Fill your car's and stock up on candles.

[KREBB]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 627460.ece" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jobs protests put fuel supplies at risk
The internet is being used to ignite a nationwide revolt over foreign workers

Maurice Chittenden and Richard Goss
WILDCAT strikes may threaten fuel and power supplies this week with an escalation of protests against foreign workers taking key contracts, despite Gordon Brown’s pledge to secure “British jobs for British workers”.

There are calls for a national boycott of filling stations run by Total, the French oil company, and plans to move the protest south by blockading the oil-fired Isle of Grain power station in north Kent which provides 3% of the energy needs of the National Grid.

As ministers held emergency meetings with union leaders yesterday to try to stem the flow of unofficial protests, militant shop stewards were plotting their next moves.

A plan for a national march against foreign workers, to take place in London, is under way and organisers are already in touch with farmers and hauliers who staged the protests against fuel tax in 2000.

Related Links
National march against foreign workers
‘I've never seen anger like it’
Last week about 700 workers went on strike at the Lindsey oil refinery at Killingholme, north Lincolnshire, and another 3,000 walked out in sympathy at 14 refineries and power stations.

Tomorrow the dispute may spread to the nuclear industry with 900 contractors at Sellafield nuclear power station voting on a proposed strike.

The government appears to have been caught out by the speed with which the dispute is escalating. Already there appears to be division within its ranks.

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, issued a stark warning against moves to protect British jobs from foreign workers. He insisted that companies must continue to be allowed to employ staff from overseas. In a blunt message to the protestors, he said: “Protectionism would be a sure-fire way of turning recession into depression.”

His tough stance was echoed by the prime minsier, who condemned plans for further wildcat strikes tomorrow. “That’s not the right thing to do and it’s not defensible,” Brown said.

At the same time Pat Mc-Fadden, the employment minister, was meeting union leaders to try to settle the dispute.

In their protest placards and banners, the strikers repeatedly highlighted Brown’s speech about “British jobs for British workers” which was delivered to the Labour party conference in September 2007. The prime minister may now be hoist by his own petard because Mandelson’s comments yesterday make it clear that the government has no power to legislate for British jobs.

Official statistics show that the number of foreign workers has risen by 175,000 since Brown’s speech, while the number of British in work has fallen by 46,000.

Frank Field, Labour MP for Birkenhead, said: “These strikes are proving to be a double whammy for Gordon Brown. The claim of ‘British jobs for British workers’ looks a pretty empty promise. Worse still, it shows the European Union has us in a double arm lock. British workers are being specifically excluded from working on contracts by European contractors.”

Oil company bosses have taken to trawling the internet in an attempt to keep pace with striking workers who are coordinating action on websites such as ukwelder.com.

Yesterday the website discussed possible action at the Isle of Grain - considered vulnerable because “there is only one way in” - and the London Olympics venues.

Lawyers acting for Total have shown print-outs of previous posts to the website to a judge. The company alleges that workers have spent several weeks planning the main protest at its refinery at Killingholme where 400 job vacancies will eventually be filled by Italian and Portuguese workers.

In an application for an injunction preventing demonstrators from setting foot inside the refinery, solicitors Denton Wilde Sapte stated that the ukwelder.com site revealed plans for “disruptive” action at the Killingholme plant.

The application quoted adverse comment on the site’s chatroom, including “stop the men and the steel from going through the gates” and “let's send them stinking foreign leeches back to theyre urine soaked shantys [sic]”.

Total is said to be increasingly concerned at growing calls by unions for a boycott of all its filling stations across the UK.

Billy Bones, the local Unite trade union convenor at Killingholme, said yesterday: “The support we are getting from across the country is staggering.”

Additional reporting: Abul Taher, Stuart MacDonald

It’s legal

The government says IREM, the contractor which triggered the dispute in Lincolnshire with plans to bring in up to 400 Italian and Portuguese workers, is acting within European Union laws.

The 1999 EU posted workers directive sets out the rules for employers who temporarily move workers to another member state.

There is no obligation to pay the “posted” staff the same market rates of the host country, but employers must comply with local minimum wage rates and statutory benefits.

[councillor]

Cars, cars' or car's....you decide.

