A welcome development in the Green Party has been its reaching out
to the trade union movement, encouraging people, especially the young,
to join trade unions; its support for trade union action in defence of
working conditions and public services.
This series of Q and As is published with the permission of the Green party Trade Union Group website LINK
Contenders for the post of Leader and Co-Leader of the Green Party have answered questions sent by the Green Party Trade Union Group, as voting begins in the party’s 2016 Leadership and Executive elections.
The Green Party Trade Union Group has asked each candidate to respond to a standard set of four questions, to gauge their attitudes to the Trade Union movement and how the Green Party should work with it. Their responses are set out below.
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
This series of Q and As is published with the permission of the Green party Trade Union Group website LINK
Contenders for the post of Leader and Co-Leader of the Green Party have answered questions sent by the Green Party Trade Union Group, as voting begins in the party’s 2016 Leadership and Executive elections.
The Green Party Trade Union Group has asked each candidate to respond to a standard set of four questions, to gauge their attitudes to the Trade Union movement and how the Green Party should work with it. Their responses are set out below.
Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas
bartleylucas.comHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
We’d like to offer better support to
Green Party members who are active in trade unions, especially on how to
start or advance campaigns in their workplaces. When we ran joint
campaigns eg on the Trade Union Bill and the EU, we’ve strengthened and
improved relationships, and we’d welcome at least one proactive positive
campaign in the coming year, perhaps on something thing like a basic
income, as well as opportunities to better roll these out and make them
relevant to local parties.
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
For us a fair Green society is one in
which trade unions are able to collectively stand up for and represent
workers and use their voice to campaign on key issues beyond the
workplace, including equalities. Trade unions contribute significantly
to our wage led economy and are valuable in creating economic stability.
Strong trade unions are good for us all – not just those they
represent. Trade unions also have a key role to play in shaping a
progressive future and we are especially keen to involve them in
discussion and debate about the potential for some kind of one off
progressive alliance to secure voting reform, thereby paving the way for
government that reflects the value of effective trade unions.
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
We have more in common than we disagree
over and focusing on those issues makes sense. But it’s also about
dialogue and joint working to explore where we see things differently.
Social and environmental justice are jointly at the heart of our
approach and we need to get better at explaining that to others, as well
as setting out our long term vision in a way that relates to the here
and now for people in insecure jobs, whose workplace rights are under
attack or who simply want more job creation. We need to be at trade
union conferences, speaking to members in their work places, supporting
Green trade unionists in their activities and continuing the work
already underway through the GPTU and in Parliament.
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
We’d like to see support for online
voting allowed in strike ballots, for example, as well as an explicit
statement about repealing the Trade Union Act. Given that many more
people are working on freelance or self-employed contracts – and that
these can be used to exploit workers or undermine their rights – our
policies could be developed further. We’d also like our policies to
identify ways to reinvigorate the trade union movement, grow membership
and better reflect the proven economic benefits of trade unions, as well
as their role in civil society.
David Malone
golemxiv.co.ukHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
One of the great weaknesses of the Green
Party is that it has always been and continues to be very Middle Class.
There is much talk in the party of reaching out to minorities but far
less talk of reaching out to the Working Class. I would change this.
Talking to Trades Unions would be part of that effort. As leader I would
invite Trades Unions to Green Events. I would also seek invitations
for Green leaders and members to speak at Trades Union events. I
personally have spoken at the Trades Union Summer School at Ruskin
College before and feel such events are the way to build links and
trust. The Green Party is not anti-jobs or even anti-industry. We are
in fact very pro investment in cleaner future looking industry. And
would seek to work together with Trades Unions to argue for investment
in the industries which will be the keys to future employment and
prosperity. There have been mutual suspicions between the GP and Trades
Unions. I feel it is imperative that these be overcome. I look at the
not-so-slow suicide of the Labour Party and feel it is more important
than ever that the GP be a party which can speak up for and with the
working class and Trades Unionists.
