Wilcat Strikes - Scarcity Probably Fuelling Xenophobia

[Govinda]

Here's the deal:

Power plant workers and other industrial types (including my dad's plant, but he just went home) have been conducting unannouced 'wildcat' strikes in protest against foriegn workers getting jobs in Britian. The argument is that British workers are being passed over for jobs in these credit-crunchy times and the jobs are being awarded to EU workers who will work for less.

However, there's something else going on here. Every 'wildcat' strike has been assured that they will not lose their jobs any time soon, and certainly not before foreign workers do. The whole thing started when Italian workers arrived to carry out a contract in Lindsay which had been negotiated months before the economy started to go into proper meltdown.

Is the economic downturn being used as an excuse for xenophobia, a way to let out fears that have been latent for years?

Yesterday's headline on the Huffington Post was 'COMING TO AMERICA - THOUSANDS OF FOREIGN WORKERS GIVEN JOBS WITH BAILOUT CASH'. That is a very abnormal thing for Liberal Central to be harping on about. So it's not just the UK.

So, thoughts? Do you think this recession is going to pick apart the fraught bonds of tolerance that our governments have been trying to instil for years? When the shit hits, will all this talk of tolerance and giving people a chance because their country is a shithole go out the window?

'British jobs for British workers!' exclaimed Gordon Brown. And now the idiot is having to consider trying to bypass EU legislation to stick to that.

Maybe this downturn could get interesting after all.

[Pete]

I agree. How can you help your own country when your government is paying people who will only be using their wages to take back to their homeland? Yes you might rebuild some infrastructure, but if nobody in that country has any money how will they be able to travel and use it?

I think that it's ok for immigrants to come to a country for better opportunities, so long as they are willing to learn the language and assimilate, oh and become legalized. My tax dollars shouldn't be going to adding Chinese symbols to street signs in Chinatown, nor should it be going to welfare for illegal immigrants. If you don't want to become part of the host country's culture, then get the **** out, we don't want you here.

If I were going to make a residence in another country, I would do my best to assimilate and learn whatever language is used there. Of course, I would still speak English when I was with my family or English speaking friends, but I would not demand any other country to have a "Press two for English."

http://comics.com/pearls_before_swine/2009-02-01/