Clegg's statement shows Lib Dems are now more power hungry than progressive

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, has stated "I totally rule out any arrangements with the SNP in the same way I rule out any arrangements with Ukip - because there is no meeting point for me with one party that basically wants to pull our country to bits and another party that wants us to pull of of the EU."

As a progressives organisation, The Liberal Trade Unionists condemn his statement as both shortsighted and foolish. To associate the SNP with what is a very right wing, Thatcherite and on occasions xenophobic party such as UKIP is also insulting, not only to members of the Scottish party but to the intelligence of the electorate.

We believe Clegg's statement clearly demonstrates how the Lib Dems are now more power hungry for a place alongside the failed Labour and Tory parties than progressive. This is yet another very good reason for disgruntled Lib Dems, as well as progressives dissatisfied within other political parties, to join the ongoing and progressive Liberal Party.

http://www.liberal.org.uk/

Fast Food Rights

Recently fast food workers in Britain joined a one day international protest for better pay. In London there was demonstrations at Mc.Donalds in Marble Arch where protestors successfully occupied the restaurant.  Thirty other protests took place across the country. This follows similar campaigns in the U.S.

The actions were supported by the Bakers Food & Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), War on want as well as other organisations and political parties. Ian Hodson, National President of the BFAWU, who joined protestors at Marble Arch said, 'We managed to get inside and block off the place for up to 15 minutes. The management then agreed to let their workers talk to unions in return for the protestors leaving'.

Although the Liberal Trade Unionists will not always agree in breaking the law, we fully endorse the protestors call for a £10 per hour living wage and an end to zero hours contracts. We believe these calls are fully justified with the enormous profits being made by fast food companies such as Mc.Donalds. Whilst we recognise Mc Donalds do offer their workers some concessions, these do nothing to offset the cost of living for the workforce or the immoral and unnecessary use of zero hours contracts.  

You can show your support for the campaign by  following the link below and completing the online endorsement.

http://fastfoodright-bakersunion.nationbuilder.com/

Supporting sacked stewards at Smurfit Kappa

The Liberal Trade Unionists would like to send wishes of support to Unite members taking industrial action at Smurfit Kappa in Northampton. The dispute surrounds the sacking of two senior stewards, who stood up to the company over 'race to the bottom' contracts and alleged incorrect bonus payments.

In addition to its present overtime ban and work to rule, Unite has announced plans for a four-day strike, to run from 17-21 April.  This follows an earlier 48 hour-walkout on 1st and 2nd April which failed to get the two staff reinstated. Unite the Union said it is still hopeful the company will agree to meet with them and enter into positive discussions under the auspices of ACAS , but, at present the management is maintaining its hard line..
The sacked stewards were instrumental in bringing a claim against the company for the incorrect payment of a bonus, going back a number of years.  In addition to this they were also instrumental in resisting second-generation contracts being introduced into the workplace in 2014, which would have meant new starters getting paid less than existing workers for the same job.

If it was discovered the company had paid incorrect tax, obviously there would be action taken to reclaim that money. All the stewards were doing was claiming money for their members which they should have been paid.

As Liberal Trade Unionists our aim is always to get to the root of problems. We strongly believe in a situation where union activists are sacked for simply representing their workers, a strong anti-union sentiments exist within the management at Smurfit Kappa.

In addition to standing in solidarity with workers and the sacked stewards, we fully support the unions call on Smurfit Kappa to reinstate the two stewards immediately.

Social housing sales are of no benefit to workers

It was almost a fanfare announcement,  the Tories manifesto pledge to increase the sale of 'social housing'. It has always been a Tory plan to divide the people and create 'them and us' situations even within the working class. The sale of council houses under Margaret Thatcher did exactly this. But what the so called Iron Lady failed to do was re-invest money from the sales into building more social housing, choosing instead to use it to help fund tax cuts for the rich.

