Congress 2003 President's address
Congress, distinguished guests and friends, it is both a great honour and a pleasure to be addressing you today in the capacity of President of the STUC. When first elected as a delegate to Congress by my own union, the AEEU, the experience was humbling, yet a privilege. Coming together with likeminded people, speaking with, listening to and learning from the many people who shared their experiences, wisdom and aspirations for the trade union movement, I gained much knowledge under such pleasurable circumstances. The sense of privilege and learning stayed with me at each subsequent Congress I attended. It continued later when I was nominated and elected to the General Council. As a lay member of this body I was able to more fully appreciate the volume of work undertaken and performed, with dedication and diligence, by the General Council, the Secretariat and the staff of the STUC. It is with pride that I share with you my view that the interests of our members are in safe and capable hands.
Congress, my year in office has passed rapidly and it is difficult to sum up all that it has entailed in a few short sentences. That we meet at a time of turmoil and uncertainty in the world cannot pass without comment. Over the past months, the threat of war in Iraq has dominated all our thoughts. In recent days, through almost blanket news coverage, we have seen bombing, destruction and deaths - the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of war.
Saddam is a brutal dictator, who led a repressive, fascist regime. He has been condemned by this Congress many times in the past, at times when he had been supported by previous US and British administrations. The Iraqi people have endured unspeakable suffering at his hands. They have suffered too from a decade of sanctions, which harmed them more than they harmed Saddam's regime. Even before war was declared they faced daily bombing raids by US and British forces.
Before the war began the General Council view was that the case for war had not been made. The claims made by the coalition about threat from Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had not satisfied the UN, neither had the desire to enforce regime change by military action.
Congress, we will debate the war and its aftermath later this week. It is right we do so because the consequences of war affect us all. There are many big issues to be discussed. These issues are too big to be left exclusively to the politicians, the diplomats and the military commanders. They are about the future security of our world and the place that our country should play in the world. They are about the future of international co-operation between peoples and not just governments co-operation that will be necessary if a safe and secure world is to be ensured for us all.
Congress, let me, if I may, say a couple of other things about the international situation. Although many of us have deep concerns about the war in Iraq, we must make sure that when peace comes it is a peace of which we can be proud.
Unfortunately, the history of US imperialism and the current indications about the US government's intentions for post war Iraq do not give grounds for optimism. We well remember the type of regime the US supported in Chile when it provoked regime change there. We also know that the individuals identified by the US to run post war Iraq are not ones that will inspire the confidence of the rest of the Arab world, let alone the people of Iraq.
If our government really is able to influence the US administration, it must make certain that the future of Iraq is decided by the people of Iraq and that it respects Iraqi's religious, ethnic and national diversity. It must ensure acceptable standards of human rights, including the right of individuals to join and organise in trade unions.
We in the UK must also hold the US to its commitments to work towards resolving the situation in Palestine. For too long the Palestinian people have been denied the right to self- determination. Their intolerable suffering must be ended. The Palestinian people have the right to an independent sovereign state to co-exist with an Israel secure within its pre-1967 borders.
Congress, we are proud of our internationalism, proud of the solidarity of the trade union movement across the world. It is not just in Iraq that there is crisis we should not forget the oppression of trade unionists in other parts of the world: in Zimbabwe; in Columbia; in Central America; and elsewhere. We must not let the fact that the focus of world attention is on Iraq diminish our concerns about other oppressive regimes.
Congress, we must find a way of resolving international conflicts without having to resort to war. And we have to find a way of eliminating the excruciating poverty of the developing world and the growing inequalities between north and south, which are the breeding grounds for much international conflict. If the people of the rich nations of the world are serious about their desire for a safe and secure future, they must support the redistribution of wealth and opportunity from north to south.
Congress, although we meet during difficult times we must not allow ourselves to lose sight of our successes and struggles at home. We should take heart from the fact that, for the first time over 20 years, the Scottish trade union movement has recorded a significant increase in membership. The STUC is Scotland's voice at work. People are joining our affiliated trade unions because they deliver in the workplace and because, collectively, we are better heard by government. Our increasing membership makes our voice all the louder and the more credible.
At last year's Congress Scotland's First Minister and my predecessor, David Bleiman, signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Scottish Executive and the STUC. That agreement formalised the relationship between the STUC and the administration in Scotland. It underpins a mechanism for on-going dialogue on a range of shared priorities, recognising our role in representing trade unionists as workers and as citizens. As a result of the Memorandum of Understanding our work with the Scottish Executive on a range of issues that matter to our members has developed and expand.
Last November we were able to conclude an agreement that will prevent the development of a two-tier workforce in future PFI projects, fulfilling commitments made to Congress by Jack McConnell and his Minister for Finance and Public Services. The agreement is a good deal for workers faced with PFI and represents significant progress in the STUC's campaign to ensure fair employment practice throughout the public sector in Scotland. Congress, we continue to oppose PFI as a mechanism for funding public services. However, as long as it remains an option for public service organisations it is our responsibility to fully protect the workers who may be affected. That is what the agreement does. We are now working together to ensure its effective implementation and its extension to cover all potential contracting situations in the public sector. We are also engaged in significant dialogue about public sector improvement in Scotland.
