tuc news


Unions are the ‘best of Britain’, says Corbyn


further than his predecessors in urging Britons to join a union. A former union official,


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Corbyn said unions represented “the best of Britain”.


He added: “If you want a job that pays a decent wage, gives you the chance to get on in life, live independently and enjoy your work, then join a trade union.” For good measure, he added: “Go online and do it today!” He added: “Trade unions


are often demonised in the right-wing press. “I know it’s a shock that


n his speech to the TUC congress, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn went much


billionaire, tax dodging press barons don’t like trade unions. “And they don’t like us


because our movement – through which the values of solidarity, community and social justice run like a thread from top to bottom – our movement challenges unaccountable power of both government and bosses.” He said unions didn’t just


defend their members. “They defend the institutions that benefit all employees. Our NHS, our schools, our social care, and they defend our rights,” he said. “We don’t know when the


next election will come – we are not in control of that


– but you are in control of whether you join a trade union, organise in your workplace or in your community, and start changing people’s lives for the better right now.” Corbyn was speaking in the


wake of the government’s decision to lift the one per cent public sector pay cap for police officers and prison staff, who are to get two per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively. He said ministers were “trying to divide people on the cheap”. He told delegates: “A


Labour government will end the public sector pay cap and give all workers the pay rise they deserve and so


desperately need.” He said that there had


been “an epidemic of low pay” generally which was closely tied to insecurity at work in the so-called gig economy. The party would oppose


the “dangerous” EU Withdrawal Bill, not out of


EVERY CHILD’S RIGHT TO BE SAFE FROM FIRE D


elegates called for an “urgent audit” of Britain’s school buildings in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Congress demanded an investigation to


establish whether cladding similar to that used at the west London tower block was present in public buildings, including educational institutions. Fire Brigades Union general secretary


Matt Wrack said the cladding found at Grenfell Tower had resulted in the block of flats going up “like a roman candle”. Education unions called for sprinkler


systems to be fitted where new schools were built or existing ones refurbished. Russ Walters, a delegate from the


NASUWT teaching union, said it was the right of every child to be safe in school,


but warned that there was evidence that there were schools throughout the UK in states of disrepair. A separate resolution passed unanimously by the conference declared that the scale of cuts to the fire service and local government and other sectors had contributed to the scale and severity of the fire and its aftermath.


Put jobs first in Brexit talks, says TUC leader


“kamikaze” approach to Brexit. O’Grady said the country needed a


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strategy that put jobs, rights and livelihoods first. Staying in the single market and the customs union would deliver those key objectives, she said “The prime minister is sticking to the


same old script that she can get whatever she wants, that we can all have all the same benefits of the single market without playing by the rules. This isn’t a grown-up negotiating position. It’s a letter to Santa,” O’Grady said.


n her keynote speech to congress, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady (left) denounced the government’s


“My challenge to all political parties is this: when it comes to Brexit, don’t box yourselves in. Don’t rule anything out. Keep all options on the table. And put jobs, rights and livelihoods first.” She said the TUC supported a


transitional period, not out of principle but through pragmatism. During that time, Britain should play by the rules. “It’s common sense,” she said. “The government’s hardly begun to


sort out the divorce. So there’s no chance that it’s going to agree terms in just 18 months.” To those who said that single market membership meant unfettered freedom


of movement, she said that other members had managed migration fairly. They did that by guaranteeing local people good job opportunities and making bosses respect the rate for the job and union agreements. The government could also raise the minimum wage and stamp out exploitation, she suggested. “We must never, ever, fall into the trap


of scapegoating migrant workers. Migrants aren’t the cause of low pay. Just like millions of other people, born and raised in the UK, they are the victims of low pay.” Congress endorsed a resolution that


called for the government to abandon its ideological approach to hard Brexit.


theJournalist | 7


any attempt to frustrate the vote to leave, but because of the extraordinary powers it would give the government to rip up workers’ rights without parliament having a say. He said Labour would be


seeking a “jobs-first Brexit” which guaranteed full access to the single market.


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