Brown Moves Against Trade Unions
Gordon Brown's first act in his relations with the Labour and trade union movement is to announce that he intends to scrap the trade union vote in policy making at Labour Party conference.
Jon Cruddas and the Compass group initially started this dangerous hare running with their proposals to cut the trade unions' percentage share of the vote at conference. Brown has taken this to its logical conclusion with his proposal of a total removal of the right of trade unions to vote on policy decisions.
This is a real kick in the teeth for all those trade union general secretaries who loyally nominated Brown to the leadership of the party.
Many will now be wondering if this is a the reward for their loyalty what hope is their of exercising any influence on the key issues of public sector pay cuts, privatisation, and trade union rights.
As a complete aside for those media watchers amongst you, you may have noticed that the Guardian editorial team are up to their old tricks again. I appeared on the Guardian Unlimited website last night commenting on the low turnout and outcome of the deputy leadership election, but true to all past form, by this morning the political editors had got to work and any reference to my name was removed.
The lesson - we have to make ouur own media and the web and blogosphere is as good as any. Spread the message.
Jon Cruddas and the Compass group initially started this dangerous hare running with their proposals to cut the trade unions' percentage share of the vote at conference. Brown has taken this to its logical conclusion with his proposal of a total removal of the right of trade unions to vote on policy decisions.
This is a real kick in the teeth for all those trade union general secretaries who loyally nominated Brown to the leadership of the party.
Many will now be wondering if this is a the reward for their loyalty what hope is their of exercising any influence on the key issues of public sector pay cuts, privatisation, and trade union rights.
As a complete aside for those media watchers amongst you, you may have noticed that the Guardian editorial team are up to their old tricks again. I appeared on the Guardian Unlimited website last night commenting on the low turnout and outcome of the deputy leadership election, but true to all past form, by this morning the political editors had got to work and any reference to my name was removed.
The lesson - we have to make ouur own media and the web and blogosphere is as good as any. Spread the message.
posted by John at 9:17 AM
10 Comments:
Brown is breaking up the Labour party as we speak; he is even arraogant enough to want an election within a year.
The Guardian is abysmal and did you notice the big New Labour sign behind the Brown coronation bunfight.. they dropped it during the elctions now back again. Cruddas is evil dead along with Compass for going alon with getting rid of TU vote; we were right about him all along weren't with (see comments about it on this website at the time) and that is why he was no threat to the leadership.
sack Dave Prentis and Jon Rogers for UNISON leader!
This is absolutely dreadful news. I shall blog about it immediately!
No doubt it will be dressed up as "widening democracy."
According to online sources Brown will also implement the recommendations in the Freud Review and continue the benefits cuts and harrassment that claimants face almost continually.
'Anyone expecting Gordon Brown to steer New Labour a little more to the left - once the arch-Thatcherite Tony Blair leaves No. 10 - will be sorely disappointed.
According to the Work and Pensions Secretary, John Hutton, the incumbent PM will go ahead with plans to put private companies and voluntary groups in charge of getting people off sickness benefits and back to work.
In a leaked copy of a speech to be given in Birmingham, Hutton will say: "I know there are some who hope the coming political transition will mean the Government goes cool on the prospect of further radical welfare reform to benefit the hardest to help. They will be disappointed.”
The Government is also pondering whether or not to allow private firms and the voluntary sector to run the ‘Pathways To Work’ scheme which offers incapacity benefit claimants help and advice on getting a job.
Not surprisingly, New Labour’s few remaining left-wing MPs aren’t happy. Nottingham South’s Alan Simpson says: “Simply shoveling public services into private pockets will not deliver any improvements to the public. Sooner or later, ministers will have to face the reality that they cannot run the welfare system like a car boot sale.”
http://www.kerching.tv/2007/06/gordo..._war_on_b.html
Keeps on getting worse and worse...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/the_blair_years/article1977630.ece
http://tinyurl.com/2tk7xg
Don't worry, h - he can't call an election now that he's told the unions where to go. Who would pay for the Labour campaign?
