What’s the saying? With friends like these…?
Granted, tensions are stretched between Labour and the Unions after Labour publicly acknowledged what many people knew anyway, that if we win in 2015 we’re not going to be able to reverse every single cut the government makes today.
But still, you’d hope that on a day when unemployment is shown to have risen again (albeit as a lagging indicator) and a week when the country’s AAA credit rating is shown to be under threat, that those Trade Unions affiliated to the Labour Party would turn their fire on the government and help point out to the public that excessive cuts, regressive taxes and months of scaremongering have dampened growth to the point where we stand on the verge of a double-dip recession.
Instead though, the GMB, of which I’m a member, put out a press release that lumps the broad Labour Party in with the Tories and Lib Dems and then takes the opportunity to slag off Labour councils for having to implement pay freezes off the back of the government’s own huge spending cuts.
Of course it’s frustrating for Labour Councils to have to put in pay freezes or sack people, but it’s inevitable when huge spending cuts are being forced upon them by the Tory/Lib Dem government.
But surely any disagreements are arguments best had behind closed doors and anyway, the GMB cannot hope to win any argument on a ‘no cuts’ agenda that it seems to be endorsing.
I shouldn’t need to point out that the GMB should be turning it’s fire exclusively on the government here instead of putting out a press release slagging off the only political force capable of defeating the Tories at the next election.
Austerity means 2.67m not working: ePolitix.com.
UPDATE: Geoff has commented below as a fellow GMB member offering a different viewpoint. Good to read and he has a good point. Take a look.
Alex
The GMB like the Labour Party will defend it’s members. Labour do well remember that you should not bit the had that feeds you. Like you I am also a GMB member. Labour should learn to take criticism. Mr Ed Miliband sucking up to the Unions to get elected leader then he turns round and kicks them in the teeth,
What do you expect when you have a leader that most of the party did not vote for, including me. I understand that councils have to make cut backs, it happened to me.
When the cut backs make some council staff better off, at other workers expense it naff’s me off a bit. (As with Bradford Council). Councilors need to look at what there Senior Officers are up to, (fethering their own nests in some cases). Like most things now a days it’s just political crap and it’s the working class who have to suffer as usual.
Hi Geoff,
Well I didn’t vote for Ed either but ultimately the release of the employment figures are an opportunity for judgement on the government, turning round and attacking the Labour Party isn’t going to achieve anything.
Of course Unions will defend their members, I accept that (it’s why I’m in one!), but is this the best way to go about doing it? I’m not sure that it is. We all know that for all the fighting talk when it comes to what’s happening on the ground and in the councils the unions are going to be realistic and work with councils to get the best deal.
The leadership taking any opportunity to criticise Labour groups on councils seems excessive to me and not even in the spirit of how negotiations are being conducted in councils across the land. Certainly not in Bradford.
There are wider issues as you rightly bring up when it comes to how Ed courted the unions and is now heading in a different direction to what they expected. Personally I’d argue they were naive to think he’d adopt a ‘no cuts’ position or anything close to it, and however more left wing he is than his brother (allegedly!) it was inevitable that after the leadership election he’d turn towards the centre (whether he gets there or not is another matter). That’s just what happens in politics.
Again though, I just think whatever issues they have need to be addressed elsewhere. At the end of the day we have rising unemployment and Labour and the GMB I should think, when discussing jobs and growth beyond pay and cuts policy, are pretty close together.
We need to turn our fire on the Tories and deal with longer term issues behind closed doors or at least at better moments than this.
Thanks for posting though – good to get an alternate viewpoint, it’s much appreciated!