With the loss of council housing, entrepreneurial minded people foresee a shortage of properties in the rental sector and started to buy houses to let to those on the housing waiting list. Eventually this has led to some landlords owning large property portfolios, and some thinking solely of maximising profit, forcing tenants to live in poor conditions. Large numbers of private rented property also artificially inflates house prices beyond the wages of those on lower incomes, forcing them into the hands of private landlords, having to pay high rents and the likelihood of a significant number having to claim benefits to help pay the rent.

The Liberal Trade Unionists fear for workers faced with a lack of affordable properties to buy or rent. The Tories manifesto pledge can only be regarded as blatant bribery and one which will divide communities. Society is still suffering the effects from the days Margaret Thatcher sold off council housing stock. As Liberals we do not object to people owning their own homes. But what we do object to is the present stock of social housing being sold. We believe there should be greater freedoms for tenants of social housing to improve their properties, possibly with the housing association or council contributing towards the cost (as it is still their property). We also believe there should be more affordable homes for people that wish to get a foot on the property ladder.

Selling off social housing stock offers no benefit to the workers of this country. Allowing more freedom to improve properties for tenants of social housing, and constructing more affordable housing does. We call upon workers not to fall into the trap of Tory bribery and reject this proposal and another 5 years of the Tories as tenants of 'Number 10'.

Steering Committee discussing policies

The founding Steering Committee of the Liberal Trade Unionists will be establishing a set of policies over the next week. These will be built around the Liberal Party's own policies on Trade Union and employee rights. They will also emphasise the modern radical Liberalism which we feel is a remedy for the troubles of society today.


Liberalism does have a place in the heart of the Trade Union movement, and Liberals should be proud of the fact that their radical forefathers actually helped found the movement and influenced it for many years. We are also confident, many people who believe they are natural socialists, may actually be Liberals at heart. Therefore we need a revived Liberal voice within the unions.


Liberalism values the individual, this is why we want your voice to influence our policies. If there is something you would like to see included, please get in touch with us at liberaltradeunionists@gmail.com.


Liberal Party Trade Union and Employee Rights Policy

The Trades Union movement has a key role in the development of workplace democracy. Worker representatives, shop stewards and trades union officials must be fully trained to adapt industrial democracy to their workplace. Liberals call for the introduction of a “Worker’s Charter”, clearly defining and safeguarding workers' and trades union rights. Such a charter would include the right of every worker to join or not to join a union, and democratic procedures for the conduct of ballots.

Liberals believe that, whilst employers have a right to protect genuine commercial interests, employees have a right to speak publicly on issues of public interest relating to their employer’s business. Liberals therefore call for the outlawing of comprehensive gagging clauses in contracts of employment or in terms of conditions of work.

To enable individuals to find opportunities for personal development, Liberals believe that people of all ages and in all occupations should be encouraged to take sabbatical periods at various stages of their working lives.

International Trade Union organisation supports world day in support of Venezuela

The World Federation of Trade Unions -WFTU-, international organization representing 90 million unionized workers in 126 countries worldwide and represented to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations (UN), UNESCO and FAO, closely committed to the advancement of the peoplses in search of the society they deserve, since the very beginning has been in solidarity with the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela against imperialist interference.

Throughout the 70 years of its existence, the WFTU has expressed solidarity with the struggles of the Venezuelan people and the peoples of Latin America against political and military interference of imperialism. We repeat our rejection to the Executive Order issued by the President of the United States against the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, in which aggressive and absurd way, this country qualifies as a “threat to US national security.”

Today, we reaffirm our solidarity and support for the Venezuelan people and their democratically elected government. The WFTU supports the initiative of Venezuelan and international mass organizations for an International Day of World Solidarity with Venezuela on 19 April 2015. The international solidarity will launch a clear, forceful and immediate message that Venezuela is not alone in defending its sovereignty, peace and democratic gains, but is accompanied by all the class oriented , anti-imperialist, democratic, popular and revolutionary forces of the world.

In the context of practical solidarity with the people of Venezuela and the world’s peoples against imperialist manoeuvers, the FSM has already called International Trade Union Conference in Brussels – Belgium this June 1-2, 2015, themed “The embargoes, blockades and sanctions of the US, NATO and the EU are a blow to the rights of workers” who will discuss the response of the workers of the world to the maneuvers of imperialism.