Congress, I believe that it is unhelpful, as is sometimes done, to pose the interests of public service users against those of public service workers, as if they are somehow in conflict. Of course there are tensions. Public sector workers, like all workers, have rights at work that require to be respected by their employers when decision on service delivery are made. However, the labour intensive nature of public services means that their quality depends upon the skills, commitment, motivation and ingenuity of the public sector workforce. Improvements in public services will not be achieved unless the role of public sector workers is recognised.
Congress, after years of under-funding, the current government is investing more of our money in public services and it is right that they should require improvement in how services are delivered. In Scotland the approach to public sector improvement is different than that being pursued in England. Here the commitment to comprehensive education remains, while in England the commitment is for narrow specialisation. Here the commitment is to abolish NHS Trusts, while in England it's to create foundation hospitals. Here the Executive has abolished up-front tuition fees while in England top-up fees are high on the agenda.
For those of us who believe that the modernisation of public services means more that the involvement of private sector finance and management it is important that we work to ensure that this different approach delivers for Scotland.
Congress, in another priority area we are working with the Scottish Executive and other partners to tackle the on-going inequalities suffered by women workers in Scotland. It is wholly unacceptable that, despite more than 30 years of equal pay legislation, the gender pay gap is 19% in Scotland today. The Close the Gap initiative, about which you will hear more later in the week, is assisting unions in helping their members to address pay inequalities in the workplace.
Congress, we are also tackling inequality at the workplace and in our communities that arises as a result of racial prejudice. We welcomed the Scottish Executive's "One Scotland Many Cultures" public awareness campaign. We have to face up to the
fact that too many Scots hold racist attitude. Congress, any is too many. In its next phase this campaign will target the workplace. Our black workers committee will be fully involved. But this is an issue for everyone and a challenge to which we all must rise.
The work being taken forward by the STUC and many of our affiliates in a number of areas is forward-looking and innovative, no more so than in relation to the learning agenda. This work builds upon traditional trade union values without doubt the emancipation of working people 21st century style. My own union has played a very active role in this area, with support from the Labour led Scottish Executive's Scottish Union Learning Fund: a fund which will benefit from a doubling of resources from now until 2006.
The fund is supporting the development of a Scotland-wide network of Learning Representatives. Learning Reps are a new concept for many of us and the service they provide to members adds real value to the union card. They are delivering on our members' demands for greater job security; transferable skills; career development; and higher earning capacity. Now we are looking for employers to match our commitments in these areas.
Congress, you will be well aware that we meet at an important time in terms of the future governance of Scotland, with local government and Scottish Parliament elections a matter of days away. Over the course of the week we will debate and agree our priorities for the period ahead. Aspiring political leaders would do well to listen closely to what we have to say. The trade union
movement worked long and hard towards the establishment of a Scottish Parliament and we have worked enthusiastically over the last four years to influence its policies and those of the Scottish Executive. The political complexion of the administration post May 2003 will be important. Its commitment to on-going dialogue with the trade union movement will be vital in progressing the interests of our members. I would encourage you to vote and vote often! Use your local government vote; vote for your constituency MSP; vote for you regional list candidate.
Congress, as I mentioned earlier, we have made significant progress on trade union membership levels. That is progress made in the face of on-going problems in a sector in which we have traditionally been represented in number. The manufacturing sector matters to my own union, Amicus and it matters to the Scottish economy. Despite difficult trading conditions over a number of years, manufacturing still makes up around 20% of Scottish GDP. It directly supports more than 12% of jobs and, because of significant linkages between manufacturing and the rest of the economy, more than 90 thousand jobs in non- manufacturing industries depend on the sector. But closures, redundancies, mergers and takeovers have left their mark on communities the length and breadth of Scotland.
Unions with significant manufacturing interests, like my own, are taking a proactive stance on the problems our members face on a day and daily basis. We must also continue to work collectively through the STUC to influence the measures we believe are necessary to improve job security, productivity and growth:
measures to promote increased investment in workforce development and innovation; measures to promote business success through respect at work and best employment practice; measures to ensure that employers do not shirk their responsibilities in these areas.
Congress, if we are truly serious about ensuring that manufacturing delivers for the economy in the way we know it can, we must have a level playing field across Europe and beyond. The current legal framework does a disservice to Scottish workers. As things stand it is easier to close down operations in Dundee than in Dusseldorf. Manufacturing workers and workers across all occupational sectors deserve the same rights to information and consultation at work as their European counterparts. We must continue to work together for the early and effective implementation of the European directive on information and consultation rights.
