This morning I started my day with a breakfast meeting with Jeannie Drake, CWU Deputy General Secretary for telecom members. I was delighted to discuss with Jeannie the announcement made yesterday by Peter Hain, DWP Secretary of State, appointing her to the position of non-executive director of the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority.
Jeannie is an acknowledged expert and renowned campaigner on pensions. I am convinced that she will make a crucial contribution to the success of the government’s pension reforms.
During the morning, I attended the Congress session where a range of issues were covered, including rights for agency workers. This is of great importance to the CWU. As a union we’ve been campaigning for equal treatment of these vulnerable workers. At present, agency workers face legal discrimination on issues such as wage rates, training and holidays.
The unions affiliated to the Labour Party secured an agreement with the government at the Warwick national policy forum in 2004. At that time, the government agreed to support the introduction of a European Directive for agency workers, or failing that, to introduce comparable legislation through the British Parliament.
To date, the government has not delivered on this commitment. As a consequence, the CWU, along with many other unions, has been campaigning to force the government to deliver on its promise.
In the lunch break I will be speaking alongside leaders from the GMB, UCATT, UNISON, and Unite on this subject. Interestingly enough, Pat McFadden, Minister of State at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, is also due to speak. We will be listening closely to every word. Certainly we got no immediate comfort from Gordon Brown’s contribution to Congress on Monday.
But there is great momentum behind this campaign, and hundreds of thousands of vulnerable workers are depending upon the success of our work.
Later on today, the most controversial question of the week is to be discussed; Congress’s attitude to the new EU Treaty. The CWU delegation will not be supporting a referendum. The majority may lie with an alliance of unions disappointed by our government’s opt-out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, alongside unions who want to withdraw from the EU.
This evening, as Chair of Unionlearn, I will be saying a few words at the Unionlearn reception. Union Learning Reps have been one of the unions’ most recent success stories. Certainly this was registered by Gordon Brown when he announced on Monday an increase in government funding from £12.5 million to £15 million.
After that, I’ll take a little relaxation and a lot of networking, at the UNISON and USDAW receptions.
Somewhere during the day, I’ll be briefed by our negotiators on today’s developments concerning the dispute involving CWU members in Royal Mail. But that’s a big story for another day.
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