The FSM, consistent with one of its principles; full respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of all peoples to decide for themselves about their present and future demands to end now the imperialist interference against Venezuela.

Government failing in Health & Safety

The Government has published a “report book” on its reform of health and safety legislation over the past five years. It proudly boasts that it has reduced the number of regulations by 50%, and claims that:

    “Business response to these reforms has been strongly positive and they have been achieved without reducing health and safety protection for workers.” Not once of course does it say what they have done to actually reduce the number of injuries and illnesses (both of which are increasing).

In fact the previous Labour Government claimed to have reduced health and safety regulation by over 70%. They started the process, which this government has continued, of looking at old out of date regulations and repealing them. Nothing wrong with that, but if you remove laws that no longer applied, you are not exactly reducing any “burdens” on business, it is simply good housekeeping. Generally unions have had no problems when 80 year old regulations on celluloid etc., were repealed. It makes it easier for everyone.

However this Government has gone a lot further than this. They have also got rid of, or changed, a number of useful ones. Most recently we had the fiasco over the self-employed, where they tried to exempt almost all self-employed and, after a backlash, finally ended up with something completely different that virtually no-one understands. We also saw changes to the reporting requirements. Previously employers had to record certain injuries which led to someone being unable to do their full job if it lasted more than three days. They then have to report it to the HSE. Now, they still have to record it after three days, but only report it after seven days have passed, meaning that they have to keep two lots of records. This is meant to help employers how? And of course there was the removal of the Code of Practice on the Management regulations. These are one of the most important of all the health and safety regulations as they deal with risk assessment. The Code of Practice was widely used, and although employers, unions and safety professionals all wanted to keep a code, it was abolished. There are lots of other examples of really bad decisions that have been made by this government, but you can read about them all here.

What really annoys me however is the claim that the changes “have been achieved without reducing health and safety protection for workers.” On what do they base that? How can they make that claim when no-one has actually looked at whether this is the case. The Government report gives no evidence to back it up, and it is clearly nonsense. Removing self-employed people from the coverage from the protection of the Health and Safety at Work Act in relation to their own safety is clearly a reduction in protection, as is the huge cut in inspection activity (over 95% in the local authority-enforced sector). At no time has the Government asked anyone to assess the effect of the changes on workers. Instead they crow about the benefit to business. Well health and safety laws are not there to protect business, they are there to protect workers. While businesses that embrace good health and safety can see big benefits, that is not the purpose of regulation.

We have a government that is all too obsessed with the idea that regulation to protect people is somehow inherently bad. Well, you can’t use moral concepts like good and bad to describe regulation. Either a regulation works or it doesn’t. The TUC has no problem with getting rid of regulations that are of no use, but at no time in the past five years has that been the criteria the Government has used. The principle they have followed is whether they can reduce burdens on business and, to do that, how much regulation can they repeal, and damn the consequences.

In the 1970s there was a pretty dire TV programme called “Never mind the quality – feel the width”, and that really sums up the Government’s approach to health and safety regulation. It is about cutting the number, regardless of whether it is doing anything to improve the position in the workplace. What we need instead is a regulatory agenda based on evidence of whether it is going to reduce the number of people killed, injured or made ill as a result of their work.

Report courtesy of Hugh Robertson, TUC Senior Policy Officer for Health & Safety

Climate Change, Work Labour and Trade Unions

Friday 24 April 2015, 10.30am – 13.00pm, (followed by buffet lunch)
University of Westminster, 35 Marylebone Road, London NW1 5LS
(opposite Madame Tussauds and nearly opposite Baker Street tube)
Room M205 (lunch M206)

Climate Change, Work, Labour and Trade Unions, with Professor Fred Steward (Policy Studies Institute, University of Westminster) on Labour and the Green Economy and Dr Paul Hampton (Fire Brigades Union) on Trade unions and climate change in the UK: prisoners of neoliberalism or swords of climate justice?

