Brown condemns wildcat strikes
The prime minister has condemned wildcat strikes to prevent the use of foreign labour as “indefensible”.
Gordon Brown, speaking to the BBC’s Politics Show from Davos, said he understood people were worried about jobs being taken by overseas workers but said the UK is part of a single European market.
As for those thinking of staging sympathy strikes on Monday, Mr Brown said: “That that’s not the right thing to do and it’s not defensible.”
The prime minister also defended his pledge of “British jobs for British people”, which became a slogan for wildcat strikers on Friday.
He said: “When I talked about British jobs, I was taking about giving people in Britain the skills, so that they have the ability to get jobs which were at present going to people from abroad and actually encouraging people to take up the courses and the education and learning that is necessary for British workers to be far more skilled for the future.”
The prime minister said the government is meeting this challenge by increasing the number of apprenticeships available.
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has also commented on the strikes. He said: “It would be a huge mistake to retreat from a policy where within the rules, UK companies can operate in Europe and European companies can operate here.
“Protectionism would be a sure-fire way of turning recession into depression.”
The row was sparked after Lindsey Oil Refinery at North Killingholme, North Lincolnshire, gave a contract for workers to an Italian firm.
Trade union Unite is consulting lawyers on the decision.
“The union is doing everything in its power to ensure that employers end this immoral, potentially illegal and politically dangerous practice of excluding UK workers from some construction projects,” general secretary Derek Simpson said.
The mediation service Acas has been in discussions with the unions, employers and protestors since the strikes began on Friday.
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