The Bubs (15/09/15)

I have been following the comments of some of Britain's union bosses (the Bubs) as they gather for the TUC annual conference which is being held down in Brighton this week.  

First up was my old chum from Unison Dave Prentis who set the tone by describing Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader as a "really great day" before going on to add that people had rallied behind Mr Corbyn because he provided a real alternative:

"People want to have a vision, they want a political party that's got vision, not just concerned about mechanics.They want a party that's honest and says 'we don't believe in privatisation', rather than saying, 'we believe in less privatisation'... What he's doing is giving a real alternative that people can stand behind."

Now that's all very well, I have to say, but if I remember correctly Dave Prentis said something very similar back in 2010 when Ed Miliband was elected as labour leader.

Dave Prentis - Unsion

Moving swiftly on to the boss of the GMB trade union, Sir Paul Kenny, who was reported as saying that said if Labour figures were going to snipe at Mr Corbyn, "the best thing they can do is go."

Sir Paul also revealed he has asked Jeremy Corbyn to visit Teesside and Swindon to speak to workers involved in disputes over employment and pay, adding by way of explanation: 

"I hope he agrees to speak to our members and witness first hand how they are being exploited. Jeremy has shown an interest in these issues and I am really pleased we have a Labour leader prepared to leave the Westminster bubble and speak to workers first hand."

Well good for Sir Paul and Jezza, but I wonder if they might spare the time to head up to North Lanarkshire as well where up to 500 low paid GMB members are having to fight their own union as well as their employer for equal pay. 

Sir Paul Kenny - GMB

Last although by no means least was Len McCluskey who wrote an opinion article for The Guardian earlier this week.

If the following extract is anything to go by Len seems none too confident about Jeremy Corbyn and some of the immediate challenges facing the country's public sector unions: 

"True, he (Jeremy) has a mountain to climb. The Tories are out to remake politics for good by dismantling the Labour movement. Their trade union bill, to be debated tomorrow, aims to make strikes impossible, reduce trade unions through a byzantine system of regulations to some sort of industrial advisory bodies and marginalise our involvement in politics, starving the official opposition of funds as they do so."

Now this is a load of old bollix if you ask me and I can say for sure that wild horses have not been holding back Unite, Unison and the GMB from threatening or calling strikes over equal pay in Scotland during the past 10 years.

The biggest issue in the Government's trade union bill is the requirement that in future union members must make an informed individual choice about whether to pay a 'political levy' as part of their union membership fees.

To most union members that is just plain, old-fashioned common sense especially if you consider the fact that only 71,000 union members registered to vote in the recent Labour leadership election - out of around 3 million who were eligible to do so.  

Len McCluskey - Unite