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Unions 21 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 from Ed Miliband:
I was brought up to believe that the Labour movement has the principles and the power to fight injustice in our society, and the trade unions are a central part of this movement. If Labour is to remain relevant to people’s lives, and return to government at the next election, we have to make sure we have an approach to working practices and employment that is genuinely progressive.
The new Labour leader will need to recognise the challenges that both we and the trade unions face in our relationship. For the Labour leader, the challenge is to put the Labour Party squarely on the side of working people, throughout our society, and convince people that we can make a positive difference to their lives. For the trade unions, it is to find ways of defending their members, but at the same time to expand their membership base beyond their existing workforce. We need to drive up union membership in the private sector in particular, to ensure that vulnerable workers across the economy can enjoy the protection of organised unions in insecure economic times.
I believe I can meet these challenges by proving that listening to and reflecting the concerns of union members does not mean that the Labour Party has to go back to years in the political wilderness.
Some of the proudest achievements of Labour in government – like the minimum wage, stronger parental leave rights and legislation on gangmasters – have come about because we have worked together with the unions. So I am putting the campaign for a living wage at the heart of my leadership campaign, learning from and working with our trade unions. I also think we need to look at how the courts are interpreting existing law so that strike ballots aren’t dismissed on technicalities.
Labour’s link with the trade unions allows us to be connected to the lives of millions of working people and provides a key channel of communication between the leadership and the grassroots. We will only be able to organise effectively in opposition, and prepare ourselves for government, by listening to the concerns and aspirations of working people. To win again, Labour must change.
