\u2018If it walks like a racist and quacks like a racist, it probably is racist\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n
Nowak said he was unsurprised that there was speculation about Starmer\u2019s leadership. One of his likely challengers would be Angela Rayner, who has close union ties, especially with Unison, and who steered the employment rights bill before she was forced to resign earlier this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the prime minister personally is doing badly in polls, you\u2019re never going to be able to avoid that [leadership speculation],\u201d Nowak said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just don\u2019t think it\u2019s useful for me to do fantasy politics. We\u2019re dealing with the realities of what we\u2019ve got right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Starmer had an opportunity this year to deliver tangible differences to how people felt about the cost of living, saying if he did so it would \u201clook fundamentally different in the polls\u201d.<\/p>\n
But he warned leadership hopefuls not to get distracted by politics. \u201cFrankly, the public will not thank you for parliamentary manoeuvrings and political shenanigans when the big job at hand isn\u2019t being delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nowak said that he remained extremely concerned about the rise of Reform UK \u2013 despite acknowledging many trade union members were likely to be supporters of Nigel Farage\u2019s party. But he said the normalisation of racist language was having a devastating impact on some minorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in County Durham a couple of months ago, and met a black woman social worker who\u2019d been in the country for 20 years. She talked about her experience of being afraid to walk out on the streets because she is being racially abused,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve done is legitimise language that frankly five, 10 years ago we would think was unacceptable. If it walks like a racist and quacks like a racist, it probably is racist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nowak said he acknowledged there was widespread concern about high levels of immigration \u2013 and said unions would be prepared to back fair-minded reforms. But he cautioned they would have a major effect on public services \u2013 and that he was deeply concerned about the proposed change to make people wait 10 years for indefinite leave to remain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has real-world consequences for people working in care homes, on our railways and on our buses and in our prisons, that you\u2019re going to end up losing people that we desperately need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth my grandfathers came to this country during the second world war and the idea that if you come to the UK, then within two and a half years someone could assess that you need to go back? It\u2019s really difficult \u2026 we\u2019ve made this point to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TUC and most trade unions are ending the year in a celebratory mood, with the passing of the Employment Rights Act after months of delay in the Lords. But Nowak said there were significant steps still to be taken to enact the whole of Labour\u2019s Make Work Pay package promised in the manifesto.<\/p>\n
He said it was crucial that the end to zero-hours contracts was implemented \u201cwith real bite\u201d so the onus was on employers to offer fixed hours. And he said the government should press ahead with its consultation on defining a single status of worker to end bogus self-employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBad employers can be incredibly innovative when it comes to insecure forms of employment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
But Nowak said he was most heartened by the passing of the new measures that made it easier for unions to organise in workplaces. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time in my 35 years of being a trade union activist and official that any government\u2019s ever repealed anti-union legislation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For the first time, he expected union membership to rise over the coming years. \u201cI think what this does is move us away from being a minority sport to the mainstream of British workplaces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nowak said he also wanted to see the government shout louder about its leftwing credentials, from the employment rights bill, to nationalisation, to the end of the two-child benefit gaps.<\/p>\n
But he also said progressives who were disillusioned with Labour should engage more, showing what pressure could achieve. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got to make this the best possible Labour government that we can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think, in my job, or anybody who\u2019s really interested in progressive politics, you can treat politics as a spectator sport. It\u2019s not our job to carp from the sidelines, it\u2019s to try to engage the government and lobby them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Trade #unions #leader #calls #Labour #forge #closer #relationship #Europe #TUC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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