Labour Party vision for the Voluntary and Community sector

Guest post by Jonathan Slater, UNISON Labour Link officer for the London Voluntary Organisations Branch on the Link meeting last week at the House of Commons with Shadow Minster for our Sector Gareth Thomas MP.

"As a Labour Party and UNISON member who works in the charity sector, where I represent the needs of voluntary and community sector in Lewisham, I have long wanted to hear the Labour Party’s response to the ‘Big Society’ agenda of the Coalition Government, which for many in the sector has become toxic with the enforced cuts and experiences of charities taking part in the work programme where they were used as ‘bid candy’ by private sector organisations, as well as gagged from going public about its failures.

When I got elected last year as the Labour Link Officer for UNISON’s Community and Voluntary Organisation Branch which represents members who work in charities across London and who pay the political affiliation, I was very keen to bring them together to hear what the Labour Party’s position was nationally on the voluntary and community sector.

Therefore I invited Labour’s spokesman on civil society and also Chair of the Co-operative Party Gareth Thomas MP to address my members on Tuesday 29th January in Westminster. In his speech to my members he mentioned the increased demands of charities in supporting the most vulnerable members of our communities through the welfare changes, which include the important role they had to play in campaigning for them which makes them distinctive such as the Child Poverty Action Group, regardless of whether they are in receipt of public funds.

Also he highlighted that the current 160,000 charities are under huge financial pressure because of the enforced cuts by the Coalition where according to Charity Commission figures 7,394 charities shut down last year where they are suffering a triple hit with cuts of over 45 per cent in central government funding, local councils being forced to cut their VCS budgets, and a significant reduction in donations from the hard-pressed public.

According to the National Council of Voluntary Organisations recently estimated government cuts to the sector at £3.3bn by 2015. Gareth also touched upon the empty rhetoric of the Big Society where the Coalition Government has talked up the opportunities for charities to win contracts to provide government services. In reality he said it appeared that many charities are not able to compete on a level playing field with bigger private sector businesses able to take on more risk when they bid for the same contracts such as the work programme.

 In terms of Labour’s approach procurement would be designed in a better way to allow smaller charities to bid for public services where if awarded them wouldn’t be publicly gagged. A particular focus though would be on legislated to require banks to reveal where they lend to community organisations and those who don’t compelling them to lend to local financial organisations which benefits the community based on the Community Reinvestment Act passed in the United States. The Act encourages commercial banks and savings associations there to help meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighbourhoods.

Finally Gareth said Labour would enforce the living wage across the board. Despite this he encouraged charities to look to become social enterprises which were more financial sustainable where they wouldn’t be reliant on central or local government, where when Labour is returned to government in 2015 they will be facing much more challenging economic circumstances than in 1997.

The other speaker was John Gray, who is the Community representative on UNISON’s National Executive Committee, who talked about the importance of members who pay the political levy to become active in the Labour Party as activists and to stand as local Councillors and MPs in order to argue and campaign against Austerity, both at a national and local level, as well as for decent pay and conditions.

John also argued that employers who don’t recognise trade union shouldn’t have access to public funds and for businesses to have worker representation on their boards. Finally he urged Gareth to think about moving towards sectoral pay panels, particularly those for low paid workers.

Overall I felt this event was not only positive in bringing my members together where we can start to campaign for some of the issues highlighted at the event as well as against the austerity cuts but also to know that the Labour Party are the best option for the voluntary and community sector in being able to deliver public services on behalf of the communities they represent. At the same time the sector need to appreciate that the economic circumstances will be challenging in 2015 and therefore need to find other non-public sources of funding to become more sustainable and independent for the future.

(afterwards we had a social in the Weatherspoons in Whitehall. I will post my speech sometime soon)

The role of trade unions in Europe

(Guest post by London UNISON activist and Regional Labour Link Committee member Sanchia Alasia ).  "Trade unions have a strong and ever growing important role to play in the European Union. Many European countries are currently bearing the brunt of harsh austerity measures, high youth unemployment and threats to employment rights, which trade unions need to stand up and fight against.

Take the UK for instance. The chancellor George Osborne announced at the Conservative Party conference this year that workers could gain shares within companies in exchange of valuable employment rights such as unfair dismissal, redundancy and the right to request flexible working and time off for training. A few pounds in shares is not worth works giving up hard won employment rights by won by our trade unions. If for example you received £2,000 in shares and they increased by 100% you would still only have £4,000 but could be sacked tomorrow.

 The ideology of the Tory led government is to denigrate the trade unions as they regularly do in the House of Commons and make light of employment protections that workers are entitled to. The shocking thing is that companies will be able to force this on new recruits if they choose from April 2013, which is only a few months away.

My trade union, UNISON currently has a fantastic campaign about the living wage, which is an hourly rate set independently every year. It is calculated according to the cost of living and gives the minimum pay rate required for a worker to provide their family with the essentials of life. In London the 2012/2013 Greater London Authority rate is £8.55 per hour and outside of London the current rate is £7.45. 

 This campaign by UNISON, spurred me to work with one of my fellow councillors at Barking and Dagenham council, Josie Channer, who is the chair of the living and working select committee to ensure that low paid council workers have been given the living wage.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is an organisation that has a united voice on behalf of the common interests of workers, at the European level. It represents 85 trade union organisations in 36 European countries. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) based in the UK is a member of the ETUC. The TUC is the voice of Britain at work with 54 affiliated unions (including my union UNISON), representing 6.2 million working people from all walks of life. They campaign for a fair deal at work and for social justice at home and abroad as well as negotiating in Europe.

