Coyne’s words won’t pay off as he short-changes members on immigration
Gerard Coyne says Brexit voters expect immigration to be curbed [Image: PA].
This is a man whose sole purpose is to undermine his trade union and the support it provides to plans for a better future – not just for Unite members but for workers across the United Kingdom.
The organisations mentioned in the article – representing workers born abroad but working in the UK – are right to oppose his comments.
But This Writer is sure that other workers are – and should be – equally incensed by the challenger’s divisive rhetoric.
Is this really a man who will stand up for everybody? Or is he just another divide-and-rule dupe?
The trade unionist challenging Len McCluskey for the leadership of Unite has been accused of running a “highly irresponsible” and “populist” campaign after he blamed foreign nationals living in the UK for contributing to job insecurity.
Gerard Coyne said on Monday that “the presence of a very large number of foreign nationals” in the UK was putting pressure on British workers at a time of austerity.
The 3million pressure group, which campaigns for the rights of the three million EU nationals living in the UK, said many of the EU nationals voting in the Unite leadership election would not trust Mr Coyne and his “anti-immigration” credentials to represent them.
Open Europe, the successor to the official Remain campaign, additionally suggested Mr Coyne was going against the wishes of trade unionists, who “overwhelmingly” backed single market membership.
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A Trade Union leader putting worker against worker. He’s a disgrace.
“the presence of a very large number of foreign nationals” in the UK was putting pressure on British workers at a time of austerity. This is not anti migration or what bigots would o doubt start hopping up and down screaming racist at, but just a statement of facts, there is a finite number of jobs, and if you have an excess of people wanting them not only do you get unemployment but also the remuneration is likely to be lower than it should be, because the supply of labour outstrips the demand for it.
The presence of foreign nationals was adding skills to the UK economy that it otherwise would not have had, though.
You should not be suggesting what you have without admitting the truth of this.
Regarding the number of jobs: Tories have been trumpeting how well they’ve been doing at getting us all into zero-hour, no-working-benefit jobs for years. They’ll keep the amount of available work limited because that is indeed how they keep wages low – but you need to understand that this is a political decision by the Conservative Government, not a necessary consequence of the number of foreign workers present in the UK.
In simple language: These problems are due to the CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT, and NOT foreign workers.
Got it?
When a work colleague made the same complaint about polish workers coming over here some 6 years ago I mentioned the fact that people like Dyson chose to export our jobs to the far east and whether that concerned him and what he wanted to do about that?
There was of course a deafening silence, read Professor Mark Blyth’s book Austerity the history of a dangerous idea, and you just might realise how you are being manipulated by the very people that creating the tragedy you blame on immigrants.
Not forgetting you might want to find a job somewhere like Australia some time in the future, or anywhere else in the world, it might also be a sobering experience for you.
I haven’t read that book myself but I’ll see if I can find a copy now.
Loud and clear, thanks x