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Labour and the unions must promote policies with broad and popular support

Speaking to Labour Party members in Newcastle on Saturday 11th September ahead of the TUC conference in Brighton next week the former Cabinet Minister Stephen Byers said:

“In opposition it was crucial that we made it crystal clear to the British public that an incoming Labour government wouldn’t be held hostage to the demands of the trade unions. We had to demonstrate that we would operate on the basis of fairness and not favours. Always putting the wider public interest ahead of vested interests.

In office we have remained resolute in this approach even at the cost of seeing unions like the firefighters leaving the party because the government was not prepared to concede their demands which were not seen to be in the national interest.

Having demonstrated that we are not in the pocket of the trade unions we now have the opportunity to be more confident about giving credit to the trade unions for the positive role many of them play in promoting partnership in the workplace; protecting their members from exploitation; improving productivity; extending training opportunities and securing a safe and healthy working environment.

As we prepare our programme for a possible third term Labour government the challenge is to identify a forward looking agenda which can appeal to trade unions and the core Labour vote whilst at the same time having a broad and popular appeal so that the support of swing voters is secured.

The workplace agenda for the future so skilfully negotiated by Ian McCartney at the Warwick National Policy Forum is an example of the way forward.

But we need to do more and identify further issues which both reflect the priorities of trade union members and are seen by the public to be the right thing to do.

So what are the issues that could be at the heart of such a programme?

• Equal pay – 30 years after the introduction of equal pay legislation women still earn 19 per cent less than men. Measures need to be introduced that makes equal pay a reality;
• A new deal for those with caring responsibilities – Millions of people look after aged parents or other loved ones suffering from illness with little support. A package of measures needs to be put in place.
• Work-life balance – Further improvements are needed to maternity and paternity provision as well as childcare support.
• Pensions – There needs to be a recognition that many people who have spent a lifetime at work are now deeply concerned about how they can pay their way in retirement. And that for younger people pension provision is now a major worry.
• Government procurement – Billions of pounds are spent every year by the government in purchasing goods and services from the private sector. The time has come to identify how this powerful position can be used to further the government’s social and economic objectives.

These are policies which reflect trade union concerns and could be seen by the public at large to be fair and sensible.

Of course this is a far cry from some of the demands that we will hear from Brighton this coming week.

A demand to ‘repeal all Tory anti trade union legislation’ is not where the public is at. They simply don’t want to see a return to secondary action, flying pickets, strikes decided by a show of hands in a car-park or General Secretaries appointed by an executive committee rather than being elected by the membership at large.

So while we must work in partnership with the unions to identify and promote policies with broad and popular support we must not back down in the face of those who call for a change in direction by the Labour government.

There’s a myth promoted by some that if we offer enough red meat and return to an old Labour agenda, then there will be a stampede of millions of Labour voters – presumably presently held at some undisclosed secure location – who will emerge and carry Labour to an historic victory for socialism.

This is a dangerous delusion of the kind that led Labour to humiliating election defeats during the 1980s.

Whatever the pressures we must not repeat the mistakes of the past.”