No right turn

I have previously referred to Ed the Moribund and I was openly critical of his circus act hustings at the last leadership contest surrounded by labour students – an earlier pre-cursor to Milifandom without the notoriety; he struggled to distance himself from the Blair/Brown era and, terrified of the ‘Red Ed’ label, appeared to be neither the darling of the left or the right, popping out like a weather vane to try and please both sides. His early leadership days were beset by waffly concepts – egged on by ill-advisors, like Cruddas, who still tinker with blue labour ideals of replacing public services with co-ops, mutuals and all things woolly rather than making a commitment on hard policy pledges that would capture the hearts and minds of voters.

Agitate, educate, organise!‏

In the aftermath of the general election, trade unions have a unique role in leading the fight back against the Tory offensive, writes John Stevenson of UNISON Scotland:
    'The Tories know how influential we can be and that’s why we are about to face attacks threatening our very existence. That means getting back to organising, recruiting, engaging, educating and agitating. We have a membership to represent and they are going to need us now more than ever'
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-d6bd-Divided-we-stood,-and-divided-we-fell-Now-its-time-to-rebuild-Labour#.VVLt2iRwa1s

2015-2020: a do-or-die period for UK trade unions

'Trade unions will now pay a heavy price for Labour’s defeat. Tory plans are set out clearly enough in their election manifesto, including the much-trumpeted proposals for yet more restrictions on strike ballots, most notably a requirement that strikes in certain sectors will need the support of 40 per cent of those eligible to vote, as well as a majority of those voting' writes Professor Keith Ewing in today's Morning Star.

People’s Assembly Scotland: Greens top pledge against austerity followed by Labour then SNP

#GE2015 Most of Scotland’s election candidates who responded to the People’s Assembly Scotland’s petition against austerity have also signed up to it, pledging “to commit themselves to oppose all Austerity Cuts.”
   Top pledgers were the Greens (14), next came Labour (11) and surprisingly in third place was the SNP with only 9 of its 22 responders agreeing to sign up to oppose all austerity cuts while the others issued a statement which included “We believe we can manage the deficit down, but without destroying the social fabric that holds us together.”
   Phil McGarry, Chair of the People’s Assembly Scotland, said: “With austerity right at the front of so many parties’ election campaign, we are surprised more candidates didn’t take the chance to publicly confirm their opposition to austerity. Given the public campaigning, we are even more surprised at how few SNP candidates were willing to actually pledge to oppose all austerity.”

Surrendering to neo-liberal ‘fiscal discipline’

Keith Ewing suggests that Scottish independence may come sooner than the high-speed rail link, partly because of ‘Labour’s extraordinary proposal to give quasi-constitutional status to Austerity.’ Unfortunately, Labour is not alone in this as the SNP manifesto betrays. (UK Constitutional Law Association)

He is right that the proposed ‘Budget Responsibility Lock’ – at least without a miraculous and spontaneous economic recovery – would effectively make some level of austerity legally compulsory, if it could be made to work at all.

TTIP needs international union response

#stuc15 UNISON NEC member Jane Carolan reminded the STUC in Ayr today about the need for an international response to the TTIP “assault on democratic government”.

A composite from four unions and four local TUCs called on the STUC to campaign against TTIP, support an international protest in Paris in December and to call for politicians who have an interest in the privatisation to declare an interest and abstain on voting on TTIP.

Oppose TTIP in principle – it has no redeeming features

#A18DoA #NoTTIP Today is a Global Day of Action against free trade and investment treaties. Over 25 protests are planned in Britain including a major event ‘Democracy vs TTIP’ at Shepherds Bush Common, London:
https://www.globaltradeday.org/
     Many trade unionists will have been disappointed to see Labour include in its General Election manifesto support for the 'principles behind the negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Treaty (TTIP)’. Although it goes on to say that a Labour Government ‘will hold the European Commission to account on issues of concern, including the impact on public services and the Investor to State Dispute Settlement Mechanism. And we will ensure the NHS is protected from the TTIP treaty’, this is a massive and unacceptable capitulation to the competition and deregulation agenda of the EU and US:
http://www.waronwant.org/news/latest-news/18306-ttip-where-the-parties-stand

Tory guns loaded and targeted on trade unions

#GE2015 David Cameron's cocksure comment in last night's BBC interview that the Tories are 'only 23 seats short of a majority' should make every trade unionist reflect on what's at stake in next month's General Election. A look at the Tory Manifesto confirms an intention to outlaw public sector strikes and introduce a further raft of repressive restrictions on union freedom to organise:
https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/manifesto2015/ConservativeManifesto2015.pdf

Half a work manifesto is better than none

On Monday Labour launches its 2015 General Election manifesto but the 'work manifesto' A Better Plan for Britain’s Workplaces published on 1st April, provides an early insight into the party's proposals for employment rights. Strong commitments include an apprenticeship guarantee, outlawing the use of agency workers to undercut permanent employees (but not removing the 12 week qualifying period for equal rights), banning 'exploitative' zero hours contracts and raising the national minimum wage hourly rate to £8 within the next five years.
http://b.3cdn.net/labouruk/0d7eac1a5ecd182f46_e8m6ivtck.pdf

ISDS - a corporate power grab

#NoTTIP One of the most pernicious measures in the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) which empowers corporations to go to secret tribunals to attack the laws we rely on for public services, a clean environment, safe food and decent jobs etc.

A new resource has been launched for campaigning on ISDS -www.ISDSCorporateAttacks.org – a website that outlines the basic facts/threats of ISDS; provides summaries of ISDS cases organized by issue area: health, environment, financial stability, etc.; gives stories of inspiration of governments and government officials that opposing ISDS; and includes a basic petition.