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TUC 2009 - Wednesday morning

16 September 2009

On Wednesday morning at TUC annual congress PCS delegate Phyllis Opoku-Gyimah spoke in support of vulnerable workers.

Moving motion 16 on behalf of the TUC black workers’ conference she said in times of recession vulnerable workers – such as women, disabled, LGBT and black, and migrant workers – suffer the most.

TUC 2009 - image by Clifford Harper

Calling for an increase in public spending and an acceleration of public works to boost the economy and provide jobs, Phyllis said there is a need for better regulation to tackle discrimination in the workplace.

“The experience of previous recessions,” she added, “is that black and minority ethnic workers are particularly vulnerable to rising unemployment.”

“We need to adopt measures to increase the pay of the poorest in Britain so the scandal of people living in poverty is removed.”

Jobs cuts, a threat to the recovery

Mark Benjamin spoke in support of the motion for PCS saying prime minister Gordon Brown’s claimed the economy is on the road to recovery and we should not put this at risk.

“At PCS we don’t believe we are the ones putting the recovery at risk,” Mark said.

He pointed out that in the department he works for, HM Revenue and Customs, an ongoing programme of job cuts and office closures means there are not enough workers to collect the tax that is owed.

“Black and ethnic minority staff who are predominantly in the lower-paid civil service grades will and have been disproportionately affected,” Mark said.

“My union has put forward an alternative to further job cuts to fund the efficiency savings they are seeking – give us enough staff to collect the billions of uncollected taxes and make tax avoidance illegal.”

In support of manufacturing

Assistant general secretary Chris Baugh spoke in support of composite eight on manufacturing, saying that climate change was “not an optional extra, but increasingly essential to our bargaining agenda”.

He contrasted the government’s pronouncements on its commitment to tackling climate change coming at the same time as workers at Vestas on the Isle of Wight were forced to occupy their factory when its closure was announced.

Referring to the arrest yesterday of four Vestas workers who were occupying cranes in Southampton to try to prevent the shipment of wind turbine blades, Chris added “They need our support now more than ever after this scandalous arrest under anti-terrorist legislation.”

“I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to point to the £1.3 trillion found to bail out the banks in capitalisms hour of need. It’s not a question of affordability, it’s a question of political priorities.”

Investment in green technology

He said proper investment in renewable technology would create more than one million genuine green jobs, adding: “This would be entirely realistic if the political will was there.”

Chris said this political will needs to be matched with an improved dialogue with the unions, and closed by saying: “We have to place the interests of working people at the very heart of the collective action needed to protect ourselves and future generations.”

During secretary of state for energy and climate change Ed Miliband’s address to conference, he had to pause while delegates gave Vestas workers at the back of the hall a standing ovation.

Time off for green reps

In the following question and answer session, PCS delegate Katrine WiIliams asked Mr Miliband if he would set an example to other employers by giving reasonable time off for green reps to carry out their duties.

She said Mr Miliband was on record saying that these reps would not be given statutory rights, but in his answer he denied this.

“I haven’t said we were ruling it out. It is a live and important issue for our next manifesto and it is something we need to discuss with the unions.”

Third runway at Heathrow

PCS vice president Sue Bond asked a question of the TUC general council at the start of the section on transport.

Pointing out that the government’s own committee on climate change warned last week that allowing aviation to expand at the rate proposed could place an unacceptable burden on other industries to meet targets to reduce emissions, she asked if the TUC would revisit its policy over plans for the third runway at Heathrow.

In reply, TUC deputy general secretary Frances O’Grady said the TUC has a clear policy of support for the aviation unions backing for the third runway.

“We will continue to monitor all scientific evidence and we will keep affiliated unions informed of all new developments,” she added.

Venture capitalism – a failure for the railways

Speaking in support of motion 43 on the East Coast Mainline Hamish Drummond said that venture capitalism has failed the railways: “It’s happened before and it will happen again.”

He added: “What we are saying now is let’s try adventure socialism and let’s give the people of this country what they want.

“Why not put people first and give them a cheap, reliable, environmentally friendly public transport network we can all be proud to use?”
 

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