Home › Forums › Chat Forum › So, free labour movement then?
- This topic has 205 replies, 45 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by molgrips.
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So, free labour movement then?
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DrJFull Member
The view that a desire for controlled immigration is a “far right” policy is nonsense.
The view that immigration is the main problem facing the country and should be placed front and centre in a campaign is much nastier than simply “far right”.
torsoinalakeFree MemberDown with the EU! We’re saved!
Voters will have to wait before migration can begin to be cut despite Britain deciding to leave the European Union, Theresa May has warned.
The Home Secretary, who is the front-runner in the Conservative leadership election, promises to reform the EU’s rules on “free movement” of people, which currently allow an unlimited number of migrants to move to the UK to live and work.
However, she stops short of promising to abolish free movement altogether, warning that it will “take time” before the numbers of immigrants come down.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/02/theresa-may-cutting-eu-migration-will-have-to-wait/
molgripsFree MemberSo visa system works then.
Simply because of the numbers? Nonsense. There is more to it than that. Ease of hiring is a key issue for businesses.
mikewsmithFree MemberWell it proves that the UK is dependant on immigration and it will now be harder for everyone which is great news for workers and business and may make the UK less attractive which will also be great for Project Make it AWESOME!! as the UK will lack the skills and numbers.
TurnerGuyFree MemberEase of hiring is a key issue for businesses.
too right, HR seems to find it hard enough with EU nationals.
TurnerGuyFree MemberThe European Union is increasingly operating like a free market across Europe, tearing up the social chapeter, damaging working class and workers interests across Europe.
TurnerGuyFree MemberCan you explain the Malta thing please?
3:30 onward for the Malta bit.
NorthwindFull MemberTurnerGuy – Member
A system where Malta has proportionally 15 times the power than the UK does.
Sounds a lot more democratic than teh UK, where my vote as an SNP supporter is worth 200 times more than a UKIP voter’s…
molgripsFree MemberA system where Malta has proportionally 15 times the power than the UK does
What bollocks. Abuse of a fact to bolster a point of view.
TurnerGuyFree MemberWhat bollocks. Abuse of a fact to bolster a point of view
name that abuse – I think per head of population the claim holds up.
SoloFree Membermikewsmith – Member
Well it proves that the UK is dependant on immigration and it will now be harder for everyone which is great news for workers and business and may make the UK less attractive which will also be great for Project Make it AWESOME!! as the UK will lack the skills and numbersYou’re just an angry, frustrated, remainster, now determined to paint as black a picture of the UK’s future, as you can.
The optimists and nation builders will naturally ignore you and those like you.
molgrips – Member
Nonsense. There is more to it than that. Ease of hiring is a key issue for businesses.
There you go again, sticking up for business and the super wealthy elite who begrudge paying minimum.
Of course the Elite like the EU, it provides a lower wage bill.
Yay!I’ve offered an insight into my personal situation, which, if nothing else may assist remainsters in understanding why so many folk voted leave.
My story typifies how rigid and inflexible the EU has become. So much so to the point a major member has voted to leave.
Brussels should see this as a wake-up call. A message that the EU of the 1950s has no relevance in 2016/7.
IMO, the UK had never of needed to vote leave, if Brussels had been willing to review and revise anything and everything. Sadly that didn’t appear to be the case, then, although those such as Michel Sapin seem to be possessed of an intelligence sufficient to declare “nothing” is off the negotiating table, including one of the founding principles of 20th century Europe regarding free movement of economically active individuals.
Interesting times.
esselgruntfuttockFree MemberSo why can’t we get around 5000 EU workers in to help re-open Port Talbot & Redcar steelworks?
Surely that would keep the Remainers & the Brexiters happy if it worked. Neither could complain!molgripsFree MemberThere you go again, sticking up for business and the super wealthy elite who begrudge paying minimum.
Of course the Elite like the EU, it provides a lower wage bill.
Yay!I was thinking more of small startups who need to be agile and move quickly to survive. Not big businesses or super wealthy at all.
I’ve offered an insight into my personal situation, which, if nothing else may assist remainsters in understanding why so many folk voted leave.
You make a very good point, and I appreciate it – it’s one of the only real points that have been made on here. However I can also see how someone in your position *could* blame immigration for this when it could quite easily have happened with a UK citizen instead of a Romanian. So it might be that people are blaming the EU because that was their pre-existing belief. It’s not yet clear.