[NWpostie]

I think British anger has been brewing for a long time, its not just about Contractors, its the general feeling the Brits are being pushed aside in the name of Political correctness, ethnic diversity, multiculturalism, being last in Social housing queues, last in Culture and discouragement of British activities such in St Georges Day etc , all debates on immigration has been silenced by charges of "racism", bogus asylum seekers sponging off the state and not being deported fast enough if they have served time in Prisons etc

Its as one said " the Kettle been boiling for some time, its now going off" , I am not surprised.

[Stormproof]

Well said NWPostie, I could'nt of put it better myself

[stokes11eg]

How the bankers and politicians love that migrant and European workers are seemingly to be blamed for all our woes, after all it takes the blame from where it truly lies with them. Never mind that our own UK migrant workers face the same blame across Europe whilst those in power have the heat taken off them for a while.Take jobs and housing for a start is it fair to blame the migrant or European workers that swap from the UK out and the other way in for lack of those two things or would it be the politians that just dont build enough affordable housing? Or a Goverment that allows bosses to undercut and erode pay terms and conditions with the dog eat dog mentality whilst our trade unions allow ALL workers to not be properly represented and treated fairly! F*cking UNITE and Brown are a discrace to the Labour movement for sending out his kind of BNP message! We all know their is specific problems in many areas of life concerned with migration both here and Europe so who do we blame? The migrant after all they are an easy target aint they! We dont want to blame Goverments unions and corperations cause that would be too hard wouldnt it! Well i tell you i will play NO part in blaming someone for wanting to better both their own and kids lives but I will blame those in power!

Well said. but we have to accept the fact that most people are not racist I for one am not, but, like many people feel slightly put out that incomers regardless of nationality, seem to be favoured in so many ways compared to
natural born british people---we should all at least be equal-- but more and more the balance of scales go down on the side of newcomers----you are bound to be aware in this job of the high number of immigrants who seem to be able to get housing straight away- whilst people like my sons have been on the waiting list for 15 years and more, and cannot
get housing.

[TeeferTiger]

Cars, cars' or car's....you decide.

It would be cars as it's plural. The apostrophe signifies ownership or combining of words i.e. "The car's steering wheel" (the steering wheel belonging to the car) or "the car's red" (the car is red)

Anyway, as for the rest of it, I've said for a very long time that our own country is biased against us. It's all about equality but I guess some people are more equal than others as the phrase goes!

I still say we should have an entry system similar to Australia and that we shouldn't really have started all this EU business. If we ever join the Euro, I'm emigrating to join a country that can think for itself.

[Yahoorsur]

Following three rulings by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which have potentially dire consequences for workers' rights across Europe including the undermining of collective action and the right to strike.
ECJ rulings in the cases of Laval, Viking and Ruffert have determined that
* Unions cannot take action against companies employing imported workers at rates below those agreed with local workers
* workers' rights to collective action are less important than market freedom of access for cheaper workers
* Union members are prevented from being able to take collective action to defend industry agreement
* Outlawing action aimed at 'levelling up' wage rates of imported workers.
The campaign website is promoting a Europe-wide petition for the following
* An amendment to the posted workers directive to at least clearly spell out how mandatory standards can be guaranteed through collective agreement and also defended through collective action.
* An agreed temporary agency directive as quickly as possible.
* A social progress clause making it clear that the fundamental right to organise and the right to strike are in no way subordinate to the economic freedoms.
Unite aims to persuade the Commission to honour their commitment. The purpose of their petition is to build up a groundswell of support for action.
http://www.lavalvikingruffert.eu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

hat tip to Ian of http://ian1961.blogspot.com/2009/02/bro ... et-it.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for that.


I aint gonna use the language of nationalism in this,there's 1000's of Brits working abroad and in Europe,so this could play tit for tat,unless the Euorpean court decsion is reversed.

[Yahoorsur]

Europe has been hijacked by the city men who control the laws! its ALL about maximising proffit. profit at the expense of us. It is no longer about the citizen but the corporations and how they can make profits of our backs. These are the same ones who gave us the EU postal directive that has done so much damage to OUR postal system. Its called neo liberalisation or as it is better known slavery!

