Apr 30 - Chief Minister's May Day Message
Here's the Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo's, May Day message:
Are you a worker? Most of us are. Whether you work in an industrial trade or in an office, the reality of our small nation that is there are very few owners of means of production and many more workers.
As workers in Gibraltar, we often take for granted many things in Gibraltar which are ahead of the benefits enjoyed by workers in other nations. Our basic rights are assured as a result of the struggle of workers many generations ago. That is what the celebrations of the 1st of May have traditionally been about commemorating. But this year, we have to realise that there is more to the 1st of May than just a celebration of the history of workers’ battles for recognition of rights in the past. This year, in particular, we have to realise that workers’ basic rights are under attack and we have to defend those rights together.
Brexit is an attack on workers’ rights. The ultra-right wing forces behind Nigel Farage and Donald Trump (the Steve Bannons and Aaron Banks of this world) want to see a UK which is liberated from what they call ‘EU red tape’. That ‘red tape’ is shorthand for workers’ rights. So Brexit is a huge threat to workers and their rights.
That is why instead of concentrating on individual claims made by Gibraltar unions in the past two years, I have had to concentrate on dealing with the Brexit challenge. If we had got the Brexit challenge wrong, we would be seeing a massively negative effect on all workers – but the effect, as usual, would be worse for those who earn less.
That is why I have been saying since the EU referendum campaign that whilst the GSLP Liberals are in office, there will be no dilution of workers’ rights in Gibraltar, Brexit or no Brexit. That is a commitment that you have not had from any other political party in Gibraltar. Unite the Union asked the Leader of the Opposition, Elliot Phillips to give such a commitment, but he failed to do so on behalf of a party that includes office holders in its executive who are cheerleaders for a hard see Brexit.
That is why on the eve of this year’s 1st of May celebrations we are publishing our Bill for Pensions in the Private Sector because I want to increase the rights and benefits available to workers across the board, not just in the civil service and public sector. This is an important step forward in an economy and one which I had to press pause on whilst we saw how we might be able to negotiate the challenges of Brexit.
That is why the minimum wage (introduced in Gibraltar by the GSLP Government in 1988) has increased more in my time in office than ever before, because it principally affects those in low paid jobs in the private sector. In fact, the minimum wage has increased by 25% in our seven years in office. I am often attacked by employer organisations for increasing the minimum wage. Despite their criticisms, I know I am doing the right thing by supporting hard working, low paid people by increasing the minimum wage into the top half of the table of minimum wages in the EU, ie amongst the top in the whole world.
That is why I am going to use the delay to Brexit concentrate, amongst other things, on the outstanding work we have in matters of industrial relations claims. I know that our responses to these has been delayed. That has been inevitable as we have had to get Brexit right.
That is why this 1st of May the Socialist Liberal Government will, as usual, organise a Fun Day at Casemates from 11am. To celebrate workers. To celebrate the success of struggles in our history and the advances we are making today and will consolidate under this Socialist Liberal administration.
And that is also why I am calling on you also to support the rally being organised by Unite the Union at the Piazza. Because those of us who really represent workers cannot allow ourselves to be divided by those who masquerade as socialists just in an election year. I know who I am and where I came from; and I know that without the struggles of workers in the past, my family today and my children in the future would not be assured a dignified and prosperous life in Gibraltar.
That is what is at stake for all of us and why we must celebrate the 1st of May together.
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