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TUC President's Address - Congress 2006

Issue date

date: 11 September 2006

embargo: immediate release

Gloria MillsGood morning and welcome to the 138th annual Trades Union Congress.

It's been quite a year for us. A year when trade union membership has risen again. A year when we launched unionlearn. And - perhaps most welcome of all - a year when Digby Jones retired from the CBI. How we will miss him. The man who said trade unions were an irrelevance. Digby - you may be gone, but we're still here.

And this Congress is the highlight of our calendar. Four days of debate and 82 motions. And don't believe those cynics who say it could quite easily be the other way round. But this conference, our Congress, is unique. It gives me huge pride to address you today. As a lifelong trade unionist, activist and campaigner. As a passionate believer in our public services and our public servants. And as the first black woman in history to preside over this great event.

Congress is a tremendous opportunity for us. To showcase the best of our movement. To work out our priorities for the year ahead. And also to celebrate our many achievements. Just think about some of the progress we've made since we gathered in this hall just 12 months ago. Stronger rights for same-sex couples. Legislation on corporate manslaughter. New equality reps with £5 million of funding. Services Directive seen off. A hundred thousand workers receiving learning opportunities through their union.

So when people dare to suggest that trade unions have had their day, that we are stuck in the past, that workers can look after themselves in the knowledge economy, let us say to them loud and clear: You are wrong; wrong on every count.

Congress, the case for trade unionism has never been more compelling. We are the difference between a job lost and a job saved. We are the difference between poverty pay and a living wage. And we are the difference between workers exploited and workers respected. But as we reflect on all of this, let us not under-estimate the mighty challenges that remain. The battles still to be fought and still to be won.

Indeed we meet at a critical time. When speculation is building about the future of our Labour government. When large parts of our manufacturing industry teeter on the brink of collapse. When our public services are being contracted-out, market-tested and privatised as never before. And when inequalities are rising in our workplaces and our communities. That's why our struggle for equality and for workplace justice goes on.

Those two goals - perhaps more than any other - are what bind us together as trade unionists. They are fundamentally and inextricably linked: you can't have one without the other. In the UK and indeed overseas, decent work - underpinned by strong rights - is the best way of empowering people to lift themselves out of poverty. The best way of narrowing the gap between rich and poor.

But despite genuine progress since 1997, Britain remains a fundamentally unequal society. And for many workers, justice remains an illusion rather than a reality. This is a country where top bosses pay themselves telephone number salaries and then complain about the minimum wage. This is a country where the unemployment rate for black people is over twice the national average. This is a country where, over three decades on from equal pay legislation, the gender pay gap remains the widest in Europe.

And the consequence of all of this? Just 2 per cent of the population now owns one third of all the wealth. A shocking statistic, for sure, but it does not begin to tell us the full picture. It doesn't tell us about the migrant workers doing the jobs nobody else wants to and doing them for a pittance. It doesn't tell us about the young mothers trapped in low-paid, part-time work far below their skill level. And it doesn't tell us about the millions of vulnerable workers for whom insecurity, exploitation and minimal rights are a daily reality.

We know what the problem is. An employment relationship where the balance of power is grotesquely tilted in favour of the employer. The direct consequence of a labour market that some people like to boast is the least-regulated in Europe. Made worse - much worse - by globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. The result - whether in public or private sector - is that workers are under increasing pressure to do more in return for less. To work longer hours - yet put up with less job security. To embrace continual change - yet suffer constant attacks on pension rights. To bend over backwards to be flexible - yet endure management by diktat.

It's high time the pendulum swung the other way. That's why our campaign for workplace justice is so important. Of course we welcome the many good things this Labour government has done, from the minimum wage to recognition rights and new family-friendly entitlements. And we recognise that no other political party would have done this. But Britain at work could - should - be so much better. Now is the time to bring employment rights in this country into line with those in Europe. Creating a level playing field so that UK workers are never again sold down the river by the shameful behaviour of companies like Peugeot.

That means improved protections across a range of areas, from redundancy to working time. That means employment rights from day one, for everyone. And that means giving us, the trade unions, the chance to do our job properly. That's why, a century on from the Trades Disputes Act, we are campaigning for a Trade Union Freedom Bill. Basic changes to the law that would give us the same freedoms as unions enjoy throughout Europe. It cannot be right that UK trade unions are more restricted now than they were at the beginning of the twentieth century. And it cannot be right that UK workers are denied the most basic collective right to take solidarity action.