Agree with what you are saying Linkinpark,but the question is 'What do we do about it?,the wildcat strikes are the result of frustration and anger,built up over the last few years,incidently perhaps folk on here would like to compare and contrast the media reporting of these wildcat strikes with our own strikes of a couple of years ago,we were slaughtered in the press,for being stuck in the old 70's attitudes,the remedies to us were if you dont like the job get another,sack the lot of them,privatise the mail and that will sort them out etc etc
heres's that link again to the website,the backers of it encompass unions around Europe,so this is just not a British problem,
http://www.lavalvikingruffert.eu/default.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Its time for a new workers party based on the unions,Blu Labour do not support the working people of this country,and Im under no illusions,when the real tories get in ,we the working people of this country are gonna get hammered,at least I know that those ones are gonna do it,i didnt expect favours from new Labour,I did expect fairness,foolish old fool that i am,we got neither.
Why not as a start,boycott Total petrol stations,hit the feckers right where it hurts in the profits.

[stokes11eg]

Sorry about your sons and with my kids growing up fast i am sure i will be in the same boat as you but In truth i dont know anyone who has lost out in housing to a migrant although i have heard it said at work and i understand that right wing newspapers like the sun and mail go on about it all the time and the likes of the British Nazi Party or BNP as they like to be known would blame ALL migrants for taking "our jobs and houses" although we have a large migrant population in this town most live in squaler in privately owned flats because the council allow it! But again if there is problems with housing and jobs the blame must be laid at Goverments feet not the migrant! It is Goverment that sets policy it is Goverment that flog off housing and Goverment that do not build anywhere near enough housing! I find that for some its too easy to blame a fellow worker than where the blame really lies with Goverment be it local national or even European.

Again, I would like to make it clear that i am not racist or against migrant workers---but, at least in our area ,there defianetly is a system of incoming workers bieng given priority housing--it is a fact.My own sons have always worked, since school, and beacause they do not have, or pretend to have 'special needs, they are constantly kicked back-
in fact they have had to leave the area-also. we have so many od our own unemployed(albeit deliberatly,in some cases)
the work should go to them first.I was always under the belief that in this country, jobs should be advertised laocally.
in the first instance---this does not seem to be the case down south, where migrants have been given preference
over local workers--this cannot be right.

[RTI]

Sorry about your sons and with my kids growing up fast i am sure i will be in the same boat as you but In truth i dont know anyone who has lost out in housing to a migrant although i have heard it said at work and i understand that right wing newspapers like the sun and mail go on about it all the time and the likes of the British Nazi Party or BNP as they like to be known would blame ALL migrants for taking "our jobs and houses" although we have a large migrant population in this town most live in squaler in privately owned flats because the council allow it! But again if there is problems with housing and jobs the blame must be laid at Goverments feet not the migrant! It is Goverment that sets policy it is Goverment that flog off housing and Goverment that do not build anywhere near enough housing! I find that for some its too easy to blame a fellow worker than where the blame really lies with Goverment be it local national or even European.

Again, I would like to make it clear that i am not racist or against migrant workers---but, at least in our area ,there defianetly is a system of incoming workers bieng given priority housing--it is a fact.My own sons have always worked, since school, and beacause they do not have, or pretend to have 'special needs, they are constantly kicked back-
in fact they have had to leave the area-also. we have so many od our own unemployed(albeit deliberatly,in some cases)
the work should go to them first.I was always under the belief that in this country, jobs should be advertised laocally.
in the first instance---this does not seem to be the case down south, where migrants have been given preference
over local workers--this cannot be right.

I for one totally agree with you concerning the whole migrants being given special treatment when it comes to jobs n houses. but we have to look at all lowlife people that dont want to go to work and scrounge off the dole and live of job seekers allowance, which was ment to be a helping hand for anyone who fell on hard times. these people use benefits as a lifestyle choice. these poeple give us a bad name. lazy, no wonder they offer jobs to migrants, who, in all honesty would do a better job than some brittish people.

[stokes11eg]

Yes. I agree. you will see in my post I metioned the unwilling!!!But, I still say there should be full employment
for British people, before jobs go to outsideres. cheers,

[k979aaa]

And i say full meaningful paid employment for ALL instead of the bankers and law makers that rule us and live like parasites and get RICH from us whilst deviding us! It would seem that greed yet again wins over decency! Another sad day for us all!

Where their is greed their is miss-trust where their need their is injustice while all the time we work there is the idle few :lfo & :cfo & :mfo and more too BOOT OUT OFF OFFICE THAN WE ALL THOUGHT!.