I'd agree we have an interest in it. All I'm saying is it cuts both ways. For some businesses, a supply of cheap and flexible labour is a key requirement and that may not be in the interests of its workers. For those who work in the care industry, catering and office cleaning for example, there is zero chance of their jobs being exported but every chance that their wages and conditions will be kept at minimum indefinitely by EU membership.
As it happens my retirement income is very dependent on investment returns so maybe I should be an innie. But many people have no pensions at all, except the state, or have defined benefits. Not everybody is a capitalist.
I've a very clear view of capital vs. labour. Left to its own devices, unfettered capitalism will keep all unskilled labour at survival level unless demand exceeds supply. That's how it works as I understand it. It's not good, or bad, it just is. An employer who overpays will go bust, in many cases.
Labour (workers, not the party) has in many ways gone backwards in the last few decades. A nice example I heard the other day is car washes - in the 70s or 80s that almost always meant a machine. Now it's often half a dozen blokes with rags - not something we should have expected.
One of the challenges of the future is that technological advances will put the skilled and unskilled alike out of work in ever increasing numbers. That will hit the less well off in high wage economies (wealthier countries) hardest. Will Britian be better off in the same boat as France, Germany and Italy or will greater autonomy for the UK make that easier to deal with? I don't know...
Last edited by: Manatee on Tue 23 Feb 16 at 13:55
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