A first time experience of TUC conference
6 October 2008
Due to a busy personal caseload - a predicament I’m sure most PCS reps are familiar with, I wasn’t able to get down to Brighton until the second day of conference.
Unfortunately this meant that I didn’t get to see the debate about public sector pay. There were, however a number of interesting debates to follow.
This included a keynote speech from Alistair Darling. Delegates were actually fairly polite considering the amount of anger there is about the way workers are being treated during what are, to say the least, difficult economic times.
I can’t say I was left feeling especially reassured about what the future holds for those of us working in the public sector though.
Equal values
The debates on Wednesday morning were about various issues relating to equality. The keynote speaker on the third day was Harriet Harman whose speech was fairly well received in recognition of her work in this field.
The Deputy Labour Leader argued that inequality issues should not be put on the backburner during times of economic hardship, but of course could not resist taking the opportunity to emphasise the values shared between the trade union movement and the Labour Party, culminating in the warning that the Tories are, “false friends of equality”.
On the fringes
The most difficult decisions I had to make whilst at conference was which fringe meeting to attend. So many subjects were covered, ranging from local to international issues, that I was really spoilt for choice.
I tried not to be led solely on the quality of the refreshments on offer, and attended two meetings which were both lively and informative.
On Tuesday lunch time, I went along to the Morning Star meeting at the Hilton where Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and our general secretary Mark Serwotka proved to be a convincing double act (not that I needed convincing!) on how unions should be dealing with New Labour and privatisation.
Derek Simpson the general secretary of Unite the union begged to differ, insisting that the trade union movement must not turn its back on the Labour Party since, “the worst Labour government was still better than the best Tory government”.
In the evening, I attended the Palestine Solidarity Campaign chaired by PCS deputy general secretary Hugh Lanning. This is a subject I was not overly familiar with, so found learning about the trade union delegations to Palestine particularly educational.
Common ground
Perhaps the most useful part of the whole TUC experience was learning about the issues faced by members of other unions.
For example, when seconding a motion about enforcing employment rights, a delegate from Equity, the union which represents professional performers across the entertainment, creative and culture industries, highlighted the plight of performers who technically earn the minimum wage but are actually receiving far less once fees and commission have been deducted.
Whilst these issues are may be different from ours, or at least experienced in different ways, for me, it emphasised the continuing need for understanding and solidarity across the trade union movement.
A worthwhile experience
I had to head back to the office on Wednesday afternoon and managed to exercise a reasonable amount of self-restraint by not picking up too many freebies from the various stands dotted about the Brighton Centre.
I was really grateful to be able to attend the TUC as an observer. Overall, it was an interesting experience and hopefully at some point in the future, I’ll have the opportunity to attend as a delegate.
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