TUC leader calls for ‘year of delivery’ for workers
A union leader has called for 2025 to be a “year of delivery” for workers after 14 years of “Tory chaos”.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said in his new year message that working people desperately needed “tangible change”.
He said: “Repairing and rebuilding Britain after 14 years of Tory chaos and decline is a massive challenge for the Government, but 2025 has to be a year of delivery.
“Continuing with the same broken status quo is not an option.
“As recent elections in the US and across the globe have shown, securing economic growth is not enough on its own. Families want to feel better off and to see material improvements in their day-to-day lives.”
‘Historic opportunity’
Improving job quality and putting more money into people’s pockets was an “urgent national mission”, said Mr Nowak, adding: “Working households up down this country are hurting and we cannot afford to ignore it.
“The Government has a historic opportunity – and an electoral mandate – to make work pay.
“Delivering the Employment Rights Bill in full will boost living standards for millions and create a happier, healthier and more productive workforce.
“We must not get distracted or diverted from this task. Creating better-quality jobs also requires an industrial strategy worthy of its name – something we never got under the Tories.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Our Plan to Make Work Pay is a core part of the mission to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all. It will tackle the low pay, poor working conditions and poor job security that has been holding our economy back.
“The plan will help more people to stay in work, improve job security and boost living standards. Once implemented, the plan will represent the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation.”
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I firmly support the TUC’s objectives for their members, but urge them to widen their quest for social justice to include the non-workers – the many people (ex-trade unionists often, pensioners, beneficiaries, the homeless…) – whom the shy socialists of this renegade Labour Party (the RLP) have steadfastly ignored. And, shockingly, in the case of cold and elderly people, the RLP has actively dismissed their needs. We – and I am one – have no voice, or at least not one loud enough to be heard. But, although apparently being consigned to wastelands of Reform, we do have a bite!… Read more »
Anticipating criticisms and queries, I should outline where the money would come from – a tedious and shallow question all too frequently asked. Despite the quaint behaviour of the incompetent Reeves et al, not to mention her funny money fantasy of a £22b black hole, a government with a fiat currency (eg. UK) can always create money – at will, and to the limits provided by an efficient taxation system (eg. not UK). Completely unlike a business or a household, please note. This was exemplified most recently by the repurchase of military housing – £6b was suddenly magicked out of… Read more »
With someone as knowledgeable as you in charge Wales could only become a World powerhouse. Go for it you have a masterplan that cannot fail.
Diolch Rhun, but modesty forbids! I wouldn’t want our country to become a world powerhouse – merely to be sustainable and at ease, with ourselves, with other countries and our environments. Advocating and facilitating sanctuary, harmony and peace. But I do have a part of a plan to contribute to our future. A real change to the continuing failure of our systems, our false gods, the pain far too many suffer. The confected non-change of Starmer inflicted on us by our English overlords with the assistance of the local branch of the Rogue Labour Party is taking us nowhere except… Read more »
Can you come up with an immediate way that Welsh people do not have to flock to English hospitals to secure medical treatment. Miracles seem to be your forte.
Hitting me with easy ones, huh Rhun? You might concede that thinking can be quick but action usually takes longer…? So shooting from the hip, I’d say… …the only short-term option may be to reintroduce and maintain shift allowances and other penal rates, increase pay rates, and provide 24h access to good food for patients and staff. This might delay a few potholes…but priorities, priorities… Medium-term, we need to staff hospitals and care homes more than adequately, and especially ancillary staff who are also often the lowest paid. Specific improvements might include recruitment focused on our young people, rewards for… Read more »
The Thatererite answer.
Are you sure, Llinos?
More staff, higher wages…not a murmur about ‘productivity’…
Perhaps you missed my earlier attack (in this thread) on neo-liberal capitalism?
I’ve been fiercely opposed to monetarism, thatcherism and fascism for at least 50y. How do you figure the contrary?
Or are you teasing me, like Rhun?