Received from: Unite
Merged into composite 04
Congress believes that waiting for money from growth alone will not deliver the investment needed to fix our broken economy and restore living standards to public sector workers. Different choices will need to be made, including on taxation, further borrowing and collective bargaining.
Congress notes that a wealth tax on the richest one per cent could restore local authority funding to pre-austerity levels or, give public sector workers a 10 per cent pay rise and fill current NHS vacancies.
Congress notes that the UK has a £500bn public investment gap compared to other OECD countries and believes serious state investment will be required to deliver change.
Congress notes that in real terms workers in Britain earn less today than they did in 1997 and believes that collective bargaining is the only tried and tested method by which work can be made to pay.
Therefore, Congress demands:
i. a wealth tax on the richest one per cent
– to raise £25bn per year for our public services and NHS
ii. a plan to close the £500bn public investment gap through responsible borrowing
– to rebuild Britain’s crumbing public infrastructure and deliver a real industrial strategy
iii. a straightforward and uncomplicated right for trade union access to workplaces
– one that safeguards existing bargaining arrangements but does not require meaningless support thresholds
iv. an automatic right to trade union recognition where most workers want it
– collective bargaining wherever a majority of workers sign a lawful petition and where there is no existing trade union recognition.
Unite
AMENDMENT
Change final bullet point to:
“viii. That sectoral collective bargaining is introduced across different sectors of the economy, in both the private and public sector, including, wherever a majority of workers sign a lawful petition while ensuring that any new bargaining arrangements do not cut across existing bargaining arrangements or agreements with recognised trade unions.“
Communication Workers Union