Wednesday, February 04, 2009

Brit Workers Strike Vs Italians

The ANNOTICO Report

While Brits, French and Germany are so often so quick to criticize Italy for trying to hold the line vs. the torrent of illegal immigrants from North and Sub Sahara Africa, (the most convenient entry), The Brits are Not Only COMPLAINING about Fellow EU member Italians working in Britain , BUT are STRIKING vs. Italians hired for a new Sub contractor job, NOT as Replacement workers.  !!!!!!!

The WSJ does not state one word about ITALIAN workers, only an ITALY based company. But Italian Commentators aware of the 400 Italian workers involved accused the British strikers of Anti Italian Xenophobia. La Republica went further in an editorial and stated that the British workers once again see the Italians as "Ugly, dirty and mean, like in some old films on Italian Immigration, in order to send us away, they strike". 

It makes me sorry that Julius Caesar conquered Britain and Civilized them, and then later the Italian Renaissance pulled Britain out of the Middle (Medieval) Ages, and these Brits have the audacity to think that Western Civilization started with them and Shakespeare. 

Workers Resume Strikes in U.K.

Wall Street Journal

By Lananh Nguyen

February 2, 2009,

LONDON -- Hundreds of workers resumed strikes across the U.K. to protest the use of foreign labor, and talks opened to try to resolve the dispute that sparked the actions.French oil company Total SA entered mediated talks Monday to end a strike by contract workers that began last week at its Lindsey oil refinery in eastern England.

In a rare example of backlash in a country that has prided itself on its economic openness, the Lindsey workers are protesting Total's decision to award a construction subcontract to Italy-based Irem SpA, which intends to bring in its own staff from abroad rather than use local workers. The strike has inspired actions at more than 10 other refineries, power plants and energy facilities....

Prime Minister Gordon Brown... is balancing the demands of an electorate suffering in the recession and his own antiprotectionist views. A comeback in the opinion polls for Mr. Brown, who has to call an election by May 2010, has faltered as the government's banking bailout and other measures have so far done little to improve conditions.

Over the weekend at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Brown spoke out against a slide into protectionism. But as unemployment rises and the economy contracts, more Britons could begin to question the benefits of globalization.

Workers at the Lindsey oil refinery were protesting a decision by owner Total of France to award a $280 million construction contract to an Italian firm that planned to use foreign workers.

In addressing the strikes, Mr. Brown's hands are also tied by European Union laws, which state that subcontracts can be put out to tender for companies in all its member states. ..

"We are now seeing the backlash as the recession bites," said Derek Simpson, joint leader of Unite. "The government must ensure that employers do not raise barriers to U.K.-based labor applying for work."...

Total said it didn't anticipate job losses as a result of the Irem contract, and added that Irem staff will be paid at nationally agreed levels for the engineering and construction industry. "We recognize the concerns of contractors, but we must stress that it has never been, and never will be, the policy of Total to discriminate against British companies or British workers," the company said in a statement.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123360965409240743.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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