CWU setting the agenda for working people at TUC day three

September 13 2016

Congress enthusiastically backed this morning’s CWU motion calling for a “New Deal for workers,” after a powerful speech by our general secretary Dave Ward.

Delegates committed the TUC to organising a “major national demonstration in 2017 on a new deal for workers and to develop a common bargaining agenda for TUC affiliates to tackle insecure employment models across the UK.”

The protest should aim to be as large as possible, Dave explained in his speech, recalling the monster March for the Alternative that the TUC held back in 2011, when hundreds of thousands of trade unionists gathered at London’s Embankment and marched past Parliament Square and on to an enormous rally in Hyde Park.

“It’s great that we come here and share our views, but when we leave here, we’ve got to talk about the action we’re going to take,” said the general secretary.

On the subject of developing a common bargaining agenda, Dave said that, while different unions, of course, have, and will continue to have, their own sectoral issues relevant to the specific industries their members work in, a common bargaining agenda can also identify those contractual issues that are common for all workers.

He highlighted the huge variety of insecure employment contracts that have become increasingly common across the UK in recent years, saying: “It’s not just zero-hour contracts,” and pointing to fixed-term contracts, contracts without sick pay, without holiday pay, with no pensions as examples.

“This is what we’ve got to make this fight about.”

As a movement, we also need to reinvigorate and redesign our own structures to prioritise workplace trade unionism in order to be able to achieve these key aims, Dave continued, stressing that we need to be “training our reps so they have the confidence to take action in their own workplaces.”

A third key element of Dave’s speech was to highlight the need to connect our political and industrial agendas, and he praised the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and this morning’s guest speaker Angela Rayner for their determined and consistent pro-working people stance, commenting: “If that’s the direction we’re going, then we all need to get behind that direction.”

Summing up, our general secretary said: “We need a new deal for workers and we need to be the people who lead that fight.

“This is the moment when we have to roll up our sleeves and get together.”

The CWU motion was seconded by GMB speaker Andy Irving, who set out several examples of insecure employment, particularly within newer-established companies and said: “A new deal for workers is essential,” and building workers’ union (UCATT) delegate Tom Wormleighton also spoke strongly in favour of the proposition, calling for “a mass movement of workers – now is the time to fight back.”

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TUC Motion 18 A new deal for workers

While David Cameron and George Osborne have been forced out of government, Congress notes that their legacy is an economy in which workers are under greater pressure to work harder and faster, for longer and for less, than at any time in recent memory.

In too many industries the only innovation working people have seen is in new forms of insecure employment, from bogus self-employment and zero-hours contracts to PBA contracts exploiting the agency workers loophole.

Millions of workers earn less than a genuine living wage, have no access to a decent pension and hundreds of thousands are still paid less than the legal minimum. The world of work is increasingly characterised by efficiency and performance targets that push employees to the very limit.

Congress agrees that this country needs a bold new deal for workers, with employment rights, collective bargaining and new forms of ownership and governance at its heart. Congress also believes that the EU referendum campaign and the demonisation of immigrants by the populist right, together with the Tories’ attempts at re-branding, demonstrates the need for the labour movement to engage working people in this agenda.

Congress therefore instructs the TUC Executive to work towards and co-ordinate a major national demonstration in 2017 on a new deal for workers; and to develop a common bargaining agenda for TUC affiliates to tackle insecure employment models across the UK.

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Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner received a warm reception when she addressed Congress in Brighton today.

Angela, the Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, won a standing ovation at the end of her speech, in which she pledged to keep up the fight for workers’ rights and equality.

Becoming a UNISON rep as a young care worker, and a young mother, had been an extremely significant point in her life, she told delegates, explaining that she had left school without qualifications and had not had the opportunity to go to university.

“I was one of the youngest reps,” Angela said, adding that she strongly endorsed the TUC campaign to prioritise the recruitment and organisation of young workers.

“Young workers need strong trade unions and once again, we must be a movement of young workers.”

As a workplace rep, standing up for her fellow workers had been something she had found extremely fulfilling as a vocation and that, through this position, had also obtained qualifications.

As a TUC delegate herself back in 2009, she could not have imagined becoming an MP just six years later, but was “massively honoured” to be TUC guest speaker and to be leading for the Labour Party in Parliament on education.

Taking a swipe at the Government’s plans to expand grammar schools, Angela said that the Tories’ “education, education, education” slogan had changed to “segregation, segregation, segregation.”

And the controversial proposals to change the UK’s Parliamentary constituencies, reducing the number of MPs from 650 down to 600 and disproportionately affecting Labour-held seats was condemned as “gerrymandering.

“Not so much a one-nation party as a one-party nation,” the MP commented.

By contrast, the Labour Party is developing policies to “free society from the blight of division,” she said, saying: “Our party has answers and we need your support.”

“I was made in the trade union movement and I know you and your members have had a tough time. I promise I’ll fight in Parliament because you and your members deserve better.”

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CWU delegate Maria Exall made a robust contribution in the very first debate of the day, voicing the union’s support for protecting workers’ rights and trade union rights through the Brexit process.

Moved by UNISON and seconded by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists, the motion sought to ensure that none of the current set of rights at work are either repealed or weakened as we leave the EU and that the trade union movement is recognised as a key stakeholder in the Brexit negotiations.

Another key clause of the proposition is to guarantee the continuing right to remain for EU nationals currently residing within the UK.

Speaking from the rostrum, Maria highlighted the various strands of equality legislation that could, potentially, be under threat in the coming period.

“We need to protect equal access to justice at work,” she said, urging Congress to pledge to resist “the threat of turning back the clock” on discrimination law and cited examples from all of the equality strands.

In spite of the decision to leave the EU, the trade union movement here in the UK and across Europe still needed to unite in solidarity across borders,
Maria insisted.

A wide range of speakers contributed to the debate, with a memorable point being made by teaching union NASUWET delegate Wayne Broom, who warned that the current Conservative Government may seek to water down health and safety protections under the guise of attacking “red-tape” restrictions.

“So-called red tape is better than bloody red bandages,” he argued, to applause from the hall.

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Congress also debated and agreed policy on the need to keep campaigning against the Trade Union Act, the increasing use of surveillance in the workplace, and so-called umbrella’ companies, before moving onto a new session addressing a variety of health service-related matters.