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Unite: ‘there is an economic alternative'

23 September 2010

Union leads call for alternative economic strategy

Labour party conference 2010

Unite, the UK's biggest union, will lead the calls for an economic alternative to the policy of savage cuts promised by the coalition government at this year's Labour party conference.

The union will be calling for the rejection of "the government’s view that rapid reductions in the UK deficit are either essential or in the best interest of the country" warning that the tax and benefit changes announced in the emergency budget in June 2010 are just the start of the new government's redistribution of wealth from the poorest to the better off in society.

Unite will urge the new Labour party leader to voice an alternative to the government's slashing of public spending, based on fair taxation policies, decent public services, growing manufacturing and decent jobs with fair pay. 

It will also participate in debates on the threat to Sheffield Forgemasters as a result of the scrapping of government support, and the threatened sell-off of the Royal Mail.

A joint fringe meeting with Liberty on Tuesday evening will consider how employment rights and human rights are under attack.  With some employers resorting to the courts as a means of avoiding a negotiated solution to industrial problems, the fundamental right to strike now hangs by a thread (6pm, Radisson Hotel).

For a full programme of Unite's fringe meetings, visit the Unite stand at conference (stand 137-162).

ENDS

Media contacts for Unite at Conference are:

Pauline Doyle - 07976 832 861
Ciaran Naidoo - 07768 931 315
 
For interviews with Derek Simpson, please contact Richard O'Brien on 07918 631 790

Unite contemporary motion

An alternative economic and industrial strategy

This conference rejects the economic policies based solely on the market place and calls for a thorough review of economic strategy with the purpose of redressing the imbalances which the policies of the coalition will perpetuate.

Conference believes that the labour values of fairness, equality and justice must be applied to its own economic strategy.  Conference accepts that the UK economy must prioritise growth and jobs, which are essential to strengthen public finances.

Conference therefore rejects the current government’s view that rapid reductions in the UK deficit are either essential or in the best interest of the country and rejects the myths that abound that public debt is unprecedented and unsustainable; that governments should immediately slash public spending; that public finances are 'out of control', and that tax rises can be avoided.

Conference notes the IFS Research published on 25 August which shows that, once all of the benefit cuts are considered, the tax and benefit changes announced in the emergency Budget in June 2010 are clearly regressive as, on average, they hit the poorest households more than those in the upper-middle of the income distribution in cash, let alone percentage, terms.

Conference calls upon the new leadership of the party to engage with party stakeholders in an open debate about the essential elements of an alternative economic and industrial strategy.  A strategy that delivers fair and progressive taxation policies; decent public services; support for a sustainable manufacturing sector and decent jobs with fair pay.