We have the statistic that EU migration has depressed wages by 2% or so. But we don’t have a breakdown of that figure – so for example it could have increased wages in some areas by promoting growth, then seriously undercutting others like Solo, and the average would not show that.
However we also do not have other figures to give that context, either. It may be that the security of businesses has increased (small and large before you jump on me) at the expense of headline wage figures. In other words, by forcing your employer to pay you more money than the Romanian they might end up going to the wall, and losing all their business to a Romanian firm composed of all those Romanians forced to stay in Romania.
Very complex issues here.
SoloFree Member@MolGrips.
Good post. Nice to see some folk deliberately maintaining an open mind.Good discussion, so far.
🙂TurnerGuyFree MemberI was thinking more of small startups who need to be agile and move quickly to survive. Not big businesses or super wealthy at all.
how many of these small, agile, startups employ the working clases?
That is the issue that has been identified – the ever growing gap between the working classes and the rest. Even the investment banks are starting to realise it, let alone Jeremy Corbyn…
Free movement either is, or is seen as a potential, threat to the already depressed standards enjoyed by the working classes. They don’t benefit from it, unless you count the increased tax revenues of the government meaning that it is more readily capable of paying their benefits.
jambalayaFree MemberTurner Guy – loved those videos 🙂
Ease of hiring is a key issue for businesses.
Yes I do appreciate why business loves an almost a growing supply of increasingly cheap labour. Cheap for business leaving the state to pay supplementary welfare or unemployment benefit for those left behind
jambalayaFree MemberWe have the statistic that EU migration has depressed wages by 2% or so. But we don’t have a breakdown of that figure – so for example it could have increased wages in some areas by promoting growth, then seriously undercutting others like Solo, and the average would not show that.
This I find fascinating and its my view that if the evidemce was supportive of freedom of movement of Labour on wages and regional growth and given Remain was the only campaign to have access to that data they would have told us much more.
teamhurtmoreFree MemberWe have the statistic that EU migration has depressed wages by 2% or so. But we don’t have a breakdown of that figure – so for example it could have increased wages in some areas by promoting growth, then seriously undercutting others like Solo, and the average would not show that
Do we? I would love to read the anlysis that shows this, BSers regularly quoted the BoE study which says nothing of the sort – no surprise there. Anyone got a link or able to tell me more about this widely quoted “fact”?
mikewsmithFree MemberYou’re just an angry, frustrated, remainster, now determined to paint as black a picture of the UK’s future, as you can.
The optimists and nation builders will naturally ignore you and those like you.
Love the quote, sometimes reality hurts.My story typifies how rigid and inflexible the EU has become. So much so to the point a major member has voted to leave.
Your story – If I recall correctly was how a younger person with less experience was recruited by your employer to do the same job as you and therefor pegged your pay rate as the job rate was competitive. This happens all over the place. The solution would to to close borders and stop training people in your field so there was a skills shortage then your wages would rise. I’s sure you agree an ideal situation.
how many of these small, agile, startups employ the working clases?
That is the issue that has been identified – the ever growing gap between the working classes and the rest. Even the investment banks are starting to realise it, let alone Jeremy Corbyn…
Free movement either is, or is seen as a potential, threat to the already depressed standards enjoyed by the working classes. They don’t benefit from it, unless you count the increased tax revenues of the government meaning that it is more readily capable of paying their benefits.
and who are the working class? Are they people we can’t protect with minimum wages or somebody else? Are they those that are keen and eager for work and willing to move for it? Work doesn’t appear where people live all the time.
How many people pushed out by immigrants are ready to do the work they took or did people fill a void?molgripsFree MemberBSers regularly quoted the BoE study which says nothing of the sort
That is what I was referring to. I didn’t read it though so apologies if I am wrong. However the point stands – average wage movement tells us nothing much. Broken down by job sector it might.
Anyway – most of the arguments are about immigration, not specifically EU migration. People from both India and Australia do what Solo is talking about. For that matter, what’s to stop someone from say Inverness heading down to London and doing it?
Where can we draw the line? Restricting movement too much is a pretty severe path to start down. Are you really going to prop wages up based on what people think they deserve? What will that do for the cost efficiency of the businesses they work for? Isn’t this what the problem was in the 70s? Isn’t it the problem that say GM face in the US?
ghostlymachineFree MemberMight be time for him to add a few skills to his CV, then he can be like me, a bloody foreigner and still earning chunks more than the nominally more qualified/experienced and older bloke who does my job for the next group over.
