Jennie Formby writes:
Last month I was negotiating with some of the biggest and most profitable
food companies on the planet, attempting to negotiate a living wage for their
workers, many of whom can’t afford to buy the food they’re producing.
This weekend I’m in Birmingham at the National Party Forum, where the task should be a little more optimistic; what do we need to do to ensure we elect not just a Labour government, but one that makes a genuine difference to people so desperate for change?
This weekend I’m in Birmingham at the National Party Forum, where the task should be a little more optimistic; what do we need to do to ensure we elect not just a Labour government, but one that makes a genuine difference to people so desperate for change?
I’ll arrive there with the grotesque inequalities scarring our nation fresh
in my mind, questioning how a retail boss can luxuriate in wages hundreds of
times greater than his shop floor workers yet can, without sanction, rely on
the state to top up his poverty wages.
I’ll be asking when Britain became the sort of nation where men and women
must desperately knit together a working week out of a few hours here, another
few hours there, with minimal protections, while employers are allowed to hire
and fire workers at will. A nation where food banks turn people away
because they cannot meet demands.
Left unchallenged, these inequalities will set us back generations. We
cannot build a prosperous, fairer society while such iniquities flourish. So tackling these issues must be a priority of the next Labour
government. In fact, making clear it is a priority will set us on the
road to re-election.
This is where trade unions come in; it’s significant that while mass party
membership is at an all time low, trade union membership is growing for the
first time since 1992, with women a major part of that growth.
Unions represent more than six million men and women in this country, more than any other civil society organisation and certainly far more than the membership of the main political parties combined.
Unions represent more than six million men and women in this country, more than any other civil society organisation and certainly far more than the membership of the main political parties combined.
Our values – of dignity, fairness, the common good – are values of the
people of this country.
Take the NHS. Unite, together with Unison and the GMB, has just called
a national demo on 5th July to protect our health service. This is not
because we are fond of marching. For Unite, still a largely private
sector union, it is because nearly forty percent of our members tell us that
they want action to save it.
Or low wages. Worrying numbers of people in work depend on welfare top
ups or pay day lenders to get by. They are worried sick about their children.
As one member told me `it is like slavery out there – my daughter earns less
today than I did twenty years ago’.
Last weekend we polled our members on living with austerity. Thousands
responded. As the G8 were taking off their ties in Enniskillen, forty
percent of responding Unite members were telling us that wages and income were
their priority; an additional thirty percent asked `where are the jobs coming
from?’
But if we as a party are serious about being tough on low wages, then we
must be tough on the causes of low wages. It is no coincidence, since the 1970s when employers, abetted by governments,
began their attacks on collective bargaining, the wealth created by workers
moved from wage packets to boardroom bonuses.
Today, less than one in five workers is covered by collective bargaining agreements. Unless this changes, commonly-created wealth will continue to seep into private hands.
Today, less than one in five workers is covered by collective bargaining agreements. Unless this changes, commonly-created wealth will continue to seep into private hands.
If you don’t believe this is a problem, walk down your local high
street. Far from the `green shoots’ of government claims, you’ll see
money lenders and pound shops. People need money in their pockets, job security, affordable homes – they
see right through Osborne’s economic policies, they know they won’t deliver
these.
Too often I am asked by members `what will Labour do that is
different?’ I want to say that Labour will be the party of investment, not
cuts, to stimulate job creation and sustainable growth in a robust, re-balanced
and fairer economy.
That we’ll have a legal framework to encourage greater collective bargaining and stronger trade unions to deliver the living wage, close agency loopholes and end the other workplace injustices that Ed Miliband described so eloquently in his recent speech. That we’ll be a party with a comprehensive and universal system of public services and social security so everyone can participate in society.
That we’ll have a legal framework to encourage greater collective bargaining and stronger trade unions to deliver the living wage, close agency loopholes and end the other workplace injustices that Ed Miliband described so eloquently in his recent speech. That we’ll be a party with a comprehensive and universal system of public services and social security so everyone can participate in society.
A party of the common good, not private power, with the vision and courage
needed to repair our nations.
As union members we don’t inhabit another world. We are of and live in
everyday Britain. Here, it is patently obvious to people that political
decisions affect their lives – it is just that they increasingly despair about
the ability of politicians of any shade to help improve their lives.
We need to change this. We need to give them hope in Labour.
We need to change this. We need to give them hope in Labour.
No comments:
Post a Comment