Followed by round table discussion on what trade unions can do with Sarah Pearce (Unison), Graham Petersen (UCU), Igor Diaz and Jairo Quiroz from the Columbian coal miners’ union SINTRACARBON, and Christine Haigh from Global Justice



This event is likely to be of interest to Liberal Trade Unionists
For further details and to reserve a place, please contact Linda Clarke (clarkel@wmin.ac.uk)

What did the televised debates offer workers?

The televised leadership debates offered little hope for workers, apart from the chance to hear from parties representing our Celtic neighbours and the Green Party. Having viewed opinion polls the result of the contest was that most people want the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon to be Prime Minister nevermind First Minister for Scotland.

But what can we as Liberal Trade Unionists draw from the debate? What was on offer from the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, was not liberalism, it was small c conservatism. It can be clearly seen why the Lib Dems are now regarded by progressives as the ‘Yellow Tories’.

The Greens, Plaid Cymru and the SNP did offer alternatives, but as the old saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and although we consider all these parties to be progressive leaning, all have broken their promises on becoming elected, offering ‘austerity light’ measured cutbacks. 

Liberal Trade Unionists do not believe in the austerity message where there are other ways to balance the books. We agree with Labour to an extent that putting people back in employment is the way forward for our country to work and pay its way. But where is Labour or any of the others commitment to full employment? It certainly was not mentioned.

The Liberal Party is committed to full employment. It’s policy states

‘The Liberal Party believes that the quest for full employment cannot be abandoned. It is a paradox of our economic system that while there is a shortage of jobs there is no shortage of work to be done. We do not believe that the solution lies in the creation of a low waged economy nor in “workfare” schemes which force people to work for rates of pay barely above the level of benefits.
However, we do believe that there are options available to the Government which would reduce unemployment significantly. Tackling unemployment must be restored as the top priority of economic management. Investment in training, more flexible working patterns and schemes to bring the long term unemployed back into the mainstream of economic activity are all urgently needed.’

In addition to this the Liberal Party’s General Election manifesto states

‘Liberals call for the introduction of a ‘Workers’ Charter’, clearly defining and safeguarding workers’ and trades union rights. Such a charter would include the right of every worker to join or not to join a union, and democratic procedures for the conduct of ballots. Legislation should be introduced to

make sure employees are involved in fundamental decisions affecting the business they work for, such as mergers and take-overs. There should also be opportunity for employee and community involvement in the running of state owned enterprises’.

As can be seen, what the political leaders put forward in the televised debate was far from the Liberal vision of the Liberal Party and supported by the Liberal Trade Unionists. What was refreshing was the voice given to the Celtic parties and the Greens. We would like to see this voice extended to other smaller parties such as the Liberal Party.

Formation of the Liberal Trade Unionists

Following several email and social media conversations between likeminded individuals, it became clear there was no group which really represented radical Liberal or Liberal Socialist values within the Trade Union movement. Admittedly the Liberal Democrats have the Association of Liberal Democrat Trade Unionists (ALDTU), but the actions of the Lib Dems as part of the ruthless ConDem coalition throws serious questions on whether any ounce of liberal values exists within the leadership of the party. The fact they have not ruled out a second term in coalition with the Tories is further evidence of this.

The Liberal Trade Unionists are supportive, though not officially part of, the continuing Liberal Party (not the Lib Dems), where the true values of radical liberalism are well and truly still alive.

Liberals are actually the forefathers of the Trade Union movement. Only when the red flag of socialism offered a more revolutionary vision did the orange banner of liberty and liberalism flounder. Today with the Labour Party no longer regarded as the true party of the working classes, and with the Trotskyite and Marxist-Leninist left scrapping for the right to become 'the' so called vanguard party, large numbers of Trade Unionists are deserting socialism and rediscovering radical liberal values. Some are even finding out deep down they probably always have been  liberals!

For this very reason, the Liberal Trade Unionists have been formed to promote Liberal Trade Unionism and radical liberalism within today's trade union movement.