EU Referendum: Webchat with Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary, Tuesday 21 June, 12 noon

[BojanaMumsnet]

Hello,

We’re pleased to announce a webchat with Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary, on Tuesday 21 June at 12 noon. Frances is campaigning for the UK to Remain in the EU.

The TUC says it ‘is concerned that leaving the EU puts at risk many vital workplace rights currently underpinned by EU law – paid holidays, extra maternity rights and better conditions for part-time workers, as well as many better jobs in export-reliant industries’.

Frances is the first female General Secretary of the TUC. She joined the Trades Union Congress in 1994, where she was promoted to head of organising and then Deputy General Secretary before becoming General Secretary in 2013.

During her time at the TUC, Frances has played a key role in negotiations with government and employers and run union recruitment campaigns in workplaces across the country.

The EU referendum will be held on 23 June.

Please do join the chat on Tuesday, or if you can’t make it, please leave a question here in advance. And do bear in mind the webchat guidelines - one question each only (follow-ups allowed if there’s time) and please do be polite.

Photo credit: © Jess Hurd/Report digital.

Thanks
MNHQ

There is a "democratic deficit" in the EU which translates to it being undemocratic. How can you have faith in the future in any rules or laws when democracy is dispensable?

Various countries have women's rights and workers' rights without the EU. Most people support these rights in the 21st century and we can vote out politicians who don't. We don't know what the EU will be like in the future. Isn't it better to work on upholding and updating this country's rights here, instead of letting the EU decide for us?

Why does the TUC support many of their members' wages being kept low by a huge over-supply of cheap EU migrant labour?

Hi Frances
Looking forward to seeing you in the debate on Tuesday.

The TTIP deal that the EU is currently negotiating with the US will create secret courts that would allow private corporations to sue nations states for huge sums of money if they consider their business has been damaged by national legislation. The European Commission's own impact of TTIP on employment would be a loss of a million jobs and a significant reduction in workers wages. (according to waronwant.org.yttip).

Surely trades union should be supporting workers rights, not damaging them by supporting an EU that will cause redundancies and lower wages via TTIP?

Hi
The suspension of trade union collective bargaining is a strict condition of EU bailouts in Ireland, Portugal, Romania and Greece. Trade union rights appear to bean obstacle to EU plans for restructuring those economies. How can the TUC support such a denial of the basic workers right to bargain collectively?

Hi

Why do some trade unions diasgree with the TC's recommendation to remain in the EU?

Hi

Don't you feel that accepting funding from the EU means you think more warmly towards the EU than the workers you represent actually do - such as those in Southampton who were made redundant when the EU funded closure of Ford's Southampton factory and the £8million transfer of those jobs to Turkey?

Hi

As a trade unionist myself I resent being told that almost all workers rights that people like me have fought for over the decades have only been achieved and can only be preserved by being in the EU. I find the diminution of our efforts, as you assign false benefit for these hard won gains to the EU, to be very insulting.

Please can you explain why you are not supporting the minimum wage workers that seem to be piling into Vote Leave as a result of having their pay put under pressure by the vast increase in unskilled labour from accession countries we've seen over the last few years? I don't understand how the Labour Party and the unions cannot be behind these workers, their traditional voters, rather than the EU. I don't think workers' rights are the real reason because any democratically elected government that reduced those would be voted out. So what is the real reason - you are in bed with the Tories...?

I am very surprised that the TUC is asking us to back the Tory PM's Remain recommendation and supporting a campaign funded by Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan who are not known for the promotion of workers rights. Are you comfortable with such capitalist bedfellows?

Can Frances please explain why we need the EU for workers rights when the UK had these rights before we joined the EU e.g. holiday pay 1938, trade unions 19th century & UK maternity pay is both longer & better paid than EU law

According to the Guardian the number of people who have to work on minimum wage will double over the next 20 years. This is great news for company bosses and shareholders. This is fuelled by workers from post 2004 accession countries happily wanting to work for minimum wage as it is double the minimum wage in their own countries. Work here for a year, live 10 to a house then go back with 2 years worth of pay. This drives up rents and lowers the wages that bosses will offer. The 2 speed EU is broken. A vote for remain will condemn our young people to a life on minimum wage.

The EU has been showering the TUC with money
www.tuc.org.uk/international-issues/europe/eu-funded-project-europe-works-britain

A simple question: how money have the TUC received from the EU in the last 5 years?

This seems to be the 4th webchat with a pro Remain guest (if you include the upcoming Nicola Sturgeon webchat) compared with only 2 with Brexit guests, one of whom only came on to plug his book, apparently, and is not actively involved in the campaign.

Hi Frances

I'm leaning towards Remain, but from a Paul Murphy point of view - mostly because I'm terrified about what an untrammelled English right-wing government might do in the future.

I do think though that there are lots of British working class people who have lost out horribly under globalisation (as well as austerity but I'm particularly interested in globalisation)

If we Remain, what will the TUC do to work to ensure a better, fairer life for low-income British people? Surely old-style unions can only be a small part of the answer?

Hi Frances

Thank you for coming on here to talk to us. I have to say I’ve been really turned off by the tone of the debate so far. It’s been dominated by big business and talk of banks and trade deals – no one is talking about what the EU means for the average worker. So I'm pleased that we’re getting to hear from the unions.

I work in the NHS and I’m really worried about what coming out of the EU will mean for the health service and for the public sector in general. My union is supporting Remain and I plan to vote Remain but I’m amazed by how many of my friends are planning to vote Brexit because they see migrants as a drain on services, including health services.

This is a plea more than a question but can you please keep on making the case that the NHS is safer in the EU than out?

Springing it's strictly speaking one question per user - in case Frances doesn't have time to answer all of yours, do you want to indicate which is your priority? Thanks

IndridCold you're right and we're sorry - we're bending over backwards to get more Leavers on; we just haven't had as much luck pinning them down as we have Remainers - but please rest assured we're still hoping to pull something out of the bag before the polls open.

Hi Frances - thanks for coming to talk to us. I have the feeling that most people, despite the arguments being put forth, will be voting with their instinct on whether to stay in the EU or not, instead of looking at numbers/legal protections or restrictions provided by membership, etc. I recently attended a panel discussion on the EU which focused on the protections it provides women, particularly working women and mothers - and since women are the single biggest undecided group of voters, that seems significant. How do you think is best to go about providing women, workers, undecided voters, etc., with information about the benefits of EU membership? It seems difficult to strike a balance between being informative and being patronizing (i.e. the cringey yoof-speak of the advert that urged "votin'".)

Do you agree with Lord Rose that the price of labour will probably go up if we leave the EU? Doesn't that make more of a case for your members to vote Brexit rather than Remain?

Hi Frances,

I have a son who is in his early twenties and has special needs. He would love to find a job and contribute to our society. It's proving quite difficult for him to find any employment. Would staying in the EU help him in anyway?

Thanks

Thanks for coming on. From a place of genuine ignorance, my question is - are you actually suggesting that there is a possibility that parliament will revoke our current workers' rights if we leave? Or that it will be harder to progress those rights in the future if we leave?

If we vote Leave, I worry what the future may hold for us and future generations in terms of social/racial/economic/class divisions.

Do you think we can safeguard our society against the clearly bubbling right-wing nationalism and - frankly - racist bigotry and ignorance that have sadly become so apparent in this campaign?

If we vote to remain in the EU, do you think that will give us less of a say? We would have had the chance to leave but didn't so, therefore, would less be in our control.

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Hi!
I’m really excited to be on here today . I’ll try and answer as many questions as I can so bear with me.