Westminster Question Time #LabLink14

Trying to catch up with posts from UNISON Labour Link National Forum 2014 earlier this month.

The first speaker on "Westminster Question Time" was  UNISON member and local MP, Dawn Primarolo. Dawn has been the MP for Bristol South since 1987. In fact in 1987 Dawn was the only Labour MP to be elected in the whole of the South West of England.

She is currently a deputy speaker at the House of Commons (official title "Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means").  Dawn said she had been asked whether use to be a teacher? She says, no, she learnt to cope as Speaker by being a parent.

At the moment Dawn is trying to stop the privatisation of a local Bristol GP Surgery.  A contract has been put out but it is totally unclear who is responsible and despite it being a 14 day process, the local NHS is refusing to speak to her, because it may "compromise" the tender.  Dawn asked the Labour Party to make it clear that we are not going to allow the privatisation of our NHS.

Dawn is also campaigning on the "Living Wage" and is asking the Mayor of Bristol why in a rich city, we are not paying everyone a living wage? Dawn is standing down as an MP in 2015 but is pleased that an excellent unison member, Karin Smyth, is replacing her as our candidate.

Next speaker on the panel was Kerry McCarthy MP for Bristol East.   Kerry supported the call for a Living Wage but also asked for the banning of "zero hour" employment contracts, which cause misery to many of her constituents. She also attacked the proposed privatisation of cancer services by this Government. Kerry pointed out that all of us here now know what will happen to the NHS if the Tories get in again in 2015.

During the Q&A the panel were asked what they thought of "Executive Mayors". Dawn responded that she was not a fan of executive mayors and thought they were undemocratic. There is now an opportunity with the Labour plan to devolve powers to look again at the system.. For one person to hold all this power without any accountability is wrong, no matter how good they are.

When asked about priorities of a new Labour Government Kerry said that there is a massive task and a lot to do since this Government had spent the last 4 years destroying all what we have done.

To a (leading) question about the Scottish referendum (by a Scottish delegate) "Is separation better or should we stand together and fight together?"Dawn replied "I'm for the union. All the gains we have ever got have been made by fighting together". 

Sadiq Khan MP - Keynote speaker to #LabLink14

The keynote speaker to the National Forum was Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Minister for London Sadiq Khan MP.

Sadiq started off with a joke pretending he was a delegate from London region moving a motion at this forum then stated that there was no danger of the press trying to misinterpret his speech, since it will be published in full afterwards (another reference to the recent problem that Jon Cruddas MP experienced).

He introduced himself as the son of a bus driver, whose sister is a teacher and brother works in the NHS. He salutes our public services. Public institutions hold our society together.

Eleanor, (the Chair of Labour Link - Eleanor Smith) as a theatre nurse knows that the NHS is having now a summer crisis never mind a winter crisis. This shows you can never trust the Tories with the NHS.

Sadiq asked how many of us were Councillors? A number of us put our hands up. He thanked all Councillors for their hard work and pointed out that unless things change Councils will soon have to close all but statutory services.

The huge new fees on Employment tribunal applications is depriving rank and file workers justice. Cameron claims to champion the rule of law. Sadiq argued we must stand firm on further attacks on access to justice.

The Tories simply fail to understand public services and this is just as damaging as cuts. There is no accountability as you can see from the privatisation of the Probation Service. The next Labour Government will face massive debts but Labour and Ed Miliband are up for it.  The attack by Ed on Murdock and the Energy companies shows this. The Tories however attack the player and not the ball. Remember what happened in 1992 and expect further personal attacks on Ed.

He praised Ed's plan to devolve power and money away from the centre and empower our great cities and councillors. Sadiq promised not to sign any contract to privatisation which are on his desk as Justice Minster in 2015 and his first task will be how to unpick existing contracts.

He looks forward to working with us to kick out the Tories and the Lib Dems in the next 10 months. UKIP in the recent London elections went from being 20 out of 2000 Councillors to only 12.  We must tell people that UKIP leaders pledge that they want to keep alive the spirit of Thatcherism. They want to privatise the NHS. Get rid of maternity rights.

Labour elects Councillors that reflect the community.  We went from control of 15 to 20 London councils. We even won the Tory flagship Council of Hammersmith and Fulham on a "Save our NHS" campaign.

During the Q&A Sadiq said we ask tough questions at UNISON conferences. "I knew I should have gone to Unite". (a joke) In a question about how to combat Islamic extremism Sadiq pointed out that there are only tiny number of extremists out of the 3 million UK Muslims. Muslim values of respect, faith, family and working hard are the same as traditional British values.  The people he breaks bread with to end his fast have nothing to do with those who go to fight for ISIS and we shouldn't tarnish all Muslims with the same brush.

Hat tip picture my NEC colleague Chris Hanrahan

Dave Prentis - We want a Labour Government not for one term but for "15 years" #LabLink14

Our UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis spoke next after Jon Cruddas MP at Labour Link National Forum. He started by explaining how moved he was to have been last night at an UNISON event to honour activists who had helped the ANC to defeat the Apartheid regime in South Africa. .

He also also thanked long serving UNISON Labour Link officer, Joyce Kay, who is retiring this year so this will be her last National Forum.