Let us be clear about one thing. This campaign is not about wild rhetoric or a desire to turn the clock back to the 1970s. It is about removing trade unions from the tightest of legal straightjackets. It is about the UK complying with ILO conventions it has signed up to. And it is about providing checks and balances to unfettered corporate power.

Let me read you a quote from an ambitious young employment lawyer speaking in the 1980s. He described the Tories' attack on secondary action as 'a draconian limitation on effective industrial action which involves anyone other than the immediate parties'. The words of Tony Blair. With outsourcing all the rage, what he said then applies even more now.

Our position is clear. We will not stomach any more Gate Gourmets; basic labour rights must be put back on the menu. Because without justice at work, there will never be true equality. It is no coincidence that since the anti-union laws were introduced in the 1980s, the dividing line between the haves and have-nots has widened dramatically. And it is no coincidence that as employment protections in this country have become among the weakest in Europe, Britain has become one of the continent's most unequal societies.

But as we campaign for a better framework of rights, we must not lose of perhaps the greatest challenge of all. And that's the need to rebuild our movement's collective strength. Sure, the legal framework is hugely important; but it's also up to us to shape our won destiny. In the past two years, we've seen small increases in trade union membership. A welcome step forward - but as all of us know, there's an awful long way to go.

One thing's for sure. All unions must sign up to an agenda for growth. We must commit more time, energy and resources to organising. We must reflect the diversity of today's workforce.

That's why trade unionists are supporting the Charter for Women and the TUC Black Workers' Charter to drive forward progress on equality. And Congress, today I would like to ask you to support the TUC General Council Statement on Racism, which we hope unions will sign and take action on the relaunched Charter.

Finally, we must focus on the issues that matter most to workers. That's why we've led the debate on pensions - securing the restoration of the earnings link, a better deal for women, and a new national savings scheme with compulsory employer contributions. That's why we've introduced unionlearn - massively increasing the quality and quantity of the union learning offer. And that's why we've kept up the pressure on quality of working life - running campaigns that have really caught the public's imagination.

None of this has been easy. Moving from stability to growth is hugely difficult. But I'm confident we can rise to this challenge. During my spell as President, I've been struck not just by the commitment of trade union colleagues, but by the range of our talent and the depth of our ideas. This movement is much more than the sum of its parts.

And that owes more than a little to the TUC itself. In the past year, I've seen first hand the effective leadership the TUC gives to this movement. Often unglamorous work, behind the scenes, but no less valuable for that. When a deal needed to be struck to protect the pensions of public servants, the TUC was there. When disputes needed to be resolved at ASDA, in the rail industry and in our university system, the TUC was there. When the poison, violence and hate of the Far Right needed to fought, the TUC was there. And when our comrades in places like Colombia and Iraq needed support, the TUC was there.

Congress, there is no greater calling for us as trade unionists than the promotion of international solidarity. We live in a world that is seemingly becoming more unequal and more unstable by the day. And - as ever - it is ordinary people, the working poor, and those without work who suffer most. Suffer unimaginable poverty because of a global economic system that is rigged in favour of the rich. Suffer violence because of aggressive western policy and the vengeful reaction it inspires. From Colombia to Iraq, from Zimbabwe to Palestine, we must not - cannot - walk on by. In the finest tradition of labour movement internationalism, we must keep struggling for a fairer, more just, more peaceful world.

And we must reassert the most basic trade union values. Values that have stood the test of time: collectivism, solidarity, respect for all. Values that make us proud to be trade unionists. In this country and overseas, there's never been more need for trade unionism. In the UK and elsewhere, ordinary people are crying out for an alternative to free market globalisation. They want equality and they want justice.

For our movement, this can be an age of opportunity. Now is the time for us to write the next chapter in our history. A trade union resurgence in the twenty first century. We can do it; we must do it; we will do it. Thank you.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet : a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

- A series of TUC rights leaflets are available on our website and from the know your rights line 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 9am-9pm. Calls are charged at the national rate.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley T: 020 7467 1248; M: 07881 622416 ; E: bhurley@tuc.org.uk
Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248; M: 07778 158175; E: media@tuc.org.uk

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