It is important that the TUC continues to work alongside the ETUC to promote full employment, social protection, equal opportunities, good quality jobs, social inclusion, and an open and democratic policy-making process that involves citizens fully in the decisions that affect them across the European Union. It is only through workers’ consultation, collective bargaining, social dialogue and good working conditions that innovation, productivity, competitiveness and growth in Europe will thrive".

Knocking up in Thurrock

This evening I was “knocking up” Labour supporters in Thurrock, Essex and reminding/encouraging/cajoling them to go out and vote for Labour candidate, Phil Smith.

I was in a canvass team with fellow West Hammers (CLP) vanguardists (and Newham Cllrs) Forhad Hussain and Ellie Robinson.  We were joined by Ron from Hackney South CLP (see main photo left to right). There were a number of Newham Party members out and about in Thurrock today, including the Mayor Sir Robin Wales (and in recent weeks).

Since there are no elections in London this year the Regional Labour Party have allocated each CLP a key Council election outside London to help out.

We were working in Stanford East & Corringham Ward. During the Election last year the Tories won the council seat by only 1649 votes to 1620. So this should be winnable but I do worry about the turn out in such local elections when compared to the General election.

It was all quite quiet. I didn’t see a single political poster in any window or garden. I didn’t see any other canvassers. All the people I met were very polite but those who had already voted were unusually hesitant in admitting to me who they had actually voted for. I had a good conversation with a Ford worker about the NHS, pensions and “Sending a message to Downing Street” about his concerns.

The most excitement of the night came from the traditional arguments amongst canvassers of all political persuasions helping out in new places about “we are lost” and “what way should we go?” (see photo left above) I think from now on, West Ham Labour Party should describe the direct route to anywhere as the “Ellie Way” and the going totally in the wrong direction route as the “Forhad way” :).  I was too lazy to do any map reading tonight.

It was still a good day. We met up with London Assembly John Biggs, Cllr Bill Turner from Tower Hamlets and Cllr Josephine Channer from Barking and Dagenham.

Update: check out some more photos on FB here

Update: Phil wins by 136 votes! Well done.

LGA LG Spring conference 2011: “Representing our Roots”

After the keynote speech by Ed Miliband I went to this workshop with Iain McNicol (GMB National Political Officer) and Cllr Josie Channer (Barking & Dagenham).  Cllr Ann Lucas (Coventry) chaired (middle).  Please note the health warning about the accuracy of all my hurriedly typed notes.

Iain started with this story about Tory MP’s Tim Sainsbury and Nicholas Soames.  Sainsbury saw Soames in the House of Commons on a Friday afternoon dressed in his tweeds and said to him “Going rat catching this weekend Nick?” Soames replied “screw you grocer boy: people like you don’t tell me what to dress on a Friday”.  Which shows class is still important even to the Tories.  There are 18 millionaires in today’s cabinet.  In 1979 16% of MP’s were manual workers now only 4%.  Trade union and local government service is seen as the “poor relations” in the Party.  It became acceptable for ministers to define themselves against “Loony Councils” and “out of touch” trade unions.  Things were never perfect but this has led to a catastrophic collapse in activists.  There has been an onward march of professional Politian’s which is not in itself a problem but it is if it squeezes others out. What to do? Identify and encourage future Cllrs and MP’s;  select more local candidates that represent their community and set up training courses to make it more of a level playing field.

Josie was elected last May for the first time as a Councillor in Barking and Dagenham.  78% of Cllrs are from a professional background.   The 12 BNP Cllrs in the borough came about because the Labour Party failed to work with the working class community.  Need to recognise that people support the BNP on an emotional level and do not pay attention to “facts” about them. 

57% of British think of themselves as working class.  You need money to become an MP.  You need a minimum of £2000 per campaign.  She went to a training course for women interested in becoming MP’s and was told that you need to run for at least a couple of seats to get the experience.  She was thinking: “that is £4000, how can I afford that?”  What to do?  You need not to just talk about fairer representation; it has been talked about for a long time.  There needs to be changes.  You need to talk to the Unions.  The support of union members can make a difference. The Party needs to take this issue seriously and look at the selections processes, look at the social economic back ground of candidates, is the panel representative of local class and ethnic groups.  Will the Party commit to the time and resources needed?  Need to think collectively. 

In the Q&A I made the point that I agree with nearly all the analysis that the Party does need to change but we in the trade union movement also have to look to ourselves.  Sometimes I have heard affiliated trade union leaders use the language of the ultra left about the last Labour government and Labour Councils.  This is probably said in frustration with the Party, but if we mimic those who are enemies of democracy and socialism then it is no wonder that this feeds back to our members.  Who then come out with things such as “they are all the same” and don’t vote.  We need to think about different models and relationships - perhaps look at what happens in Nordic countries which have huge union density and are far more equal societies.

I’ll finish with another quotation by Iain.  This was from former GMB and Labour Party leader JR Clynes “I didn’t come into politics to fight the class struggle I came to end it!”

Update: Iain has been appointed as the New General Secretary of the Labour Party (July 2011)