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
For me the Trades Union Movement has an
importance beyond fighting as it does for workers rights. And that is
the very concept of solidarity. We live in an age where people are
focused on their differences. I’m not saying such differences are
unimportant. Recognizing that there are minority groups whose existence
and rights have been ignored or dismissed is important. But equally we
need to remember that for all of our differences, we need each other. We
need to remember that some things – the desire for a decent job,
economic security, hope for a fair distribution of the wealth this
country produces – these are all things which can and should bind us
together. The Trades Union movement is the last bastion of the feeling
solidarity. For this reason alone the Unions are important. I want to
future that values the things which we share not just the things which
make us different.
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
Trades Unions care about the jobs and the
livelihoods of their members. For them these two things go together –
jobs and livelihoods. I believe we can begin to argue that to protect
livelihoods in to the future you need to do more than protect jobs
today. The Green Party needs to make the argument that a real jobs
policy needs to look ahead, needs to invest ahead, in the industries and
livelihoods of tomorrow. I believe the GP should be talking to the
Trades Unions about an actual industrial policy complete with a national
level strategy for longer term R&D. There are key innovations
today, such as Graphene based materials and the applications of Stem
Cells, (to pick just two ) which will be the basis of tomorrow’s
industry and tomorrow’s livelihoods.
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
The main changes I would like to see are
those which recognise how the trade agreements CETA, TTIP and TISA will
make to Trades Unions and workers rights. The trade agreements do look
as if they will impact those rights. At the moment the Trades Unions
seem to be in denial about this. I would like to see the Green Party
engage the unions in a debate at the highest level of the unions to try
to persuade them to take a clear stand now.
David Williams
david-williams-greenleader.co.ukHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
We should make clear to trade unions that
we have the most progressive trade union recognition proposals for
positive legislative recognition of trade unions of any party, and we
would reverse obvious anti- trade union legislation. We should adopt an
affiliation system where trade unions and environment groups and
progressive organisations can directly affiliate to the Green Party and
become part of our decision-making process.
I believe I am well-equipped to develop a
good relationship with the trade unions. I have 40 years experience of
fighting to support workers in struggle in industrial disputes,
starting with the Newcastle Laggers in 1973 and including the Pergamon
Press dispute, the Miners’ strike, the two-year Silentnight strike (the
longest strike in British industrial relations), the Liverpool Dockers
strike, and most recently the current Junior Doctors’ strike. I have not
just been on the picket line and ‘helping out’, but have frequently
been a leading figure in local support organisations.
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
They are vitally important in protecting
people in their workplace from unscrupulous employers. They are also
important as collective groupings of working people voicing a view on
financial and environmental improvements in society for all people.
Trade unions have always been and are still important as defenders of
the most vulnerable in society.
I have a working lifetime of being a
trade unionist: I have been active within my union since 1975 (NATFHE
and now UCU), having been both a steward and chair of branch. For three
years I worked as a TUC tutor/organiser on Merseyside at St Helen’s
College, and I presently serve on Oxfordshire Trades Council as the UCU
rep.
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
Only a small number of trade unions
actively oppose our environmental stances. It is a matter of addressing
fears and finding green alternative job security. In the arms industry
for example, we must offer government support to retrain and reorientate
workers to use their skills more productively in peaceful
manufacturing. We should open direct negotiations and consultations with
the few trade unions represented in the arms industry.
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
There is fine-tuning to make to some of
the policies, for example on workshop recognition. We need to promote
worker representation on management boards. I would like to see unions
respond to the challenge of cooperatives; we need to have a proper
dialogue. I also want to turn the party into an effective organisation
supporting workers in struggle e.g. the junior doctors.
Clive Lord
clivelord.wordpress.com
The Citizens’ Basic Income forms the basis of my replies to all four questions.
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party
and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you
intend to do to improve it?
The Basic income gives individual workers
equal bargaining power with employers, therefore persuasion and
co-operation will become the cultural norm. Market forces are rightly
thought of as oppressive at present, but with the BI, they can
determine hourly wage rates., Health and safety issues will be the main
function of Unions. I would certainly want dialogue with them.
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
Unions will have a place in a Green
society, but it will differ in many respects from their traditional
role, as foreshadowed in 1.
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
As above! Naturally, a Trade Union
focusses on the interests of its members as they see it. Throughout the
1984 miners’ strike, I was (unheard) proposing a basic income as a way
of regenerating mining communities without the need for dangerous work
which was damaging the ecosphere.