Dave reminded us about the 250,000 local government workers who are on the  national minimum wage and the 1 million who earn less than a living wage. The Day of Action on the NHS and the Local Government Strike on 10th July is just the start. In August there a ballot by food safety members and after that the NHS. Its time that we stand up for our class, our people.

 Dave Cameron's "Big society" has turned into a bigoted society. We are a world leader in zero hour contracts. Our Councils have lost £20 billion in funding. Just pointing at the failures of the Tories will not get people to vote Labour or even get them to vote. Our Party needs to have a vision of a modern welfare state run on a not for profit basis.. We want these issues cleared up. What we want is a Labour Party committed to tackle child and pensioner poverty. We want a Party committed to build an NHS that Nye Bevan would be proud of. We do not want Labour Councils just being vehicles for putting out contracts.

Labour should have no unfunded spending commitments. But Spending and Income are two parts of the equation. Bankers should pay little more. So should the rich who are bleeding our society dry due to tax evasion. Let us have a real wealth tax. Claw back some of the great wealth of the top 1%.

The rise of UKIP is a damning indictment of the main political parties. we took on the BNP before and sent them packing.  We will do the same to UKIP. We will say what others will not say - that UKIP is a racist party and its policies are racist.

In past Labour has been taken in about business. We need and now must get alternative policies not alternative spelling. We expect Labour to support us over Pay. Opposition means opposing and supporting us. We want no weasel words. We want our demands to be heard. We want clear commitments.

It is great news that the Health & Social Care Act will be repealed by Labour. We cannot further privatise the NHS. We know that we have to win the next General Election. The Tory plan is clearly to pillar Ed Miliband. He has done some silly things such as pose with "the Sun" newspaper. We know things are difficult but we have got to have clear commitments about what Labour stands for it. We not a union that makes a fuss about affiliations, we are a union that pay our dues.

Cameron and Tories do not stand for our class. We must get rid of them. Our one objective is to kick the Tories out and get a Labour Government elected not just 5 years but 15 years.

(Co-coincidently during the break I got a voice mail message from my branch office in London who said former UNISON General secretary Rodney Bickerstaff had just popped in to say "hello". I assume he was speaking at an event in the building that we rent an office. Shame I missed him).

Hat tip picture to SusPol & Justice

Jon Cruddas MP - Guest Speaker #LabLink14

First guest speaker of National Labour Link Forum was Jon Cruddas MP, Head of Labour's policy review.

Jon started by admitting he had nearly been late today since he had gone to the wrong hotel and hoped that no-one would be tape recording him on behalf of Tory Central Office.  For the first time at our Forum meeting I noticed that there was a BBC camera crew present for his speech.

Jon praised UNISON as a "great union representing front line public servants in very difficult circumstances. The Labour Party Manifesto will have to set out our plans to rebuild our country at time of little or no money. The past 30 years of Neo liberalism has seen the slowest ever growth after a recession and huge debts. There will be a £70 billion deficit in 2015".

He argued that while the welfare state had been a profound achievement in the 20th Century - it now needs renewal. You need three things "1. an inclusive economy - pro worker and pro business. Stop the abuse of zero hour contracts and agency workers. There needs to be an increase in the minimum wage and greater use of a Living Wage, repeal of the Lobby Act, fair taxes and build homes. 2. We need a whole family approach such as extending free child care. 3. Inclusive politics. We have trickle down government . It should be trickle up. There should be freedom of information obligations on all providers of public services. Procurement should help decide wages".

"We need to rebuild this country.  The recent announcements on Labour plans for Councils and regions is the biggest devolution of power in 100 year.  Labour will win if our national story is - hope not despair".

During the wide ranging Q&A that followed London Delegate, Gloria Hanson, asked Jon what was Labour policy on trade unions and will he be supporting our strike on July 10th?  Jon replied by saying he had been a trade union activist before he became a Labour activists. Unions are not just about wages, but about being a voice at work and industrial democracy. Its work in progress. He also replied "I hear what you say about the Strike but it is not for me to be first to respond". That response I suspect disappointed the watching TV crew even more than the rest of us.

So as ever, a competent and lively performance by Jon. But it is more of "wait and see". The Labour Party National Policy forum is going to be in a couple of weeks and until the manifesto is out we will not really know what Labour policies will be in 2015. On the whole, so far so good. Hopefully more good stuff to follow.   

Motions on Economic Policy for the 2015 General Election & Composite on Living Standards and Pay #LabLink14

First motion debated at UNISON National Labour Link Forum was "An Economic Policy for the 2015 General Election". London delegate Sanchia Alaisa spoke in favour of this motion. Sanchia is also a Labour Councillor in Barking and Dagenham and stood as a MEP for London during the recent Euro elections. The motion is all about Labour giving people reasons to vote Labour.

London delegate Jonathan Slater spoke on behalf of the Region in favour of composite 1 which was "Living Standards and Pay".  He got cheer when mentioned he was newly elected Councillor in Lewisham. This composite incorporated our London regional motion on the need for wage councils in vulnerable employment sectors.

Next business was our first guest speaker Jon Cruddas MP.  For some reason or other there was a BBC camera crew present. I wonder why?