Tories want to quit EU to “scrap workers’ right to paid holiday”
![The European Union mandates workers be given four weeks of paid holiday [Image: Getty Images].](https://voxpoliticalonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/160228spain-benidorm-getty.jpg)
The European Union mandates workers be given four weeks of paid holiday [Image: Getty Images].
Workers’ rights are under threat if Britain leaves the European Union, Labour’s shadow Business Secretary has said.
Angela Eagle warned that EU-backed principles like paid holidays and equal pay were “on the ballot paper” in the In-Out referendum on 23 June.
Ms Eagle warned that many Conservatives who wanted to leave the bloc wanted to scrap the rights and said Labour voters would be key to the Remain vote.
“Workers’ rights are on the ballot paper in this referendum – a lot of workers’ rights are underpinned by EU regulations: equal pay for work of equal value, paid holidays, rights for part-time workers,” she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
“[These are] all things that Tory eurosceptics want to be free of.
“I think it’s important that we put the Labour case for staying in and underpinning rights at work, having a higher, more productive economy, greater skills in our economy so people can earn higher wages, a more productive economy, is really an important part of staying in Europe.”
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There is no such thing as “paid holiday.”
It paid for by lower wages over the year.
No, it isn’t.
We had this argument and you lost. Remember?
however its subsidised you get paid for the days you take as holidays,
This is not true. I say Brexit, your future and future generations depend on it unless you want a federal European state that will enslave you. You are being mislead. There is already leaks on them wanting to a European army. If you want a fascist communist soviet ruling over you and a life you never envisage before that George Orwell warned us about, go ahead. Don’t take my word for do the research. Richie Allen and David Icke having been warning this for years.
You seem confused. A “fascist communist soviet”, by definition, cannot exist.
You also seem to be offering the rest of us nothing but a choice between enslavers. The EU at least enshrines our human rights and our rights as workers, whereas the Conservative Government would divest itself of both.
Perhaps, also, you should read up on the workings of the European Union.
I know, I know, but Harold was being hounded by scum and Tory Benn, Jenkins, Dr. Death, Shirley Temple Black and Woy Rogers. Anything, even an unsavoury alliance with our best kept perpetual enemies, was better than having to listen to these know all mouthy faggots.
“Tory” Benn? Hardly!
That news item comes as no surprise to me at all. Anyone employed who votes out is a turkey voting for Christmas.
I really don’t see why this needs to be so. If we leave the EU, as I hope we do, then we can decide on the holidays we need and everything else.
Granted under the tories everything is under threat. We need to be out of this government and sort our problems without the EU interfering.
Even if we stayed in, which I hope we won’t, there is no guarantee the tories would abide by the ruling anyway. There are many ways around it like temporary contracts, zero hours and just plain slavery (workfare).
Like certain other rogue states and ‘exceptional’ nations we seem to do what we want anyway.
If we leave the EU, then the Conservative Government will decide on the holidays we need and everything else.
Is that really what you want?
You are correct that temp contracts, zero-hours and workfare (under whatever name) are being used right now to get around the requirement for paid holidays – but that isn’t the worst of what could happen, of course.
ALL your human rights are at risk.
Tut, tut…Mike, leave that sort of stuff to the Tory Liars, we deal in truth, real honest to GOD TRUTH.
No, we deal in FACTS.
If you want truth, find a philosophy blog.
Have we got any left, I don’t think so….Bombing Syria and, the vote rigging to get the power to order Bombs anywhere, claiming an existing Mandate, was what CALIGULA Cameroon WANTED…TORY BENN the (11) assured that he got it.
H’exactly as stupid as his unlamented double crossing PaPa.
Yes, we do still have human rights – and I dare say you’d be the first to complain next time someone uses them to get out of a criminal indictment.
“Tory” Benn? Hardly!
In a spare moment review the contracts he gave to North Sea Energy pirates
I guess you never met him….
its more likely that Cameron is playing a double bluff and in reality supports the Brexit campaign. Tories are untrustworthy but on this occassion he is mindful of legacy. he wants a scapegoat for his incompetency and a reason to resign from politics. if Brexit triumph in the referendum he will have a reason to resign, also will try to blame the EU for division of the UK which is set to occur as a result of tory policies and their incompetence running the country.
Trident will be dealt with by a successor who will again be a subservient in the UK to USA special relationship unless JC becomes PM after a long overdue vote of no confidence in the government.
Strangely enough I’m sure we had paid holidays before being dumped into what we were lied to as being a trade agreement and it was only a common market, we didn’t need an unelected committee of failed foreign politicians for that. In fact workers rights were far better prior to 1975 than they are now so if you are saying the position is directly due to eu membership you are correct, they have opened the gates for worse conditions not better.