Congress, the issue of health and safety at work features high on our agenda this week. It is right that it should. Workers have a basic human right to leave their homes for work in the belief that they will be able to return unharmed at the end of the working day. Too often in Scotland this is not the case. Scotland's record on work related deaths, ill health and serious injuries is unacceptable. The case for action in a number of areas is overwhelming. We need action on Health and Safety Executive funding; on adequate deterrents against employers who breach their duties; and on a mechanism for speedier compensation for victims. In the last year or so the STUC has been better resourced to develop and
articulate this case to government and it agencies, with continued and generous support from Thompsons Solicitors.
Primarily a reserved policy matter, we made the case for action on health and safety at our annual briefing session for Scottish members of parliament at Westminster. We sought the on-going support of the Scotland Office and the Secretary of State for Scotland. And, on related criminal and civil justice matters and on occupational health services, we took our case to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive. We will continue to work with a range of partners to secure improvements in the health, safety and welfare of Scottish workers. In particular, we will work to ensure that the welcome Scottish Labour manifesto commitment to legislate to introduce a specific criminal offence against those who assault, obstruct, or hinder emergency workers and those assisting them as they carry out their jobs is implemented. Congress, our public sector workers deserve the highest level of protection, as do workers in a range of occupations faced with the nightmare of violence at work.
For a number of years, at a range of venues across Scotland, the STUC has encourage trade union members to mark International Workers Memorial Day, standing alongside workers from over 100 countries. I would encourage you all to turn out to `Mourn the Dead and Fight for the Living' on April the 28th this year.
Congress, over the last year developments in occupational pensions provision have been a serious cause for concern to us all, with increasing numbers of employers seeking to alter existing
occupational pension schemes to the detriment of their employees. Some have closed their final salary schemes to new entrants; others have replaced existing schemes with new provisions offering significantly reduced benefits even for existing scheme members. Employers have been able to exploit the current voluntarist approach to occupational pensions, using the lack of adequate regulation to transfer the risk arising from falling equity markets onto workers. Often these are the same employers who benefited from contributions holidays worth almost £20 billion between 1987 and 2001. In a number of cases our affiliated union have successfully stood up for trade union members against such moves. But we need effective action to secure the occupational pensions rights of all workers, irrespective of age, gender or employment status. Pensions provision is a responsibility that must be shared, proportionately, between employers, government and employees. But, worryingly occupational pensions scheme membership covers only around half of the working population. Only through the introduction of tough new legislation, ensuring an on-going commitment to this shared responsibility, can we be confident that we will see fewer workers retiring into poverty and dependence.
Congress, after many years during which employers were allowed to ignore the wishes of their workers and refuse to negotiate with a union, the trade union movement welcomed the introduction of the new statutory recognition scheme in 1999. We are now seeing real benefits in terms of an increased number voluntary and statutory recognition agreements and in terms of increased levels of trade union membership. However, both at the time when the
legislation was being drafted and subsequently, we have expressed concerns that, while the provisions are a major step in the right direction towards fairness at work, they are certainly not perfect. The absence of an unfair labour practices provision is but one area that needs to be addressed. We know of a number of examples of outrageous behaviour by employers hostile to trade union recognition the local trade union organisers put under pressure to resign or be made redundant; threatening letters to employees saying that a vote in favour of union recognition would result in operations being relocated abroad and wholesale job losses; and refusal of access to workers during campaigns. Our unions and their members need to be confident the statutory recognition process is a fair one one which genuinely tests the desire of a workforce for collective representation, and which ensures that collective representation follows from majority support.
Again, we will hear much about individual and collective rights at work over the next few days. It is important that we make our case and make it well to counter the negative employer lobby in this area. Good employers have nothing to fear from fair employment standards. The worst employers are our targets.
Congress, it was with great trepidation that I accepted my
nomination as Chairperson of the General Council. I wondered if,
as a lay-member, I had the ability to carry the responsibility the
position merits. When I mentioned these doubt to my son he said,
Mum, you have every right to be the Chairperson you are a
trade unionist'. I took a pace back, then saidyes'. My fellow
workers saw fit to elect me as a shop steward and set me on this path. My union, of which I have always been proud, continued to elect me to Congress. In fact, the officer who first proposed me for the General Council was one Harry McLevy a Dundonian. Prior to my Presidency this year, Harry was the last member of my union to hold the office of STUC President. I believe he would have been proud of my achievement. I am grateful to Amicus my union for supporting me during my presidential year. I have received the type of support that I have enjoyed from my earliest days in the Amalgamated Engineering Union, and through the many changes which have led us to the new union we have today.
My thanks also must go to the General Council, to Bill Speirs, to all the officials of the STUC and to every member of staff, all of whom have been supportive and extremely helpful during my tenure in office, ensuring that it has been a wonderful year for me. My respect for and gratitude to them is immeasurable.
Congress, you are Scotland's voice at work. In this gathering we have delegates with a vast amount of knowledge and experience of industries and occupations from the length and breadth of Scotland. This Congress allows for debate and discussion about the things that matter to trade unionists in their workplaces and in their communities. Whether you are a veteran or a first time delegate I encourage you to participate to the full in our formal sessions and at many fringe and social events.
Colleagues and friends, have a good Congress.