By | 2 min
We asked each of the five Labour leadership candidates: Where’s the labour in Labour? How should the party approach trade unions and workforce policy?
Here is the contribution we received from David Miliband:
We need good trade unions now more than ever . Our partnership with affiliated and non-affiliated unions alike, achieved real advances over the past 13 years: the national minimum wage, employment rights, flexible working and investment in our workforce. Looking ahead, we need serious discussion about how together we meet new challenges in the work place and the economy. As I said on your platform last year, Unions 21 have a big role to play here.
We need to re-shape the economy in the aftermath of the financial crisis. I want a new workplace settlement that generates growth, provides high quality support to employees and where work pays. That’s why I will campaign for a living wage in the public sector to give a lead to the private sector. I would also reform corporate governance so employees sit on re-numeration committees. Workers and companies benefit when employees have a greater stake and voice at work.
I want a proper industrial strategy that supports job creating sectors. This is key to tackling the deficit. The Tories don’t get this. Their cancelling of the loan to the Sheffield Forgemasters was unnecessary and short-termist. I am also worried by the Government’s Health and Safety review that could put workers at risk and their equivocation about implementing Labour’s mandatory gender pay audits.
I want to stand together with trade unionists against the Government, defending our achievements and speaking up for our people. But we also need to work together to craft new policies that show we have a clear agenda for the future; policies that help us win back power. Only then can we begin again the task of improving people’s daily lives in the workplace.