According to my sources here
http://petergkenyon.typepad.com/peterkenyon/
the Beeb got the story wrong.
This is not about the bloc vote at Conference, it is about any vote.
Regarding Brown's moves against the Unions as being a kick in the teeth to those Union leaders who supported him. Sorry but there was a choice and they opted for Brown. It was clear to anyone with half a brain (or less!) that the only thing a Brown led party would deliver was precisely more Blair-style attacks. We are stuck with too many T.U.leaders who seem unable and/or unwilling to stand up for and represent members' interests. Do they honestly believe Brown has anything to offer? Why don't Union branches call for a no confidence motion in their leaders for supporting Brown?
more of from the sublime to the ridiculous now some Tory MP called Quentin something or other has defected to Labour!
Hope none of you have been flooded.
as for Trade Union leaders thinking Brown may have anything to offer I agree with anon; the trouble is they just don't seem to have any moral courage really thus they stick with the "devil they know" for evermore. But we have to challenge the Blair/Brown/Tory all of them mantra that there's no alternative as there always is; another world being possible of course! ALl the T.U.s are getting out ofBrown is maybe a few thin sticking plasters on a tiny proportion of the worst excesses of capatalism such as agency workers rights - I
ve been an agency worker and it was crap; lots of people with good qualifications or lots of work experience etc are stuck in dead end agency jobs and even if you improve your skills you justalso with others in a room with no windows despite being next door to the Health and Safety office!) The company was a susidiary of Woolworths so shame on them as most of them were permanent not temps so never saw daylight in the office. They were also using so many different agencies and paying people at different rates etc which is bad for morale not to mention making them clock in obsesssively etc etc and worse things at times....racism was heard as the white people with no prospects in the offices looked down on the Asian people in the warehouse and said they were taking their jobs and I had once worked as a packer for the same company and we had had to do a nine hour day and weren't allowed in the canteen and we only had half an hour to zoom to a shop whic didn't sell much food... If you went as an industrial temp you were treated much worse than an office temp which I also did for them twice - one industrial temp had no chair at all and had to file crouched on the floor; I've had to go searching for a chair and desk while pregnant in open plan offices but not as bad as this but it's all quite normal for temping. Many people are just kept on as permanent temps so the don't accrue as many rights and don't cost as much but they have no security. You can get laid off at any time - once we were all promised six months work and laid off after three days and so on and so forth. So the unions are right of course to campaign on these issues and of course corporate manslaughter and so on but not much is going to change if they don't lobby for change to the fundamental systemn we have in place which causes these abuses to occur in the first place. Another thing that needs examining is perfrormance related pay and bonuses etc which are often not awarded on merit at all as we all know!
It seems to me that the unions' strategy of getting concessions from Brown is all wrong - they are thus legitimising his agenda when they should expose it for the phoney that it is on worker's rights in this country. This is not a time to work with the systemn rather to stick their necks out as Brown is already trampling over them; it said on tv he makes enemies of anyone who dosen't agree with him so watch out!!
Anonymous said...
Has no-one got it yet? The Unions are about to come under their biggest onslaught since Thatcher.
Blair might have largely ignored the Unions, as he considered them basically irrelevant except when they were a bit annoying.
But Trade Unionism goes against the very ideology of Brown.
He is far closer to the Thatcherite concept of helping people to help themselves, and Trade Unions have no part in that - in much the same way as the Welfare State has little to do with the Brownite vision.
Solidarity with others, combining with others to act in concord against calamity isn't the Brown way. And he will undermine the Unions in the same way he has already undermined the Welfare State.
According to this kind of ideology a good worker is one who will keep out of trouble, but will take out his/her own insurance to protect them should things go wrong. And if they are unhappy with their pay / conditions / etc then they are free to take heir labour to another employer to seek better terms there.
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