European Single Market: Will Britain stay in?
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Young Master Smeet wrote:I believe the IWGB were behind the Uber court case, and I know they have organised outsourced Universiy of London cleaners.
The Uber case was to do with GMB. IWGB was to do with the Deliveroo strike. For a small union, the IWGB seems to be doing very well for themselves.
It is clear that the government is at sixes and sevens about what to do to implement the result of the referendum, veering between populist 'hard Brexit' and realism (i.e, the interest of the dominant section of the UK capitalist class which doesn't really want the UK to leave the EU). Now some ministers are saying that Britain may be prepared to pay to retain access to the single market and some EU programmes:http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/philip-hammond-says-uk-open-to-making-eu-budget-payments-after-brexit_uk_58468871e4b06a503248f3ea
Quote:Philip Hammond has suggested the United Kingdom could continue to pay into the European Union’s budget after Brexit.Last week, Brexit secretary David Davis confirmed the government was open to paying in order to secure the “best possible access” to the single market for British business.Asked in Brussels today about Davis’ comments, the chancellor said: “We want to keep all options open. That is something we would have to look at, looking at the costs and the benefits based on what is in the best interests of the British taxpayer.”"British taxpayer" of course means British capitalist class
DJP wrote:Young Master Smeet wrote:I believe the IWGB were behind the Uber court case, and I know they have organised outsourced Universiy of London cleaners.The Uber case was to do with GMB. IWGB was to do with the Deliveroo strike. For a small union, the IWGB seems to be doing very well for themselves.
The IWGB have also organised the first union branch for Foster Carers and are rumoured to be taking a similar case to court re employment rights for foster carers. If that case is won it could have massive implications for 60,000 foster carers in the U.K. Perhaps we are witnessing a rebirth of trades unionism?
https://iwgb.org.uk/2016/12/05/mays-brexit-plans-face-british-supreme-court-test/I think we played a modest role in helping the IWGB get off the ground. When they were set up on 2012 they had a room in the RMT's Maritime House in Clapham Old Town, up the road from us. Their then General Secretary, Chris Ford, called in and asked if we could help with any spare office equipment and supplies we might have. I think we gave him an old-fashioned computer and a roneo machine that were lying unused in our basement. Who says we're anti-union?
More on the IWGB and its intervention in the Article 50 case before the Supreme Court here:http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2016/11/ex-wobblies-join-gina-in-the-supreme-court-showdown/
From yesterday's Times:
Quote:Businesses need to enjoy "barrier-free" access to the European Union once Brexit negotiations have been completed, the CBI has warned. Britain's biggest business lobby group said in a report that the country should be free of tariffs with "minimal" non-tariff barriers across every sector. Non-tariff barriers cover restrictions that result froom prohibitions, conditions, or specific market requirements that make importing or export difficult but do not have direct costs. Tackling them is considered by economists to be more important than external tariffs in order to make Brexit a success.Of course trade between British capitalism and EU capitalism will continue after Brexit, but the question is on what conditions? The dominant section of the British capitalism wants, basically, to stay in the single market as now as a second best to staying in the EU. We'll see how much of their way they get. Governments generally dance to their tune — that's what they're for. But not always. Sometimes they make things worse.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-governments-negotiating-objectives-for-exiting-the-eu-pm-speechCanada+ it is (or Turkey+), a bespoke trade agreement, presumably after a longer or shorter "phased" transitional plan:
May wrote:But I want to be clear. What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the Single Market.European leaders have said many times that membership means accepting the “4 freedoms” of goods, capital, services and people. And being out of the EU but a member of the Single Market would mean complying with the EU’s rules and regulations that implement those freedoms, without having a vote on what those rules and regulations are. It would mean accepting a role for the European Court of Justice that would see it still having direct legal authority in our country.Fudge wrote:That agreement may take in elements of current Single Market arrangements in certain areas – on the export of cars and lorries for example, or the freedom to provide financial services across national borders – as it makes no sense to start again from scratch when Britain and the remaining Member States have adhered to the same rules for so many years.Presumably Britain will then 'voluntarily' keep adjusting its regulations to match the single market, and the EU will negotiate wth UK before changing anything that will cost trade with Britain.
Fudge wrote:There may be some specific European programmes in which we might want to participate. If so, and this will be for us to decide, it is reasonable that we should make an appropriate contribution. But the principle is clear: the days of Britain making vast contributions to the European Union every year will end.Except, every year, Britain will voluntarily pay to join specific programmes: it's like replacing council tax with a series of police and fire charges, the cost and effect is the same, but at least you're no longer paying tax.
