deganya
Well-known member
Another angry voice
Today hundreds of British Gas workers are being fired because they refused to sign up to a new employment contract that reduces their pay and working conditions.
Many of them have given decades of service to the company, but their reward for this loyal service is the same as the rest of the workforce, being subject to outrageous "fire and rehire" tactics aimed at reducing their wages, and diminishing their rights and working conditions.
Opposing this scandalous attack on workers' rights should be absolute bread and butter to the Labour Party, but the party's abstention of a leader has been basically invisible on the issue.
Aside from a single Tweet all the way back in January, Keir Starmer has not mentioned this full scale assault on workers' rights once. And even that Tweet took the form of an inept and impotent demand that the private owners of British Gas come back to the negotiation table, that clearly went entirely unheeded, given the hundreds of layoffs going on this week.
Labour shouldn't just be siding with all workers by vehemently opposing "fire and rehire" practices, they should be defining this scandal as yet another malignant symptom of the radically right-wing privatisation agenda.
This is the position they should be taking: Corporate profiteers forcing workers to choose between worse conditions or the sack is utterly immoral, and it wouldn't be allowed to happen if vital utilities like energy, water, and transport were brought back into public ownership.
This is an obvious line to take because not only does it clearly establish the party as being firmly on the side of workers, it also centres renationalisation policies that have overwhelming support among the British public.
But the Labour leader doesn't do this because he's already ripped up the 10 pledges that he used to trick the party membership into voting him in as leader.
Here's the exact wording of Starmer's Pledge 5: "Public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders. Support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water; end outsourcing in our NHS, local government and justice system".
He was elected leader on the basis that he would oppose corporate profiteering and promote public ownership, but when faced with the ideal opportunity to call out the grotesque profiteering of a private utility company, and call for renationalisation, he's outright refusing to do it.
Having repeatedly proved that he lied his way into position, is it any wonder Keir Starmer's personal approval ratings have gone through the floor?
What's even the point of a Labour Party that doesn't properly stand up for workers rights, and refuses to make the case for democratically accountable not-for-profit public ownership of vital national infrastructure and services?
If you're a British Gas customer, today would be a good day to switch your service provider to a company that doesn't use 'fire and rehire' tactics to attack their own workforce.
Today hundreds of British Gas workers are being fired because they refused to sign up to a new employment contract that reduces their pay and working conditions.
Many of them have given decades of service to the company, but their reward for this loyal service is the same as the rest of the workforce, being subject to outrageous "fire and rehire" tactics aimed at reducing their wages, and diminishing their rights and working conditions.
Opposing this scandalous attack on workers' rights should be absolute bread and butter to the Labour Party, but the party's abstention of a leader has been basically invisible on the issue.
Aside from a single Tweet all the way back in January, Keir Starmer has not mentioned this full scale assault on workers' rights once. And even that Tweet took the form of an inept and impotent demand that the private owners of British Gas come back to the negotiation table, that clearly went entirely unheeded, given the hundreds of layoffs going on this week.
Labour shouldn't just be siding with all workers by vehemently opposing "fire and rehire" practices, they should be defining this scandal as yet another malignant symptom of the radically right-wing privatisation agenda.
This is the position they should be taking: Corporate profiteers forcing workers to choose between worse conditions or the sack is utterly immoral, and it wouldn't be allowed to happen if vital utilities like energy, water, and transport were brought back into public ownership.
This is an obvious line to take because not only does it clearly establish the party as being firmly on the side of workers, it also centres renationalisation policies that have overwhelming support among the British public.
But the Labour leader doesn't do this because he's already ripped up the 10 pledges that he used to trick the party membership into voting him in as leader.
Here's the exact wording of Starmer's Pledge 5: "Public services should be in public hands, not making profits for shareholders. Support common ownership of rail, mail, energy and water; end outsourcing in our NHS, local government and justice system".
He was elected leader on the basis that he would oppose corporate profiteering and promote public ownership, but when faced with the ideal opportunity to call out the grotesque profiteering of a private utility company, and call for renationalisation, he's outright refusing to do it.
Having repeatedly proved that he lied his way into position, is it any wonder Keir Starmer's personal approval ratings have gone through the floor?
What's even the point of a Labour Party that doesn't properly stand up for workers rights, and refuses to make the case for democratically accountable not-for-profit public ownership of vital national infrastructure and services?
If you're a British Gas customer, today would be a good day to switch your service provider to a company that doesn't use 'fire and rehire' tactics to attack their own workforce.