He’s not bitter about it though. For many reasons.
teamhurtmoreFree MemberApologies accepted mol, as you are wrong. But understandable as the BSers were all too keen to misquote the BoE to fool the GB public. The study makes reference to a US study that found that relationship and also to the fact that others did not support it. Their study – and it’s specific – concludes the the impact on wages in the UK is small.
So we have to resort to “stories” and anecdotes. So a younger girl can do Solo’s job for less pay. And the answer…..?
It makes no odds whether she is Romanain or not, it happens in my industry all the time – it’s called (rather appallingly) juniorisation – but it is not caused by the EU. There has always been competition for labour (bo supply and demand) and it’s a good thing.
Freedom of movement is a positive factor that should be encouraged not demonised.
molgripsFree MemberThis really is a huge question. If you want to keep wages high by manipulating the market it will have consequences that may not be for everyone’s benefit in the long run.
In IT we have the outsourcing problem. It does not seem to have driven wages down though because we have a skills shortage; outsourced teams are generally doing the lower end of the skill set, and local experts, architecs and managers are still needed. Also there are always more projects that can be implemented. So cheap labour simply results in a bigger market for the higher skill/pay positions. Not so with the auto industry in which Solo works
– people can only buy so many cars as they will always be expensive items. And people only need so many.TurnerGuyFree MemberIn IT we have the outsourcing problem. It does not seem to have driven wages down though because we have a skills shortage;
We’d be in a lot more trouble though if the outsourcing worked a little better though.
TurnerGuyFree MemberWe have a Romanian programmer at work, a devout Christian who is sending money home to build his dream home whilst he works here…
Just been talking to him about the EU and funnily enough he is of the exact same opinion as me, the EU is basically out to favor corporations/globalisation and screw the working classes.
teamhurtmoreFree MemberHis own evidence suggests quite the opposite but hey, ho…..
TurnerGuyFree MemberHis own evidence suggests quite the opposite but hey, ho…..
depends on your definition of working class, I wouldn’t put him in that category – he’s in the mobile highly skilled sector.
TurnerGuyFree Memberhe’s in the mobile highly skilled sector.
actually I have looked at his code, ‘highly’ is being generous…
captainsasquatchFree MemberWe have a Romanian programmer at work, a devout Christian who is sending money home to build his dream home whilst he works here…
You say that like it’s a problem. 😐
igmFull MemberYou know, there’s a Scot in our office taking a position that could be filled by a Yorkshire native. Just turned up for the cash blinking economic migrant. And he’s contributing to the housing shortage. And he expects his children to be educated in a local school at the tax payers expense. And he expects the English NHS to treat him free of charge.
And for that my apologies. 😉
TurnerGuyFree MemberAre they those that are keen and eager for work and willing to move for it? Work doesn’t appear where people live all the time.
how does that fit in with social housing? If someone lives in a social house and is trying to raise a family as well, and all the work has buggered off to another area because the workforce is cheaper, then is the country suppossed to provide a pool of vacant social house around the country in case people need to move to find work ?
Of if they had managed to buy a house they are now faced with all the fees involved in selling, paying stamp duty, etc, as they are forced to move because all the companies have moved to exploit a cheaper workforce somewhere else.
So the working classes are now condemmed to always earning the lowest possible wage and always renting just to support an environment that supports globalisaton and capitilisation.
A great way to build a society.
How come people on this forum have such left wing views normally but are happy to swing to the far right when discussing the EU?
teamhurtmoreFree MemberAlternatively TG why do people confuse issues that have nothing to do with the EU with the EU debate?
TurnerGuyFree MemberAlternatively TG why do people confuse issues that have nothing to do with the EU with the EU debate?
which issues are you alluding to ?
molgripsFree MemberIf someone lives in a social house and is trying to raise a family as well, and all the work has buggered off to another area because the workforce is cheaper, then is the country suppossed to provide a pool of vacant social house around the country in case people need to move to find work ?
That can easily happen within the UK, it need not have anything to do with the EU.
What we’re talking about is a flexible labour market vs security for workers. These two things are reasonably exclusive – but NOT just within the EU. It’s also a worldwide and a national problem.
If you let locals demand higher wages to do a job than could be paid to people elsewhere, that business is less competitive than it could be. What’s your solution TurnerGuy? Solo?
I have no idea what the solution is.
mikewsmithFree MemberI have no idea what the solution is.
Well some ideas, build some more houses 🙂 (damm EU stopped us doing that)
TurnerGuyFree MemberWell some ideas, build some more houses
and leave them empty in case people need to move around the country ???
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