In the debate about voting systems, the unions have a vital role to play, says Brendan Barber
Archive for January, 2010
Editorial: A debate whose time has come
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010It would be easy but wrong to categorise the TUC’s launch of a debate on electoral reform as a sign of desperation and nihilistic acceptance of the inevitability of defeat for Labour at the general election. For one thing, the decision to initiate a debate within the trade union movement was the democratic decision of the unions themselves at last year’s Congress in Liverpool.
Mixed message from unions on voting reform
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010by René Lavanchy
Unions have given a mixed reception to the TUC’s launch of a debate on whether the voting system for general elections should be changed.
Ken Livingstone: The Tories have reverted to Thatcherite type
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010We are only a few months away from a general election at which every Labour Party member knows the choices are stark. The Conservatives, having largely dropped David Cameron’s cuddly mask, are promising Thatcherism mark two.
Give jobs to all long-term jobless – Purnell
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010by René Lavanchy
The Government must make the welfare state “relevant” to the recession by guaranteeing a job for everyone out of work for a year, former Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said this week.
Prentis to stand in spring election
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010Unison general secretary Dave Prentis will stand for re-election just after the general election, the union’s national executive committee confirmed this week, in a move likely to bring the policies of Britain’s biggest public sector union – and its close ties with the Labour Party – under intense scrutiny.
Labour survey offers members chance to have their say
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010Labour Party activists are being encouraged to register their desire to have a say in the party’s election manifesto, in a new web-based venture designed to challenge the party’s policymaking procedure.
Mandelson targeted over construction pay row
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010Lord Mandelson will face a march of unemployed construction workers past his office window next month, as the GMB union demands he admit that engineering firms are deliberately underpaying labour to undercut British workers.
Teessisde workers could strike over Corus cuts
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010Steel workers on Teesside could strike if Tata Corus, the company which intends to mothball the Redcar plant at the end of this month, with the loss of 1,700 jobs, does not talk openly about alternatives.
Cancel all Haiti debts, urge campaigners
By Tribune Web Editor /Thursday, January 21st, 2010In the wake of the deaths and devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti, campaigners are calling for the cancellation of all of the country’s outstanding international debt. They have also condemned the International Monetary Fund for extending new loans to the country at a time when, they say, significant grant aid from the international community is what is really required.