Check your history – apparently Harold Wilson referred to closer political union:
“The Wilson government, setting out its reasons for applying in 1967, stressed that ‘Europe is now faced with the opportunity of a great move forward in political unity and that we can — and indeed we must — play our full part in it’.”
As for being told we were joining a trade agreement: “Not true. We were never hoodwinked. We actually left a free trade zone (EFTA) to join the EU, specifically because we felt free trade was not enough. The Wilson government, setting out its reasons for applying in 1967, stressed that “Europe is now faced with the opportunity of a great move forward in political unity and we can — and indeed we must — play our full part in it”. And before the referendum in 1975, national newspapers on both left and right were clear that political, not just economic, integration was proposed and would be a positive outcome.” Here’s the evidence.
The “unelected” bit? “Not true. The European Commission doesn’t make laws. It only makes proposals, which are then debated, amended and passed (or rejected) by elected national governments and directly-elected MEPs. In any case, Commissioners themselves are accountable to the European Parliament, which elects its president, approves its appointment and can dismiss it.”
Regarding workers’ rights, remember times have changed and leaving the EU places us all in the hands of the Conservative Government, whose record in respect of workers’ rights is not good. We’ve already had mention of temporary work, zero-hours contracts and workfare.
Whatever! the EC is a joke, bought out by Corporate money; poor relatives, of political Czars’ of small States, are sent there as MEP’S to collect the bundles of Cash distributed by the Corporate Pimps.
Wake up and smell the corruption.
And yes, if Bore-US and IDS (the Killer) are for, we should all be against but, I hate the EC more than that filth, and Caligula Cameroon more than anything else..
Boris and the Gentleman Ranker support Brexit, for reasons that have about the same amount of veracity as those you state here.
In my opinion, the vast majority of the evidence so far supports staying in, with the exception of TTIP.
I am astonished at how little people know about the EU – Most seem to have information from the worst of the media, and from prejudice and ignorance. If things have gone wrong I blame a lot on the apathy and disinterest of the British public and on how UKIP members have virtually been able to walk in unopposed, as well as the those MEPs who don’t bother to participate or represent British interests because they have sought to undermine the EU. Yes we have contributed hugely financially but have people forgotten the millions – billions?- invested in parts of Wales for example and other poorer parts of the UK?
Thank you Mike for providing clear information and scotching misguided views and helping put us straight. British Public, get some knowledge BEFORE you make up your mind.
The EU is 12 trillion euros in debt, its budget p/a is 160 billion euros so the EU is bankrupt, cannot pay its debt off, in every year of its existence the EU it has not prevented the conservatives from destroying, people, communities, jobs or industries. look around you and you will see the horror of being British under the Tories and we are unaided by the EU in any form. my last employer broke every working time directive with impunity, the Italian government has been replaced by EU bureaucrats, the same in Greece and in Portugal they say they have no sovereignty . the farmers and fishermen have had their careers devastated by the EU policies and they should know, the EU is the great gravy train ,it costs the UK 350 million pounds a week to be a member of the EU money we cannot spend on our own people, the EUS own accountants have not signed off the eus books in the last 19 years because of the fact that the eus numbers will not add up correctly given all the bribes, loss and theft. the eu commissioners are the grifters of today, totally corrupt and unaccountable and what scares them the most is that if Britain brexits all will be revealed, its just been a giant scam, just like Osborn has decided to give the eu an additional 2 billion pounds to bail out the greeks yet again but hold on that money will be going straight to the ECB EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK AND TO THE IMF, WE ARE NOT EVEN IN THE EURO AND PEOPLES MONEY IS BEING GIVEN TO THE BANKERS AND NOT THE SUFFERING GREEK PEOPLE, wake the fuck up, your being taken for mugs and your playing the part beautifully , the eu is a fascist organisation, its not a country or state they have no right to tell the uk what we can and cannot do for ourselves like we used to. anyone advocating for remaining is going to profit from it and everyone else including your children and their children will end up paying for the gravy which they will never see. it beggars belief that the british people can be so ill informed on this eu referendum question, simply put are we an independent nation or just the slaves to an organisation no different to the TYRELL CORPORATION, if you do not reclaim your independence from the eu don’t moan when the eu signs TTIP and you end up with the concequences namely fracking, nhs privitisation, and gmo foods and crops, you have this one last chance to save your country think please
I’d like to see where you found this 12 trillion Euro debt. The EU’s accounts for the seven years up to 2013 (the last accounting year for which this has been possible up to now) have been signed off as accurate and the organisation’s income and spending are equally balanced.
So the EU isn’t bankrupt at all.
Member states may be in debt but that is not the same as the EU being in debt.
