the OECD Factbook 2006, the tax burdens (defined as Total Tax Revenues as percentage of national GDP) in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands were all higher than in the UK in 2003, the latest year for which comparative figures are shown.
http://caliban.sourceoecd.org/vl=1203372/cl=18/nw=1/rpsv/fact2006/09-03-01.htm -
Well informed?
“The biggest myth is that migrant workers are causing unemployment. Those parts of the country that are seeing job losses are not those where migrant workers are most prevalent. They will go where there are job vacancies, not dole queues. Underlying these arguments is, we usually find, the lump of labour fallacy. This is the idea that there is a set amount of work to go round, and that if you increase the number of workers, unemployment must go up and wages must come down.”
So the import of half a million Poles won’t depress wages to the extent that people in Newcastle who might otherwise have relocated decide to stay put and draw benefits? Nah, I must be dreaming!!
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