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
I shall discuss with those more closely involved in this field, in the above contexts
____________________________________________________________________________
Contenders for the Deputy Leadership of the Green Party have answered questions sent by the Green Party Trade Union Group, as voting begins in the party’s 2016 Leadership and Executive elections.
The Green Party Trade Union Group has asked each candidate to respond to a standard set of four questions, to gauge their attitudes to the Trade Union movement and how the Green Party should work with it. Their responses are set out below.
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
_________________________________________________________________________
Contenders for the post of Trade Union Liaison Officer on the Green Party Executive (GPEx) have answered questions sent by the Green Party Trade Union Group, as voting begins in the party’s 2016 Leadership and Executive elections.
The Green Party Trade Union Group has asked each candidate to respond to a standard set of four questions, to gauge their attitudes to the Trade Union movement and how the Green Party should work with it. Their responses are set out below.
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union
movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the
type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental
issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the
Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on
such matters?
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade
Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want
to see, if any?
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
____________________________________________________________________________
Contenders for the Deputy Leadership of the Green Party have answered questions sent by the Green Party Trade Union Group, as voting begins in the party’s 2016 Leadership and Executive elections.
The Green Party Trade Union Group has asked each candidate to respond to a standard set of four questions, to gauge their attitudes to the Trade Union movement and how the Green Party should work with it. Their responses are set out below.
Amelia Womack
ameliawomack.co.ukHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
With a Tory government, an opposition in
disarray and a referendum result in favour of Brexit, it’s now more
important than ever that we engage with all our allies to campaign for
change. We particularly need to work with the Trade Union movement,
which shares many of our most progressive aims and values on workers’
rights, equality and ending austerity.
I co-founded the Another Europe Is
Possible campaign, the cross-party, grassroots campaign for a
progressive Remain vote, and have represented the Green Party in the
People’s Assembly. Through these campaigns, I worked with leaders and
grassroots activists from the Trade Union movement and got them involved
in these campaigns. I would use this experience of working with Trade
Unions to achieve common aims as a springboard – over the next two
years, I want to kickstart more of this sort of campaigning alongside
Trade Unionists and other progressive forces for our shared goals.
I would also like to work more closely
with the Green Party Trade Union Group, who have gone from strength to
strength in recent months – with perfect timing, given the importance of
working with Trade Unions at the present time – and who have so much
potential to build over the next few years.
The Trade Union movement is essential to
our society, as it campaigns for equality and dignity for all people,
and for a society which puts people before profit. By promoting unions
and enabling them to grow and become stronger across the UK, we are
creating the conditions to realise our own progressive aims and values.
And it’s no secret that I am a strong supporter of co-operative
movements and worker ownership, as I believe people are better off when
they are put in control of their own lives, and work in co-operation
rather than competition.
The vast majority of UK unions supported a
Remain vote in the recent EU referendum. They were integral to the
Another Europe Is Possible campaign; not only did they campaign to
protect EU workers’ rights, but many of them also shared our aims of
protecting freedom of movement, championing the rights of migrants and
safeguarding EU environmental protections. In the post-Brexit world, we
need to work with the unions more than ever to campaign to salvage all
of this.
Many unions agree with us on
environmental issues. Recently, for example, the NUT made a decision to
campaign for a “carbon-zero economy;” RMT supports our aims on expanding
public transport and improving air quality; whilst the TUC just this
week produced a report calling for action to make the UK a leader in
green jobs.
It’s true that some unions have taken an
opposing approach on issues such as nuclear weapons, fracking or
runways. We need to work with Trade Union leaders and activists on the
many issues we do have in common; the more we do so, the more we will
see an overlap emerge between Greens and Trade Union activists, which
will help us to influence Trade Unions’ policies on environmental
issues.
The Green Party’s policies for working
people and on Trade Unions are the most progressive of any major party.
We in the Green Party are proud to call for higher wages and greater
employment rights, to support Trade Union members in dispute and to call
for greater freedoms for the Trade Union movement.
