by Keith Richmond
BRITAIN’S biggest union has presented Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, with a 10-point plan to help kick start the country’s economy.
The submission by Unite, called A New Deal for the Real Economy and signed by the union’s joint general secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley, was handed in ahead of the pre-Budget report and Comprehensive Spending Review by the Chancellor on Monday.
The plan – which includes a freeze on home repossessions and a Keynesian boost in public spending – is part of a campaign by the union to protect working men and women, including its own two million members, from what it calls “the triple danger of redundancy, repossession and rising prices”.
Unite is calling for greater regulation of the finance sector – to prevent the bankers plunging the world into another recession – and urging the Labour Government “to invest its way out of the credit crunch and kick start the faltering economy”.
Mr Simpson said: “We are calling on Gordon Brown to save our homes and do everything possible to protect our jobs. As times get tougher, Labour must continue to command the economy and support those people most likely to suffer thanks to the greed and irresponsibility of the bankers.
“Gordon Brown has already taken decisive action to bail out the banks, he has re-established himself as the best man to steer the UK through these troubled times, but Labour now needs to go beyond the banks to support the real economy.
“Our priorities seek to put an end to the unchecked free market greed that led to the current crisis and to introduce a new economic order which takes our economy out of the hands of the super rich and puts it back under democratic control.”
Mr Woodley said: “Millions of families are facing a
winter of economic fear, haunted by the triple danger of redundancy, repossession and rising prices. This is the Government’s chance to maintain the momentum of the last month by using its control of the banking system, driven to bankruptcy by City fat cats, to put the people’s priorities first.
“This includes aid to manufacturing industry, as is being arranged in the US, a halt to repossessions and a major programme of house building, control on energy prices and immediate infrastructure investment to get industry moving. Government action based on the economics of hope will also change the political landscape.”
Unite’s key priorities are:
- Freezing repossessions on homes and creating 1 million new affordable homes.
- The introduction of a fair tax regime to address the poverty gap, including closing tax loopholes and cuts for lower earners.
- Increasing public spending levels to create demand.
- Supporting manufacturing through procurement and investment.
- A price commission for energy and a windfall tax on profits.
- Maintaining a commitment to full employment.
- Restoring and defending collective rights for workers.
- Advancing investment in public infrastructure.
- Reducing interest rates to stimulate investment.
- Introducing new order and regulation into the finance sector.
Mr Simpson has just launched his campaign for a 12-month extended term of office.
He faces a challenge from four other candidates: north-west regional secretary Kevin Coyne; south-west regional secretary Laurence Faircloth; former Rolls Royce convenor Jerry Hicks; and Paul Reuter, national secretary for communications.
