Blog: A great day for UNISON and public services

Today at Labour conference has been a great day for UNISON and a great day for public services. I was proud to move the motion at today’s conference on public sector pay. Everyone working in our public services and everyone who relies on those services has suffered thanks to the government’s painful pay cap. Today I called on the Labour Party to go further than it had gone before, not just scrapping the cap but committing to above inflation pay rises every single year under the next Labour government, until pay is back to at least pre-Tory austerity levels. That is the very least that Labour should be calling for. So I was delighted that Labour conference gave our position – and our Pay Up Now campaign – their full support today, unanimously supporting our motion. That means that after too many years of equivocation, Labour policy is now fully aligned with that of UNISON – real pay rises, year on year, for all public sector workers. That was a big victory for our union, for UNISON members and for millions more working in our public services. Yet that wasn’t the only success we had in Brighton today. Today, the Labour Party also pledged to stop using failed PFI programs, and to cancel all existing PFI contracts. That’s something I have been campaigning on for 15 years. In fact, at the 2002 Labour conference I moved the motion opposing the then Blair government’s PFI plans. Finally, after too many wasted years, vindication. And then, in the final vote of the da...
Source: UNISON meat hygiene - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: General secretary's blog News labour conference pay up now Source Type: news