Osborne wrong on opposing Astra Zeneca bid
GMB Refute George Osborne Claim that Opposition to Pfizer Bid for Astra Zeneca Goes Against 30 Year Consensus on Economy.
Union meeting today will call on the Astra Zeneca Board to face down pressure from all quarters to get into negotiations with Pfizer for an agreed bid and to brace for rebuffing a possible hostile bid says GMB
There is a Joint GMB\Unite Astra Zeneca shop stewards from all sites national meeting in Macclesfield today at 11am which will consider the Pfizer bid.
Alan Black, GMB National Officer, said
"the unions representatives will support the Astra Zeneca board decision to reject the Pfizer bid. They will call on the Board to face down pressure from all quarters to get into negotiations with Pfizer for an agreed bid and to brace for rebuffing a possible hostile bid.
George Osborne who has a site in his constituency is being quoted in the press this morning as saying that the labour movement opposing this deal, which is driven to desire to take advantage of different tax rates in UK and US, is somehow to oppose free markets and an open economy. The logic of that is that George Osborne supports the Pfizer deal.
As for his contention that this breaks a 30 year consensus let us be clear GMB has never supported tax competition which distort open markets, erode the tax base and threatens the productive and scientific foundations of our economy. Neither does the British public who want to see multinationals like Pfizer, Amazons and Starbucks pay a fair share of tax on turnover in every jurisdiction they operate in. GMB support action in the USA to stop Pfizer being able to get out of paying its fair share of tax on turnover there."
