Daily Archives: 18 December, 2008

Euro Matters

by Birmingham University Labour Students

Today members of the European Parliament showed us just how much power the EU juggernaut can wield over its members and ultimately its citizens. MEPs voted 421-273 to scrap Britain’s opt-out from the maximum 48-hour working week. The 48-hour limit already exists in many EU countries, such as France, where market flexibility is perhaps not as important as workers rights. The bill was pushed through the EP after many doctors across the EU have filed lawsuits against hospitals for not complying with rulings from the European Court of Justice regarding working-time limits. This is a clear demonstration of the ECJ’s increasing role in European integration, however indirectly.

The working week limit will surely benefit doctors, teachers and other over-worked public servants, but it will not help graduates and young professional couples who need to work 55 hours a week in order to pay their mortgage. Some may argue that people should not work more than 48 hours for their own health and piece of mind, but if they choose to work so many hours, then so be it – more work can only benefit the economy at large.

15 EU countries, including the UK, are beneficiaries of the opt-out, so it is unlikely that an agreement will be reached between the EP and the Council of Ministers. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not against the European project, but it’s frightening that in an economic climate such as this, the European Union can have so much control over our right, our need even, to go out and earn a bit of extra dosh. Even more frightening is the fact that Gordon Brown clearly has no control over British MEPs, many of whom are Labour. Tory MEP Philip Bushell-Matthews summed up Big G’s failures quite nicely in today’s Guardian:

“This is a double failure of Gordon Brown. Not only has he failed to control his MEPs, but he also naively signed up to a package deal that saw Britain give ground on the agency workers directive in exchange for our working time opt-out.
His folly was to assume the left in the European parliament would not sabotage the deal. British businesses have been given two damaging pieces of employment legislation for the price of one”.

This post was written my Kathryn Woodroof, BULS member

It was right to help the Tories…

by Tom Guise

A few people have expressed disdain at my decision to lend a helping hand to the Conservative Future Society on campus.  You will know that they faced de-recognition in the Guild.  A week has passed and hopefully tempers have calmed down a little, so I wanted to set out exactly why I did what I did.  Just to put at rest the minds of club members, this was a personal decision, and in no way does it affect how the club operates. ie: we’re not becoming the Tory society.

There are three fundamental reasons;

Firstly, I believe it is essential that the Guild represents a political plurality, a cross-section of opinion on matters relating to the students we represent.  Anyone who argues against that is not fit for reasoned democratic discussion.  Surely, we make much stronger policy by listening and taking into account all sides of the argument.  When I argue, on these pages or in person, with the Tories I find my own beliefs become much more asserted.  What they stand for is exactly what I try to fight against.  That kind of zest from a debate is what I would like all our members to experience.

Secondly, I believe, from what I’ve been told, that BUCF has been let down consistently by the Guild and their own past committees.  I’m confident that the current chair will do all he can to ensure that his successors continue a close working relationship in the Guild for the benefit of the whole society.  The blame does not rest on one person, or one organisation, but now BUCF have been given a final chance to make amends and I believe they will try and do that.

Thirdly, losing the Tories does BULS no favours.  At the moment, many people believe Labour own the Guild, a view I find ridiculous.  But if we had stood by and let BUCF slip away then that view would have been further cemented.

BUCF, represent a special case, a strong and active society that has been left to drop out of the Guild inner-sanctum.  I would have done the same for other societies, had I known the details of their circumstances and had they been like BUCF’s.  But I didn’t, and like I said this was a purely personal decision.  Ofcourse, I informed our committee and let them aware of what I was planning, but this was in no way a BULS effort to rescue the Tories.  So members of our club fear not, it’ll be a long time yet before I seek to sign BULS up to the Thatcher doctrine, or allow BULS to be part of the Cameron Marketing Department.