Your claim that EU membership costs the UK £350 million a week is also in error – as previously noted on This Blog (and elsewhere). Much of the money given to the EU comes back in the form of grants and schemes that help the people of the UK – this is money that would not be spent by our Conservative Government, meaning the people helped by it would go without.
Your claim about the European Commission is fascinating but I notice that, again, you appear to have missed out the link to any factual information corroborating it.
The money Osborne handed over wasn’t to bail out the Greeks. If I understand correctly what you mean, it was money that the UK owed according to the terms of its membership, because our economy had fared better than expected over the relevant period of time. It was well-covered in This Blog as Osborne lied about the amount he handed over and the reasons for it. Of course, that money would go to neither the ECB nor the IMF but to the EU.
Nobody in the EU tells the UK what to do. Any directives that come from the EU are agreed by all 28 states, including the UK, and must also be agreed by the Parliaments of those member states.
TTIP is indeed an issue – but from what you have stated here it is the only issue with which the UK public need concern itself.
THE EU IS 12 TRILLION EUROS IN DEBT, YOU CAN DOWLOAD A DEBT CLOCK AND IT IS SHOWING CURRENTLY,12,621,464,000,000
I’m cutting you off right there.
Do you mean http://www.eudebtclock.org/ ?
I think you do.
If you had bothered to read the information around the numbers, you would have seen that it refers to the debt owed by EU member states – and NOT by the European Union organisation itself.
You cannot use this as an argument against the EU because the debt will still be there, whether we are in or out.
i agree with everything Mike says ALL our human rights are at risk by voting out.
but i think CaMoron is playing the double bluff by scaremongering people to think voting in,but in effect making them think that out is best.
could this be the reason for giving his MPs a free vote,and making it seem no big deal,as it was all pre-determained.
Surely we don’t have to pay £55 million a day to protect Workers’ rights?
Firstly, we’re not paying £55 million a day. We are a net contributor to the EU, but the amount is more like £25 million.
The rest of the money comes back to us in grants and schemes that we would not get if we were not in the EU. A Conservative Government certainly would not fund these initiatives but would probably cut taxes, meaning the rich would pocket more cash.
Secondly, if we didn’t have a Conservative Government, then workers’ rights would probably be safe – or at least safer. But we do have a Conservative Government so, yes, workers’ rights are certainly at risk.
Yeah! I expect you mean that its great that Workers Pensions have been stolen,
Not a whisper from the Great EU.
Workers are told they cannot retire until they are 75, and the Ladies are still getting a Penny in the Pound towards their Pensions….Thank God for the EU, we were so much better off WITHOUT them, I cannot imagine how we all didn’t wallow in our self indulgence, just like the City Banksters and their moran Zombie Corporations, ALL THE RICHER..IN THEIR BUSINESS FAILURES.
I still do not hear a whimper from the EU Godfather that you insist protects us.
Am I deaf?
How does this relate to what I wrote?
Much of this comment appears to be fantasy – the claim that pensions have been stolen and retirement put back to 75.
Myself and my younger son are voting to leave but this issue s why my older son hasn’t made up his mind yet. Surely we could come up with a Bill of Rights?
The Tories already have a draft. It lists a lot of things you can’t do. From memory, I can’t recall it protecting even a single right that you have currently.
It relates and, I don’t do fantasy;
Gordon Brown has gone down in history as the Labour chancellor who raided the nation’s pension schemes when he abolished the tax-free status of dividend income. But even in his wildest dreams, Brown would surely not have sought to get away with what Chancellor George Osborne is currently quietly putting in place.
Here you are, Two Pension thieves in one Go:
today’s Chancellor is to take effective control of the nation’s local government pension schemes so he can direct them to invest in his pet infrastructure projects.
http://www.standard.co.uk/business/anthony-hilton-scandal-of-chancellor-george-osbornes-pensions-meddling-a3178141.html
And, not a bleep from those EC Guardians you hold such faith in.
What is it to do with the EU?
I never mentioned pensions among the matters protected by the EU.
yes Mike thats what we want “HUMAN RIGHTS NOT TORY BILL OF RIGHTS “.
how many people know that a human right to a fair trial informs current legal proceedings. all human rights matter. uk citizens will have to seek them from european courts if Brexit occurs. vote to stay in and see cameron squirm.
.
“The Tories already have a draft”
Tut, tut..velly naughty, please don’t scare us….into doing something foolish.
Have a read of this: http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2014/10/03/tory-proposals-for-bill-of-rights-jack-of-kent/
And this: http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2014/10/03/the-tory-bill-of-rights-in-a-nutshell/
you believe the tories have fairness underpinning their Draft of ‘Human rights’ ? who is being foolish?