Friday, 30 July 2010
What I stand for
Instead of increasing taxes on the very rich to pay off the debt, the Con-Dems are using the debt as an excuse for a massive attack on the welfare state and public services, risking a double-dip recession, and ditching any real move to tackle Climate Change.
Jerry Hicks on the organizing debate
Our members in public and private sector alike are facing an onslaught on their public services, jobs, pay, pensions and conditions, as government and employers attempt to make working people pay for a bailout of the banks which rescued the city parasites but didn’t prevent mass redundancies amongst finance workers.
The urgent need for a more powerful union to enable members to successfully protect their livelihoods has never been clearer. The debate about UNITE’s organising strategy is about how we achieve this. Below, Jerry Hicks sets out his contribution to the debate.
Unite and the Labour Party Leadership
In June the UNITE Policy Conference overturned the EC and supported an Emergency Motion seeking to get all the candidates onto the ballot paper. Despite this, MPs failed to nominate John McDonnell, the candidate most supportive of UNITE policies, such as the repeal of the anti-union laws.
Today the EC is faced with a choice between four former New Labour ministers and Diane Abbott. Diane Abbott has the backing of John McDonnell and the Labour Representation Committee, and opposes the cuts, privatisation, Trident and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Response Unite members need more than just tough talk
Terms and conditions have been eroded because of the leadership's reluctance to take action, says Jerry Hicks first published in The Guardian, Wednesday 7 July 2010
As the only rank-and-file candidate in the election for general secretary of Unite (the other three are all very senior officials) I read with interest your interview with Len McCluskey (Union boss needs to unite the public sector and public opinion, 25 June).
You spoke of his distant past. "In the mid-1980s his union was part of a 'united front' against a government squeeze on the city's finances that included Derek Hatton, Liverpool council's then deputy leader. Along with the miners' strike, it was a defining era of clashes with the Tory government."
You spoke of his distant past. "In the mid-1980s his union was part of a 'united front' against a government squeeze on the city's finances that included Derek Hatton, Liverpool council's then deputy leader. Along with the miners' strike, it was a defining era of clashes with the Tory government."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