Also, note, phasing means the transitioon will run across elections, so it's open for future governments to feeze or accelerate as necessary: essentially, this is what we have now, without the appearance of institutional parity via the Burssels machinery.
We have always said that in the end all governments have to give to priority to profits and conditions for profit-taking — or risk provoking an economic downturn. Traditionally, we've applied this to Labour governments but it also applies to Tory ones. Normally of course they don't need any prompting to do this, but the present one seems bent on a course which would threaten the profits of the dominant section of the British capitalism. Will they continue or will they back down? We'll see. And if there'll be an economic downturn after 2019. But, as the apartheid regime in South Africa showed, a government can pursue for a long time, before giving in, a policy that is not in the best interest of profit-making and so of capital accumulation.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/588948/The_United_Kingdoms_exit_from_and_partnership_with_the_EU_Web.pdfThe white paper is out. On a quick skim, what do I see?
Quote:As with any wide-ranging agreement between states, the UK will seek to agree a new approach to interpretation and dispute resolution with the EU. This is essential to reassure businesses and individuals that the terms of any agreement can be relied upon, that both parties will have a common understanding of what the agreement means and that disputes can be resolved fairly and efficiently.So, away with the European Court of Justice, and in with the "dispute resolution mechanism", for this, a million trees have died.
Quote:We do not seek to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries. The UK already has zero tariffs on goods and a common regulatory framework with the EU Single Market. This position is unprecedented in previous trade negotiations. Unlike other trade negotiations, this is not about bringing two divergent systems together. It is about finding the best way for the benefit of the common systems and frameworks, that currently enable UK and EU businesses to trade with and operate in each others’ markets, to continue when we leave the EU through a new comprehensive, bold and ambitious free trade agreement. 8.3 That agreement may take in elements of current Single Market arrangements in certain areas as it makes no sense to start again from scratch when the UK and the remaining Member States have adhered to the same rules for so many years. Such an arrangement would be on a fully reciprocal basis and in our mutual interests.Long, drawn out transition.It looks like their only real demand is on free movement.
Quote:UK employers are increasingly struggling to fill jobs in shops, factories and hospitals according to a new report that suggests the shortfall may be down to fewer EU migrants seeking work in the UK in the wake of the Brexit vote.Company bosses are reporting labour and skills shortages throughout the food supply chain as well as in sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare and hospitality, according to the latest Labour Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and The Adecco Group, which polls more than 1,000 employers.One in four also had evidence that the EU nationals they employed were considering either leaving their organisation or the UK in 2017.Also
Quote:At the end of last year industry groups representing the major supermarkets and food manufacturers warned that EU workers provided “an essential reservoir of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour” and without them food prices would rise.So, this is interesting:https://theconversation.com/the-shape-of-brexit-is-probably-already-written-in-a-60-year-old-document-734033Keep an eye out for Article 217:
Quote:the EU:May conclude with one or more third countries or international organizations agreements establishing an association involving reciprocal rights and obligations, common action and special procedure.So, what we'll get is an Association, with it's own infrastructure, and rights, responsibilities and arrangements, but it won't be the EU. The question will be, can we tell the difference between New Whizzo Butter and a dead crab?
Quote:Brexit Secretary David Davis says UK will stay open to migrants after leaving EUCabinet minister says it will take 'years and years' for Britons to fill jobs done by EU workersAnother illustration of how capital can't do without labour — and how British capital, outside the EU, won't be able to either, so (im)migration is not going to stop:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/business/economy/denmark-jobs-full-employment.html?_r=0Looks as if King Canute has learned his lesson in his home country but not (yet) in his British domain.
Revealing article in today's Times under the headline "EU migrants leaving as pound falls":
Quote:European Union migrants are leaving Britain because the collapse in the pound has cut the value of their pay, according to the Bank of England.Foreign workers send much of their earnings home and the 12 per cent fall in the pound against the euro since last June's referendum means that work in the UK is worth less than before. This has reduced the incentive to take a British job as well as convincing some EU migrants to leave.The Bank said that companies were now struggling to recruit from abroad. The findings, in the Bank's monthly agents' report, suggest that the impact of Brexit on exchange rates could prove the most decisive factor in bringing net migration closer to the government's target of tens of thousands a year.Last month's official figures showed that annual net migration had fallen below 300,000 for the first time in two years. Foreign construction workers at the Battersea power station development have left the country because of the collapse in the pound."There was little evidence of EU migrant workers leaving the UK due to its plans to leave the EU," the agents' report said.So it was a question of workers coming to get a higher paid job and, now that the pay is lower, less are coming and some are leaving — the simple operation of supply and demand in the labour market. And now the poor employers are short of workers, unless they increase wages of course.
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