Minor changes or statements may need to
be proposed to update our policies, such as responding to the recent
Trade Union Act which is a major (and unwelcome) change to the law
around Trade Unions. I’d also be keen to develop new policies around
young people in work, particularly in those industries where young
people are often exploited.
Shahrar Ali
electshahrar.co.ukHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
Greens believe in grassroots democracy
and that includes the right to collective bargaining and strike action
in the workplace. Whether Hunt’s extraordinary assault on junior doctors
working conditions and pay or NUT and UCU rejection of casualisation of
labour or counterproductive surveillance of students under the pretext
of anti-terrorism, I have been vocal and active in those campaigns to
protect these rights from my solidarity on picket lines to many speaking
platforms. We need to better support the excellent work of our GPTU
group in their outreach work and through sponsorship of trade union
causes, whether through conference motions or joint campaigning. It’s
real politics, just like the mobilisation of workers against zero hours
contracts and other erosions that I’ve fought alongside on behalf of
cleaners in my own university, to my support for the students on rent
strike due to impoverished dwelling conditions.
It’s difficult to overstate the
importance of the trade unionist movement today. In light of passage of
the Trade Union Act 2016, rightly described as an ideological assault on
workers’ rights, we must renew our resolve to protect basic rights in
the workplace. Many of our initiatives for a fairer society recognise
the role of public ownership and it is we who would renationalise the
railways and safeguard a proper public NHS. Against the government’s
austerity agenda, I’ve spoken at dozens of demonstrations from the
people’s Assembly against Austerity in Manchester to a campaign for the
protection of voluntary youth services in Parliament. We believe in
ridding society of the ills of capitalism which would replace value with
price and subvert value itself. Instead of the escalation in
subcontracting of NHS services and reduced citizen rights under TTIP, we
campaign for genuine socialism based on equal pay for equal work and
public service ethos.
Take our Green New Deal to reimagine jobs
in renewable energy for the 21st century – advancing both investment in
infrastructure and training and reskilling for genuinely sustainable
jobs for all. We need to take those initiatives into the workforces that
feel vulnerable to having the investment and jobs being cut from
beneath them and negotiate a better future for all. I think the main
challenge is to overcome the immediate pressures of making ends meet
that most families will face to be able to make these long term
solutions credible, whilst at the same time recognising that departure
from business as usual is in everybody’s interest.
We have outstanding policy in this area,
genuinely progressive and visionary. I support a motion to conference
seeking statutory right of access to workplaces of trade unions. I’m
familiar with employees being disenfranchised through their employer’s
failure to allow access to just their unions, when they were most
needed. I would like to see us develop more robust policy on protection
for workers who feel duty bound to blow the whistle under public
interest disclosure and perhaps we also need to find ways of
safeguarding the freedom of Information Act, which I have had cause to
deploy in many a Green Party campaign.
You can read more about my candidacy at electshahrar.co.uk and facebook.com/Shahrar4Deputy/.
_________________________________________________________________________
Contenders for the post of Trade Union Liaison Officer on the Green Party Executive (GPEx) have answered questions sent by the Green Party Trade Union Group, as voting begins in the party’s 2016 Leadership and Executive elections.
The Green Party Trade Union Group has asked each candidate to respond to a standard set of four questions, to gauge their attitudes to the Trade Union movement and how the Green Party should work with it. Their responses are set out below.
Lee Williscroft-Ferris
huffingtonpost.co.uk/lee-williscroftferris/How do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
I feel that it could be improved by more
intensive lobbying of Trade Unions who adopt policies at odds with the
principles of sustainability, the prime example being the renewal of
Trident. We should also endeavour to make it clear to Trade Unions just
how compatible I would also like to develop our party’s visible presence
at Trade Union conferences and events. This would include having a
stall at such events to enable us to deliver our message to a ‘captive’
Trade Union audience. There is clearly a job of work to be done to
disseminate our key messages to Trade Unionists given that many
conversations I have with colleagues reveal that there are widespread
misperceptions about exactly what we stand for and just how powerful our
policies are in terms of workers’ rights and the concept of work in
general. In addition, I would, as TULO, encourage Green Trade Unionists
to make their presence felt at conferences. For example, at both my
union’s annual conference and the TUC LGBT Conference, I and others do
just that, encouraging Trade Unions to work with all progressive parties
for the common good.
