GLATUC has sent 2 important motions to the annual conference of trades councils which will take place in June.
They are –
THE FIGHT TO BUILD A NEW SOCIETY
This Conference calls for maximum unity in building a campaign to ensure that the massive economic costs and the re-organising necessary ,resulting from the Covid pandemic, is done by ensuring the main contribution comes from those in our society best placed to make the economic contribution required, particularly those who massively profited in the period of the pandemic. We must ensure that the burden does not fall on those who suffered most under Covid, both physically and economically.
We must re-build our society to remove the economic and social inequality that ensured those at the lowest level in our nation suffered most. We must re-build to give proper recognition to the essential workers on whom we all rely. We must take the opportunity to make sure this re-building is based on an environmentally balanced structure and a just transition ensuring equal justice for all in our society.
The key investment must be to create jobs and buildings and services for the needs of the mass of the people.
This Conference will make such a campaign the main task for Trades Councils in the coming years.
THE COVERT HUMAN INTELLIGENCE SOURCES (CRIMINAL CONDUCT) BILL
This legislation will allow state spies to commit crimes in the UK and overseas with impunity – without even exempting crimes like murder, torture and sexual offences.
These extreme powers would be handed to a broad range of agencies – from police and MI5, to the Department of Health and even the Food Standards Agency. Victims of state spies will be prevented from seeking redress, by protecting those who commit authorised crimes from liability forever.
Police spies have abused innocent campaigners in the UK for decades – including trade unions and union activists, environmentalists and anti-racist campaigners. Undercover police have acted as agents for employers both during disputes and in general. In Northern Ireland undercover agents were even responsible for collusion with loyalist murder gangs.
This legislation highlights the continued undermining of democracy by the UK state and is yet another threat to trade union and human rights activity. Despite its content, it has been rushed through Parliament with little scrutiny.
We welcome the opposition to this frightening Bill from across the Trade Union movement and call on Trades Councils and all other parts of the Labour Movement to campaign publicly against it, nor to rest until it is repealed.
