Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Monday, April 30, 2007

United we stand - but are we going anywhere?

I would like to be encouraged by the following news of UNISON and GMB working together on the Labour leadership (and of course this has nothing to do with any coming together between other large unions that might be going on just now…)

The news is thus;

In a joint statement, UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis and his GMB counterpart Paul Kenny said: "The role played by ordinary union members in supporting the Labour party, in developing policy and in electing its leaders since its formation, has been crucial to the social and economic progress of our nation."
The forthcoming elections provide a fresh opportunity to millions of trade unionists to have a direct and personal influence in the selection of the party's leader and deputy leader. And it offers them the opportunity to refresh policy and set out a strategic direction for the party."
Union members want a say in how public services are provided and funded, they said."They are the people in the front line delivering public services day in, day out. They know how the use of outside agencies to deliver services leads to waste, duplication and money seeping out to pay for expensive financial engineering schemes and the over-management that it entails."They want to get the best value for the public money that funds them."
The unions' political committees will form their agreement by the middle of May, by which time Labour's national executive committee will have set out its timetable for the elections.
All UNISON and GMB members who pay the Labour party political levy are able to vote.

But if we want to have a choice we need a candidate who backs union policies.

So, surely, comrade General Secretaries, we should be encouraging MPs to nominate a candidate who backs our policies???

Hat tip to GMB lefty on an earlier post btw…

1 comment:

Matthew Stiles said...

You're right Jon. It's touch and go that there will be any challenger to Brown at all with the ridiculous amount of MP's needed to nominate, so where will the debate be then?