The Trade Union movement plays a more
important role than ever at a time when workers’ rights are so
drastically under threat from this government. There has never been a
more important time for workers to join and be active in a Trade Union.
The Green Party’s policies on Workers’ Rights and Employment make the
links between the Trade Union movement and wider society abundantly
clear. In a society built on collectivism, rather than individualism,
Trade Unionism is a vital component. This forms part of the reason why
we must fight the Trade Union Bill with all of our collective might as
even though we have succeeded in fighting off some of the more extreme
elements, there remains a job of work to be done.
As mentioned above, some Trade Unions do
indeed sometimes find themselves on the wrong side of the debate, not
least on issues such as Trident renewal. All too often, a narrative of
‘jobs at any cost’ prevails, which the Trade Unions must be dissuaded
from. I would envisage this being achieved through a relationship based
on the principle of the ‘critical friend’. We have the benefit of not
being funded by Trade Unions. We are therefore freer to lobby more
honestly and intensively on issues where Trade Unions show themselves to
be less progressive. I do believe that local Green Parties could be
very powerful in this regard. By establishing links with local Trade
Union branches, local parties would be in a very strong position to
influence the position of TUs on crucial issues such as local planning.
Our policies are robust, comprehensive
and, most crucially, developed by members. I have to say, I am entirely
happy with our policy in this area. In fact, this is the main reason I
left the Labour Party in 2012 and joined the Green Party shortly
afterwards. I believe that our policies on workers’ rights and trade
unions are incredibly powerful. They encompass a global, national and
local view of Trade Unionism based on building a sustainable world.
Reading through the policies enables you to envision exactly what kind
of world the Green Party is trying to build and precisely what role
Trade Unions and workers’ rights will contribute to that world. As the
discourse around Basic Income becomes more and more mainstream, we could
perhaps consider being more specific in terms of how Basic Income would
be implemented but ultimately, we are unique in committing to this
concept in principle.
Kieron Merrett
kieronam.netHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
I’m proposing two strategies for
improving our relationship with Trade Unions. The first is a more
traditional ‘lobbying’ approach, which can we can apply to those unions
where we’ve had some support in the past. Unfortunately, right now we’re
in a tricky time for our relationship with these unions, as Corbynism
has seen some Trade Union activists and leaders turn towards Labour. We
need to work twice as hard in the next few years to remind these unions
just how much we support each other’s aims. I’ve been doing this by
bringing Green candidates to meetings of union members and by ensuring
we have Greens showing support for their major disputes. I want to use
the GPEx Trade Union Liaison Officer position to do this on a much
bigger scale, engaging Greens from across the country to join in with
these efforts.
The second strategy is the long-term
strategy, aimed across the entire Trade Union movement. The aim is to
build up a Green voice within the Trade Unions. To do this, I first want
to get a picture of who in the Green Party is active in their union,
form a network of these activists, and encourage more Greens to take a
more active role in their union; I’ve started this work from the Green
Party Trade Union Group, but I want to use the GPEx Trade Union Liaison
Officer position to survey the party membership on a bigger scale and
build up this movement. I also want to attract more Trade Unionists to
support and join the Green Party; I’ve been doing this by setting up
stalls and presences and creating banners and displays for the Green
Party and the Green Party Trade Union Group at major Trade Union events,
such as the Tolpuddle Festival and TUC Congress.
Fundamentally, I believe that one person
alone can’t liaise with all the Trade Unions at all the levels. My aim
as GPEx Trade Union Liaison Officer will be to build up a movement of
Green Trade Unionists so that we have a strong Green voice in the Trade
Union movement.
Fundamentally, Trade Unions are there to
make the relationship between workers and employers more equal –
enabling the two sides to negotiate as equals, rather than the employers
having all the power. So not only do unions allow working people to
take greater control over their own lives and livelihoods; but they also
lead to a more equal society, one in which working people’s wages rise
relative to those of their bosses, in which discrimination and
exploitation can be stopped, and in which more urgent concerns than the
profit motive can be considered.
