Blog: Influencing the next Labour government

After 13 years of Tory failures in Westminster, our economy is weaker, our living standards are lower, and our country is poorer. Britain is clearly broken. Over the weekend, our UNISON delegation spent long hours in intense negotiations with the Labour party at the National Policy Forum. Our mission was to get UNISON’s priorities on pay, public services, social care, workers’ and trade union rights, and equalities into Labour’s policy platform for their next manifesto. That manifesto must be election-winning, because despite Labour riding high in the polls over the past year, they’ve lost the last four general elections. Throughout that time, our members’ lives have been made worse under successive Tory governments. We need a fundamental shift of power and prosperity back into workers’ hands. Austerity Labour cannot return to austerity – we need investment, not ideologically-driven Tory cuts that weaken public services, our economy, and cause endemic low pay in our society. We secured that anti-austerity commitment, which sets the scene on how Labour would govern. And the party’s pledge to start the biggest wave of insourcing will mean more public services will be back in public hands. Pay On pay, discriminatory adult age bands will be removed from the National Minimum Wage (NMW), and Labour will make sure the cost of living is part of the remit of the Low Pay Commission. They’ve committed to enforcing NMW payments for travel time for those who work across ...
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article General Secretary General Secretary's blog News Christina McAnea Labour Party UNISON Labour Link Source Type: news