Foreigners

I am heartily fed up with the recent range of strikes in the oil industry. The unions are saying (wink to the knowing) that it is all unofficial, as if they have had nothing to do with it.

There is one fact to be considered here. The Treaty of Rome requires free movement of labour across the union, and subsequent treaties require free access to contract bidding by European members. Total (why did no one complain when a French company was investing in England, creating jobs for British workers?) has accepted a bid for some new building from an Italian firm which uses Italian and Portuguese labour. From within the EU. EU membership requires us to regard these workers not as foreign but as the same as us.

We now need the head of the TUC, and of the union, Unite, and the Chairman of the Labour Party, to confirm that it is the policy of all these bodies that we should belong to the EU (it is, isn't it?) and that we should conform with the treaties. And that they therefore regard these strikes as nothing other than racist.

For myself I do not believe it is in our interest to remain in the EU, but I still wouldn't stop Total employing whomever they want. I have a strong feeling that our chaps didn't get the contract because they were charging too much.

Racist is a word brought out rather too often for my taste but it will serve here.