We can’t achieve this kind of society
without Trade Unions. The Green Party has policies to put new laws in
place to raise wages and create new employment rights, but legislation
alone often makes no difference when workers are unorganised. In
non-unionised workplaces, employment rules can go unenforced, health and
safety can be ignored, and discrimination can go unaddressed. And
whilst raising the minimum wage would be an enormous boost for many
working people, without Trade Unions, workers could become perpetually
dependent on the government for their next pay rise – and they would
always be vulnerable to future governments changing the policy.
So the importance of the Trade Union
movement lies in what kind of society we want to see. Certainly, the
world is changing, and the role of Trade Unions will change over the
years too. But if we want to see a society based on equality,
solidarity, diversity and putting people before profit – one that stays
that way for the long term – then we need to help more and more workers
to become organised by joining or forming Trade Unions.
We should remember that only a minority
of Trade Unions have taken opposing policy positions to ours on issues
such as fracking, Trident, airport expansion and nuclear energy,
although these have included some larger unions. As a general rule,
Green Party policy and Trade Union policies and campaigns overlap
enormously.
To persuade them to change, it’s no good
shouting at the unions from the outside. We need to create a strong
Green voice in the Trade Union movement, by creating an organised
movement of Green Trade Unionists and focusing on the many areas where
the Green Party and the Trade Unions agree. Some of these have only
lukewarm support from Trade Union members, and simply by beginning to
build our Green network we can begin to push this support back. When
these policies come up for debate at the Trade Unions’ various
congresses and conferences, I want Greens to be present and ready to
stand up and persuade their Trade Union sisters and brothers to think
again.
In general, the Green Party has the best
policies for working people and for Trade Unions, and this is one of the
main reasons I joined and became active in the party. Trade Unions are
already embedded in our party’s vision for society, which is something
I’m immensely proud of.
I’d like the party to flesh out its plans
to enable a Trade Union ‘fightback,’ setting out the changes it would
make to enable Trade Union membership and activism to return to growth
and to start making society more equal. Along with the Green Party Trade
Union Group, I’ve proposed two such policies for this year’s Autumn
Conference: one confirming the party would repeal the Tories’ Trade
Union Act, passed this year; and the other proposing a new right for
Trade Unions to access non-unionised workplaces, which is already a
successful policy in other countries.
There may eventually be scope for a full
review of the party’s policies on employment and workers’ rights. I’d
like our policies to set out more explicitly why organised labour is
central to achieving our aims for working people, and how we can achieve
many of our goals as Greens by enabling Trade Unions to organise
workers more effectively.
Alan Borgars
greensocialistalan.blogspot.co.ukHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
I believe the Green Party’s relationship with trade unions is pretty good at the moment, but there needs to be a greater focus on helping trade unions understand the importance of environmental impact and making sure internal elections are genuinely free and fair and not dominated by certain cliques.In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
Our trade union movement is important to address injustices that happen to employees, to make sure employees receive fair and decent wages/salaries, to give employees a voice in the workplace, and to play their part in making sure there is an actual balance between the rights and powers of employers and employees in all companies and cooperatives. In a green society, the trade unions will help act as mediators and negotiators in companies and cooperatives when employees feel for any reason unable to act for themselves in workplace disputes, and by making sure the power of directors and managers is moderated.Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on such matters?
The Green Party needs to highlight to trade unions that fundamentally there is no economy on a dead planet, that we are all dependent on our environment for basic needs and also our continued prosperity, and that they can gain respect from workers when they understand the importance of respecting environmental issues and finding solutions to them. The Green Party also needs to work with trade unions in particular sectors to find green technological ways forward to move on from reliance on non-renewable energy e.g. in the transport sector.What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want to see, if any?
For the most part, I agree with current Green Party Policy on trade unions and workers’ rights, although I would like to see a few key changes to make our policy more sensible and practicable. For example, I believe workers should only be able to buy out companies and turn them into cooperatives if those companies are about to go into liquidation and thus go bankrupt; I believe calling for a global or European living wage is not realistic since different countries and cultures have different needs and also because a universal basic income is supposed to provide a safety net already; I believe a maximum wage is only possible to implement if it is agreed to by employees from the bottom up and the decision to introduce a maximum wage, as well as how high this maximum wage should be in that specific company or cooperative, should be made by those employees and not by central or local government from above or any body of central or local government.
