NEW WEBSITE FOR THE PEOPLE'S CHARTER

One of the positives from the TUC was its formal backing for the People's Charter- a massive boost which should make the task of building support around the policies so much easier. Here's the new website - with information on how to get involved.
http://www.thepeoplescharter.com/

PART OF THE UNIONS

Hat tip to Tom Miller for this "splendid" piece of news. The World is truly Being Turned Upside Down and Cameron, seriously. has Labour on the run. Read it and weep.......the Tories must be crying with laughter as Labout sleepwalks to the right and to electoral disaster.....

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-sets-out-to-woo-the-unions-away-from-labour-799633.html

BACKING FOR REFERENDUM CALL.....

As expected, the TUC today backed a GMB motion calling for a referendum on the new EU treaty and urging Ministers to drop the opt-out on the charter of fundamental rights. This will a) fulfil Labour's 2005 election pledge and b) give workers more rights
PS: For now I won't switch on comment moderation but any more personal abuse will just be deleted.

IN ANSWER TO ANONYMOUS SLURS

In the past few days I have been on the receiving end of some fairly nasty posts from an "anonymous" person who makes the usual right-wing noises about "Trots" making trouble for the leadership. So let me absolutely clear about this. I would love to be extolling the virtues of Gordon Brown .I would love to be reporting how under his leadership the Govt has turned away from the failed politics of Blairism and turned back towards Labour values, shown solidarity with low-paid workers, curbed the excesses of the fat cats in the City, backed a Living Wage, Trade Union Freedom Bill etc etc.
Today, this nasty poster goes a step too far in saying my support for the unions' campaign for an EU referendum means I am lining up with the BNP and UKIP.Or, as he puts it so nicely "getting into bed with Nick Griffin."
As he knows full well ( or maybe he doesn't) where the Tories want a referendum to limit the influence of Brussels the TUC are looking to extend it.
Many unions see a referendum campaign as a way to exert pressure on the PM to sign up fully to the European charter of fundamental rights, which guards against employment abuses.
That's a move the government's always avoided because employers argue it would unfairly skew the labour market. Brown as we know is agreat fan of "flexibility." and global capitalism
Labour also went into the 2005 general election with a manifesto pledge to hold a referendum on the now scrapped European constitution. Once the EU resurrected large parts of the constitution in the form of a treaty, there were calls from opponents for the referendum pledge to be revived. Those opponents include Bob Crow from the RMT and Paul Kenny from the GMB. And their reasons are entirely honourable. Which is more than i can say for people who trawl the internet posting anonymous bile .Today, I hope the TUC backs the referendum calls.

THE MESSAGE FROM THE UNIONS.....

........is that If Gordon Brown insists on unfair pay restraint, they will join forces for co-ordinated industrial action. Frankly, he has left them little choice.

As Mark Serwotka said earlier today: "When Gordon Brown slams the door in our face, we have to say we aren't accepting it. Unity is strength." Our members are not the cause of inflation; they are the victims of it."
Steve Cox, of the Prison Officers' Association, added: "None of us want a repeat of the winter of 1978. However, if the government continues like this, we have to be ready for action.
"If we are left with no alternative, we will all be out on the street."
General Secretary Brendan Barber said the TUC would bring unions together and co-ordinate action, including industrial action . He warned that the government would pay a "heavy price" if it did not change its mind over pay. But don't expect Brown to listen to sense any time soon......he's too busy listening to his friends in the City.

In UNISON against low pay......

An anonymous poster (they always are) today accused me of being on the "lunatic fringe."

He of course is perfectly entitled to that view but I doubt the same charge could be levelled at Dave Prentis, the moderate UNISON leader (pictured) who normally goes out of his way to be conciliatory.

However a few minutes ago on the radio Prentis spoke out against Brown's stubbiorn, wrong-headed stance on public sector pay. He talked quite rightly of the unfairness of "public sector workers bearing the brunt of the government's cost-cutting measures because of an inflation caused by the £14billion in bonuses for people in the City who are now busy spending their money and pushing up prices. People in the public sector have got to be looked after otherwise you can't have the goodwill of the workforce." Well said, Dave.

.....AND LET'S HAVE A REFERENDUM ON THE EU

Reports suggest that Ministerial aides are hotfooting it to Brighton to try and persuade the trade union leaders to drop calls for a referendum on the EU constitution. The current state of play is that these pleas are falling ondeaf ears with a motion tabled for Wednesday. I hope the unions stand firm on this. The consensus ( to use one of Brown's favourite words) is that the British people were promised a vote . The Govt's current position is disingenuous. And they know it. What's more, after the many years of Blair spin and subterfuge, people simply aren't prepared to be hoodwinked. If Brown doesn't listen to the calls across the board for a referendum on the issue, he will live to regret it at the ballot box.
Check out www.iwantareferendum.com for more info.

TIME FOR TUC TO GET TOUGH ON THE FAT CATS

I hope this week's TUC conference in Brighton has some positive outcomes. On the one hand, it's obviously encouraging to hear Brendan Barber calling on the Govt to address inequalities in the tax system and "loopholes" which add up to £4billion a year in tax breaks for UK citizens who spent time abroad.But don't hold your breath.
Barber has rightly slammed the "super-rich" who float free from the rest of us, and think that tax is for the "little people". He is also right to criticise the size of City bonuses - £14bn in total this year. Why? Because the gap between rich and poor in this country is, after 10 years of labour Government, worse than ever.
But then in sadly predictable fashion he steps back from the logical brink and confirms the TUC is not actually calling for a change in the rate of income tax for the highest earners. What's worse, he starts to morph into Gordon Brown -speak which sounds radical without actually offering any concrete suggestions.
Unions, he says, have to "build support for a new progressive consensus of equality and redistribution - not based on the old politics of envy but on a new politics of cutting the costs of inequality".
Now what does he mean by the "politics of envy." Go back three generations and my grandparents were scrabbling around to try and earn enough to feed five children . They couldn't, so my dad was sent to his grandparents in Northern Ireland.
When I was little, we had no car, we didn't go abroad, holidays were caravans in Blackpool and North Wales. Yes our family life was stable and parental love and concern is one thing money can't buy but were we envious of those who had more? The answer , Brendan, is yes of course we were. And we had every right to be.
When I was a teenager in the LPYS, there was a badge in vogue which bore the slogan "We don't want the cake, we want the whole bloody bakery." Fine sentiments, I still think. So can the trade union bureaucrats stop serving us the crumbs.....and expecting us to be contented.

SAVE JOBS AND STOP THE ASSET-STRIPPERS

Last night Tony Woodley was on Newsnight speaking out against private equity companies who are aiming to snap up Ford 's Jaguar and Land Rover operations .
Union leaders are now seeking urgent talks with the US-owned car-maker to warn against any takeover by "asset-stripping" private equity buyers. John McDonnell has just tabled a parliamentary EDM motion against the sale of the two marques to a private equity company. Woodley has disappointed many of us in the labour movement by not backing the Left in its bid to challenge the Brownite acceptance of global capitalism and all that goes with it. Jaguar has 10,000 workers in Coventry, Birmingham, and Liverpool, while Land Rover has 9,000 in Solihull, West Mids, Halewood, Merseyside, and Gaydon, Warks.These jobs are now at risk and the fight must continue.

As John McDonnell said in today's Daily Mirror: "Private equity business have no interest in the workforce and descend like locusts to asset-strip.I'm calling on the Government to intervene to prevent this sale, which could result in huge job losses."