“Wade in” behind demands for a New Deal, Dave Ward urges Labour

Union Matters September 23 2020

Dave Ward pictured previously

Wednesday 23rd September 2020

Labour should “wade in” behind trade union demands for pay dignity, Dave Ward has said.

Speaking to a New Economics Foundation panel at Labour’s “Connected” event, our General Secretary described how the coronavirus crisis is “colliding” with several other problems facing Britain.

Identifying the “broken” labour market which “entrenched” inequality after the 2008 financial crash, Dave also identified the “huge changes in the world of work” brought on through the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the ongoing climate crisis has two other major challenges facing our movement.

While conceding that the labour movement will have to make “huge choices” in the coming years, Dave maintained that “the opportunities in front of us outweigh those challenges”, and said that “there’s a sense amongst people that it’s time for them to take back control of their working lives”.

Dave said that the “biggest win” for the trade union movement during the crisis – of having “changed the mindset of the whole nation over who workers really are” – should be used to secure pay justice for the 80 per cent of key workers who are currently paid beneath the Real Living Wage.

“I do believe we have a real opportunity here to finally address the gross imbalance of power and wealth in the world market and in wider society”, he said. “We have moved up the agenda, people are beginning to realise again that trade unions are relevant to society.

“We’ve made workplaces safer than they otherwise would’ve been. Among the deaths that have taken place, there would have been more if the trade union movement hadn’t got in there over PPE and pressuring employers.”

In this light, Dave urged the entire trade union movement to unite make sure that the changing world of work is seen as a key issue in society.

“We have to bring our collective strength together,” he said. “The CWU have been calling for the New Deal For Workers campaign. I know Boris Johnson nicked [the name], but our ones real.

“We’ve got to sign up and agree maybe 10 shared industrial and political demands and then we’ve got to get about making sure we communicate that very effectively, and that we get workers behind it.

“I think that’s possible.”

He also hoped that the Labour Party under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership would “get behind this debate.

“I’d say to Labour: wade in. Get behind this debate – use it as a platform to completely re-evaluate the work in society, based on the needs on the society, not the needs of the market.”

Earlier on in the day, our Senior Deputy General Secretary Tony Kearns spoke at a Connected breakout session related to green jobs.

Tony told hundreds of participants that “the current system which serves the 1 per cent has brought this planet to the brink.

“Those who did that can’t – or won’t – change it, because they’ve got their own vested interests.”

Tony urged the labour movement to discuss “public ownership”, “democratic control”, and new forms of investment and regulation to solve the problems facing the world climate.

He also warned that “as we transition from the old economy to a new decarbonised economy, the transition must be just in the eyes of the workers.

“The workers must not be the victims in this.

“You have to bring them alone in this journey with you.”

To do this, Tony said, the British workforce must be “upskilled”. Current legislation which restricts trade unions must be repealed, and unions should be central to developing new industries and skills.

He also reminded Starmer of the promise that he was elected on during the 2019-20 Labour leadership contest – to put the Green New Deal at the heart of everything that Labour does.