Andrew Cooper
andrew4deputy.ukHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
The relationship between Labour and the Unions in recent years has been characterised by conflict often over fundamental differences in policy. Demonstrating where Green Party policy and trade union policy are in harmony would be one approach we could take . I would like to see Trade Unions to feel able to support individual Green Party Campaigns where they recognise that we have common cause e.g. RMT support for Caroline Lucas’s campaign. I would not however want a relationship with the unions on the same lines as that they have with the Labour Party. Maintaining our one member one vote principle and not assuming support of millions of TU members for the Green Party would be important to me. Approaches should be made by key members of Political Committee with appropriate Unions to see how we may best work together would be the approach I would favour. I also strongly believe that where we have the same objectives that we should join with Trade Unions in protests and marches to demonstrate that we recognise our similarities and back them up with action.In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
With cuts occurring in the public and private sector Trade Unions are vital to protect the interests and working conditions of employees. In a Green Society we may expect to see more Workers Cooperatives, Employee owned companies and a greater role for the Public sector. That doesn’t mean Trade Unions won’t be needed but the likelihood of conflict should be diminished due to better communications with/between workers and greater involvement in the management of companies/cooperatives. Hopefully this will give opportunities for Trade Unions to play an important role in pastoral work with members looking after their welfare and personal development/education needs that may not be catered for by their employer.Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on such matters?
In some cases seeking to change Trade Union positions may be too deeply entrenched to change easily. Trade Union support for airport expansion, nuclear energy and Trident have been disappointing to say the least. It has to be recognised that the Trade Union movement is not a single cohesive body and that we may have different approaches to different issues with different unions. Demonstrating that there is a lot of work to do in a Green Economy improving energy efficiency, renewables, more public transport would be a way of showing that the Green Party is a party that will generate work would be a good starting point. Policies like the Citizens income would provide security for workers (and non workers) alike and would strengthen power of workers and therefore unions in the workplace.What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want to see, if any?
I’ve read the policy and support it. An area I’d like to see explored more is the relationship between Unions and employee owned companies and cooperatives. I’m happy to liaise and work with GPTU over any revisions to our existing policy.
Daniella Radice
daniellaradice.orgHow do you think the relationship between the Green Party and the Trade Unions should or could be improved, and what do you intend to do to improve it?
I think we need to continue to make positive contact with trade unions where we can. I have already facilitated discussion between Bristol Green Councillors and representatives of the PCS union which is not politically aligned, and sought their views on how we could campaign to support them as councillors. As a whole though, the link between most unions and the Labour party is very strong, so although we should develop cordial relationships between local unions and local parties, we should be strategic in where we put our efforts nationally. I would want to wait to see what happens within the Labour party before making decisions on how to improve relationships with the unions, as many of them are strong supporters of Corbyn, as long as he is Leader unions are not going to be interested in allying themselves with us.In your view, what is the importance of the Trade Union movement in our present society, and what will be its importance in the type of society we in the Green Party would like to build?
Trade unions are hugely important in society in allowing workers to have a collective voice. As a whole unions have increased wages and improved working conditions over the past century and work hard to protect and support their individual members employment rights. I would like to think that in the very long-term, in a green society, unions might not be necessary if we have a society where organisations are run democratically and so workers voices are heard as a matter of course and their rights are enshrined in the constitutions of organisations. In Bristol we have a very active tenants union called Acorn, and in the future I can see that unions might not be so allied to industry, but there will probably always be situations where collective action of the weak against those with economic power, is effective and necessary.Some Trade Unions have adopted positions on environmental issues which are fundamentally opposed to ours. How do you think the Green party could persuade these Trade Unions to change their views on such matters?
If we want trade unions to change their views, we need to recruit their members into the Green Party. Trade unions tend to try to represent what they believe their members want, and so will change if their members lobby for them to do so.
What is your view on current Green Party policy on Trade Unions and workers’ rights, and what changes or updates would you want to see, if any?I think our policies are OK as far as they go, as I support enshrining worker’s rights in law. I would be interested in a revision that looked at how to explicitly incorporate the labour theory of value into employment law and workers rights.
