TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady declared that
the Labour Party remains the best bet for working people and now is no time to
be talking about setting up a new party of the left.
Addressing the GFTU conference, O’Grady surveyed the
ruins of the election campaign which saw a move to the SNP north of the border
and the English nationalism of UKIP bite into Labour’s core vote in England.
“My view is that workers have more in common with
each other across borders than they do with a London stock broker or Edinburgh
banker,” said O’Grady, who did though concede that the Labour Party gave too
much ground to the economics of austerity.
On the positive side, O’Grady believes that it will
not be all plain sailing for David Cameron with potential problems coming from
the SNP and his own backbenchers. “Some of those backbenchers are for hug a
hoody, others make Norman Tebbit look like a bleeding heart liberal,” said
O’Grady, who also saw potential problems of division coming for the Tories over
EU referendum and their own internal leadership battle to succeed Cameron.
The TUC GS called for “unity and discipline” in
opposing the attacks of the Tories on trade union rights.
“This is a crucial time for our movement and the
people we represent,” said O’Grady, who declared that “the TUC will always
stand on the side of the worker taking strike action.”
The TUC leader called for the movement to put more
effort into organising, particularly in the private sector. “These are tough
times for our movement, we must get out and organise, then together we will
win.”
John Hendy, QC, told the conference that the Tory
Government government is determined to destroy the trade unions as the next
stage toward the fulfilment of the neo-liberal capitalist agenda.
Hendy highlighted how there were 80% of workers
under collective bargaining agreements in 1979 but that this was now down to
20%.
He warned that after the government’s initial
efforts to raise voting thresholds required to get a strike and making it
possible for agency workers to be used as strike breakers, would be followed by
efforts to remove check off, facility time and political funding.
Hendy called for the trade union movement to put
collective bargaining at the top of their industrial and political agenda.
“Collective bargaining is the only way workers voices can be heard at work. It
is an argument for social justice,” said Hendy, who credited much of the
growing inequality in society to the demise of collective bargaining.
The lawyer called for any future commitment to the
Labour Party to be conditional on it supporting the restoration of collective
bargaining and the right to strike. “Unless the Labour Party support those two
points they do not deserve the support of the trade union movement,” said
Hendy.
Other motions passed calling for the outlawing of
zero hours contract and the implementation of a £10 minimum wage
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