TUC CONGRESS REPORT 2005.

By Marcus Ford.

This year’s TUC congress was held in Brighton. The main themes of this years conference were based around a “together stronger” theme. PCS was at the centre of this. Kevin Kelly speaking on the first day for PCS called for the TUC and other unions to stand up for members jobs, fight for pay and protection for pensions following the recent attacks by the government on the terms and conditions of civil servants pensions, and pay. This all encompassed a culture within the Unions of strong organisation and better and closer ways of working. This motion was carried.
PCS was also well represented during the first day on several of the other main motions including adding to the debate on the rise of the far right and their fascist views; Hector Wesley speaking in support of an anti BNP motion urged other unions and the TUC as a whole to lobby for changes in laws to allow the Union to expel racist unionists and the government to put more resources into anti-racist teaching. This was given further weight at lunch time as Brendan Barber general secretary of the TUC spoke at a fringe rally to bring members up to date on how the aftermath of the London and Madrid bombings are likely to impact future policy, the reality of hate crime in the UK and new developments to help fight racism in the workplace.
The afternoon looked in the main at equality rights, the LGBT motion on the lack of provision in goods and services was passed, as was the motion on disability rights to improve disabled members employment prospects and encourage disabled members through the disability audit to elect equality reps for the union to make them equality champions.

Day 2 began with a speech from Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, his speech informing delegates there were no easy answers to the current crises of pay, pensions and job cuts. His speech received “luke-warm” applause from some sections of congress.
The main focus of the day looked the amazing reaction of the emergency services, and civil servants in London in the wake of the July 7th bombings and the government was encouraged to address the balance between the necessity of increased security and the protection of our hard fought for civil liberties. It was agreed that draconian police powers were certainly not the answer.
Mark Serwotka then spoke on the “devastating civil service job cuts” announced by the Chancellor. This was of great importance to PCS members as congress gave full support to PCS in its fight to stop the job cull. The government cannot expect to justify its plans and they are backfiring disastrously and hitting hard the most vulnerable people in our society. Doing this at the same time as paying over £1 billion pounds a year in consultant fees is simply not acceptable, especially when £700 a day will get advise such as ‘put plants in offices to increase staff morale.’ This motion was met with unanimous support and further support to any strike action that ensued as a result of these attacks.

PCS president Janice Godrich putting the dispute over pay and pensions in context on the third day of conference. It was displayed to delegates that, far from the excellent pension schemes offered to civil servants in the 1970’s, the current average pension for civil servants stood at just £4800 a year. Her call for unity to defend public sector workers pensions from the government, was passed and PCS now has a mandate to demand the government re-considers its view.

Day 4, the final day of this years congress, saw Emmet O’Brien speaking in support of a motion to give increased powers for equality conferences to elect seats on the Trades Union Council. He stated that in its current form the trade’s union movement will “ remain disjointed and disconnected within the equality field”
Unfortunately this motion was defeated although Congress did offer opportunity in the future. It was considered that the motion could not be passed as currently at equality conferences only a small selection of unions attended even though all were invited. Once a majority of unions are involved added weight would then be given to the possibility of ‘equality strand’ members being allowed to elect their own representatives.

Overall, it was a fabulous opportunity to see the Congress in action. The motions were well thought out and Jeannie Drake in her final year as TUC president ensured a smooth running of conference. Many motions were passed including support for the Gate Gourmet workers in their fight for their jobs and a call for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. This was a fabulous opportunity to meet the people who can give hope to workers in their fight for decent pay and terms in their job’s and hopefully influence the way their work and campaigning continues.