I merely ask

As I write, the nation’s power stations are being hit by what are described, quaintly, as ‘wildcat’ strikes. These are the result of a free market in labour in Europe, which, at a time of sharply rising unemployment, has led many working people to resent jobs going to foreigners (in this instance, Italians). While the employers and those who let the contracts stoutly deny that this is about cheap labour leading to reduced costs, the widespread suspicion remains that this is exactly what it’s about. The fact that the issue arises at all leads me to wonder where the trade unions have been all these years while the world has been globalising. In the very week that the Guardian has shown us, in some detail, how big British companies play the global market so as to minimise the amount of tax they have to pay, it seems that the unions have yet to respond in like manner – to organise internationally, at the very least on a pan-European basis so as to ensure that you have to pay workers their market rate, wherever they come from and wherever they’re working. Why isn't the Italian branch of Unite bringing its people out in sympathy with those British workers in Lincoln? And what about the foundations? It’s my contention that in a very difficult economic situation, people who so far haven’t, will begin to notice these very few largely unaccountable agglomerations of wealth and to ask themselves “What’s that for then? Can’t we have some of that?” Those asking the question may be politicians, taxpayers, local authorities, or hard-pressed service providers. And how, then, will the UK foundations answer? Will they be sufficiently internationalised to make common cause with analogous organisations elsewhere in the world – and especially in the European Union? Or will they be picked off, nibbled at, and over time find their autonomy eroded? Will the combination of the ACF and the EFC be strong enough to defend them? I merely ask.