Why Palestine is a key issue for UK trade unions

Sarah Colborne, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, reviews the debate on Palestine at this year's Trades Union Congress, including the decision to send a delegation to Gaza, and comments on the 'remarkable shift' to a consensus in support for Palestine from UK unions - 'in just three years, we have seen solidarity with Palestine become mainstream in the trade union movement in Britain. And the impact of a trade union delegation to Gaza cannot be underestimated. Even the prospect of such a delegation has sent the very marginalized pro-Israel trade union lobbyists into a frenzy'
http://electronicintifada.net/content/why-palestine-key-issue-uk-trade-unions/11687

UK unions have a simple choice - organise or face a spiral of decline

#tuc12 Seumas Milne, writing in the Guardian on Wednesday, provided a welcome riposte to media union bashing over the recent days of the Trades Union Congress:
..Milne notes the 'union weakness in the private sector – where only one in seven workers is now a member, compared with the majority in the public sector' and states that this is 'the product of decades of industrial change, fragmentation and anti-union legislation.'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/11/trade-unions-not-strong-enough?CMP=twt_gu

Theory & Practice of a UK General Strike

#tuc12 A former Labour leader once coined the phrase ‘far-fetched resolutions’ and some commentators (and Congress opponents) placed motion 5 from the 35,000 strong POA - which called for ‘coordinated action where possible with far reaching campaigns including the consideration and practicalities of a general strike' - in that category.

Young must hear about union achievements

#tuc12 Unions must ensure that young people hear about the heritage of what organised labour has delivered, and why it’s so important to defend it, UNISON’s Graham Smith told the TUC yesterday.
..Congress backed a Young Members' call for a programme of political education for young workers that explicitly addresses how trade union activity has delivered essential workers rights and has benefited society and demonstrates the positive and practical workplace benefits of union membership for young people. It also called for a positive media campaign about the value of trade union membership and participation.

October 20 is a launch pad for anti-austerity fight - Dave Prentis

#tuc12 At Congress yesterday UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis moved composite 1, on ‘a future that works campaign’, which condemned the government for ‘the hardship suffered by millions of people losing their jobs, local services or receiving cuts in their pay, pensions or benefits, and for deepening inequality in our society’:
http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2806

Activists and organisation key to pay fight

#tuc12 If we are to mount a credible campaign against austerity and the pay freeze, we need to organise our activists and get our members to believe in our cause. The campaign will not be won by arguments alone - strong as they are - but by organisation and collective action, Jane Carolan, UNISON Policy Chair, told the TUC Congress today.

Pointing to the Save the Children appeal to assist the poor, Jane said: "Appallingly, some of the families that feature in that appeal were working families - the working poor. That’s why this is not a fight about the private sector or about the public sector... No worker should be earning less than they need to lead a decent standard of living".

GMB and UNISON step out together

#tuc12 Yesterday’s eve-of-Congress press conference held by GMB and UNISON has attracted a lot of media interest. The most important announcement was a commitment to jointly organise in the poorly unionised and highly exploitative social care sector. Yet invariably speculation about a possible merger is making the headlines, with today’s FT exclaiming ‘two unions on path to merger’ and that ‘a merger between UNISON, with more than 1.3m members, and the GMB, with 610,000, would create the UK’s biggest union, larger than the 1.4m-member Unite. It would span local government, health, education and parts of the private sector’:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/9fb26410-fa9c-11e1-b775-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz260JN9hrl

Analysis - We can bring the recession to an end without more debt, no cuts and no new taxes

For all the nation's economic woes, the debate seems stuck on tax hikes for the rich or more borrowing from the bankers - we need a new and permanent solution. Just like the one being debated on MSN money, yes that's right Microsoft News Money - http://money.msn.com/investing/no-debt-no-cuts-no-new-taxes we should be debating these issues at the TUC congress this week!

A Form Guide for TUC Congress

#tuc12 In a historic first the TUC this year gathers in Brighton and starts it deliberations on the Sabbath. The Presbyterian influence on our great movement must be waning and no one has mentioned the issue of double time for delegates. Plus ca change.......

Our Congress message to Beecroft & Burley - Bugger Off!

#tuc12 In the first debate of Congress, there was an early intervention by UNISON when NEC member Gordon McKay seconded Composite 3 on Employment Rights (which had been moved by Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey). Gordon said that UNISON would not stand aside as the jobs of public service workers who support the sick and vulnerable are privatised and their employment rights are attacked. He ended a powerful anti -Tory speech with a 'bugger off' message to venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft and right wing MP Aidan Burley who are fronting the Con Dem attack on trade union and workers rights.

The union case for an alternative must be relevant to the ordinary lives of workers - Barber

#tuc12 Congress is taking place at a critical time for trade unions and progressive campaigners but 'to win the argument for an alternative we need to relate our arguments to ordinary lives' says TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, in his preview of Congress - a more grounded approach than the turbo-charged media rhetoric of some other union leaders: 'Growing disillusionment with government policies gives us a new audience for our message. Congress gives us the ideal launchpad to make October 20's march for A Future That Works a huge challenge to the politics and economics of permanent austerity.' http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/123588

Congress Voices 2012 - It’s that time of year again!

#tuc12 The TUC is providing a useful one-stop shop for news and views on its 2012 Congress which starts in Brighton tomorrow – a must read website during the next week:
http://www.congressvoices.org/congress-bloggers/

Women bearing brunt of Con Dem austerity - O'Grady

#TUC12 Ahead of next week’s annual Congress, Frances O’Grady, TUC General Secretary designate, sets out her stall in a wide ranging Guardian interview today. The impact of con Dem austerity on women workers is strongly highlighted: "You'd be forgiven for thinking that this was part of a back-to-the-kitchen-sink campaign. When you look at what's happening, with women being hit hardest by job losses, service cuts, threats to take away employment rights, pay depression, rising bills and lack of childcare … You could be forgiven for thinking that there is a plan here."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/sep/05/frances-ogrady-tuc-hope-future?newsfeed=true