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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/23/support-right-wage-slave
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| Support the right not to be a wage slave | Support the right not to be a wage slave |
| (4 months later) | |
| The froth of a referendum will dominate the headlines, but the details of the PM's speech deserve proper scrutiny even though tweeters may dismiss them as boring or difficult. We should welcome that he remembered that the founding principle of the EU is about peace and the wellbeing of its citizens, not just markets. They are a mechanism, not an end. He is right that some co-operation and networking can be better than all the complex institutions: we could lose the economic and social committee and barely notice it, for example. | The froth of a referendum will dominate the headlines, but the details of the PM's speech deserve proper scrutiny even though tweeters may dismiss them as boring or difficult. We should welcome that he remembered that the founding principle of the EU is about peace and the wellbeing of its citizens, not just markets. They are a mechanism, not an end. He is right that some co-operation and networking can be better than all the complex institutions: we could lose the economic and social committee and barely notice it, for example. |
| But the analysis is full of holes: in one breath he wants to complete the single EU market so that online consumers can have the same rights; in the next he wants us all to be very different as producers, to pick and choose which bits of that single market we want to call fair or unfair. The single market reduces 27 or more loads of national red tape and it enshrines rights and freedoms for people to work, study, trade and earn in ways that would not exist without supporting courts and mechanisms. | But the analysis is full of holes: in one breath he wants to complete the single EU market so that online consumers can have the same rights; in the next he wants us all to be very different as producers, to pick and choose which bits of that single market we want to call fair or unfair. The single market reduces 27 or more loads of national red tape and it enshrines rights and freedoms for people to work, study, trade and earn in ways that would not exist without supporting courts and mechanisms. |
| All who support wellbeing must speak up for the much-maligned working-time directive. Cameron uses it as an example of all that is wrong. In fact it is potentially one of the finest pieces of legislation ever passed, offering rights for people to not be wage slaves, to have breaks and holidays. When graduates are told to opt out of its provisions or not get a post, we should urge its strengthening, not removal. Also, those who back the EU but want to change it progressively should stop talking of it as a "project''. It is not a study, political game or theory: this is a real struggle about real lives and rights as well as international responsibilities. Clive Needle Rowhedge, Essex | All who support wellbeing must speak up for the much-maligned working-time directive. Cameron uses it as an example of all that is wrong. In fact it is potentially one of the finest pieces of legislation ever passed, offering rights for people to not be wage slaves, to have breaks and holidays. When graduates are told to opt out of its provisions or not get a post, we should urge its strengthening, not removal. Also, those who back the EU but want to change it progressively should stop talking of it as a "project''. It is not a study, political game or theory: this is a real struggle about real lives and rights as well as international responsibilities. Clive Needle Rowhedge, Essex |
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