If I was any good with the relevant software I would illustrate this blog post with images of trade union leaders as cheerleaders (although now that I have that image in my head I will regret having thought of it for many years!)
The Unions Together blog declare - of the result of the G20 "Job Done - Now Let's Get to Work" - this seems to me to be taking rose tinted spectacles into a whole new dimension.
Unions Together is a "trading name" of TULO (The Trade Union Labour Organisation - the coordinating body for Labour Party affiliated trade unions).
If what TULO was for was to encourage trade unionists to feel good about the Labour Government then this sort of positive spin would make sense.
If the point of TULO was to campaign for trade union policies within and beyond the Labour Party then it would be difficult to see why we would want to talk up the outcome of the G20.
It offers precisely nothing to the Visteon workers, nor to those losing their jobs at Bombardier.
I am one of those dinosaurs who still thinks we could get some good out of our affiliation to our Party - but not if we are simply cheerleaders for Gordon Brown.
No job was done for us at the G20 and the work to which we must now turn is the campaign for progressive policies in the interests of working people.
Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts
Friday, April 03, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Put People First - what next?
Tired children and a very heavy banner combined to provide an excuse for myself and a couple of other comrades to leave fairly early from the excellent People Not Profit demonstration yesterday in Central London. It was great to be there though!
This was a consciously anti-capitalist protest, and was matched by protests elsewhere in Europe. As Le Monde points out the demands of yesterday’s demonstration were wide-ranging. Not only does this differentiate the demonstration from most mass London demonstrations which are generally built around a single unifying demand, it also demonstrates that the supporters of the demonstration are – in effect – already supporting the, if anything less ambitious, demands expressed in the recently launched Peoples Charter.
The alliance which was built around yesterday’s demonstration has an obligation to continue to work together in the face of an economic crisis which has barely begun to inflict its damage upon our communities, jobs and pensions. We have to seize this moment, when the prophets of free market liberalism have been widely discredited, to articulate an alternative which reflects the interests of working people.
As some UNISON activists were saying in today’s Observer, trade unionists also need to prepare ourselves to take whatever action is necessary to protect ourselves from the coming attacks. The alliances built for yesterday's demonstration will be invaluable - and the Peoples Charter may be a useful tool with which to work.
This was a consciously anti-capitalist protest, and was matched by protests elsewhere in Europe. As Le Monde points out the demands of yesterday’s demonstration were wide-ranging. Not only does this differentiate the demonstration from most mass London demonstrations which are generally built around a single unifying demand, it also demonstrates that the supporters of the demonstration are – in effect – already supporting the, if anything less ambitious, demands expressed in the recently launched Peoples Charter.
The alliance which was built around yesterday’s demonstration has an obligation to continue to work together in the face of an economic crisis which has barely begun to inflict its damage upon our communities, jobs and pensions. We have to seize this moment, when the prophets of free market liberalism have been widely discredited, to articulate an alternative which reflects the interests of working people.
As some UNISON activists were saying in today’s Observer, trade unionists also need to prepare ourselves to take whatever action is necessary to protect ourselves from the coming attacks. The alliances built for yesterday's demonstration will be invaluable - and the Peoples Charter may be a useful tool with which to work.
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