For the workers?

Chris lancashire

Ashcroft made his own money, rightly in my view keeping most of it out of the greedy clutches of Brown. Unite spends its members money in a cause for which the majority do not support and none have had a vote on.

Ed P

DC has a clear duty to the country to sort out this undemocratic power-base - how about starting on 6th May?
Seen elsewhere: A suggestion that Unite's "contributions" to NuLab - which are actually taxpayers money from the UMF & DfID grants - should be included in their declaration of election funds.

oldtimer

Your proposition that Whelan and his coterie do not represent Unite members as a whole rings true.

In the 1970s the shop stewards ruled the roost; the national union leaders then were, more often than not, the followers. There seems to be an element of that again with the BA dispute. The weakening/breaking of shop steward power in the early 1980s was a significant event. To my knowledge, it was widely welcomed by those working on the shop floor. I would not be surprised if the same reaction were to happen again in the 2010s now that Unite has secured such a position of influence in the Labour party. The Unite programme of strikes and disruption has obvious resemblances to the nightmare years of the 1970s.

General Zod

Unite is the Labour Party is Unite.

It's that simple and that shoudl go on a poster.

Naomi Muse

By all accounts Unite is too busy trying to run the government and country as well as electioneering, to speak to the other parties.

It does seem a little disingenuous (word of the week) of them not to speak to the Tories when the Unite Union made it very clear that their members are allowed to specify which party should be financially supported with a percentage of their subscription.

I was surprised to hear this, and suppose that putting money the Tories way, would be frowned upon, despite member's specifying their preferences.

stephen

Even if he is less Heath than Thatcher Dave looks as he may be taking over at a time when the public particularly in the North of England will be highly polarised against with the Tories NB the FT piece today about how Govt Workers and DE's in the North are being rallied against the Tories. Mrs T had 68 seats in the North there are only 18 @ present!

GDT

Hopefully, if a Conservative Government is formed they will take measures to take UNITE out at the knee caps. Get rid of this modernisation fund, face them down over strikes.

Vulture

Boy George's attempts to suck up to what you laughably call 'the Trade union movement' does not bode well for Govt.

The Unions are a busted flush: Unite are shedding members at the rate of 10% a year and will be extinct in a decade. Apart from that, hatred of the Tories is in their DNA : the DNA of the dinosaur.

The only 'conversation' Conservatives need to have with these people is asking them if they want a blindfold or not before the order to open fire is given.

Richard

Unemployment down, job seekers claimants down. Good news!
Third month in a row.

Ashcroft investigation Thursday.
Budget next week.
New economy figures coming out soon...looks like a bad week for the tories coming up.

As I said in previous posts you will be wise not to pick a fight with the Unions right now. BA must come down from the mountain and hold meaningful talks or they really do run the risk of going bankrupt.
If this strike runs into a rail strike and possibly a haulage strike over fuel prices it will not be good news.
Public sector job cuts proposed by the tories will stoke up even more issues that will come back to haunt them.

pete-s

Union sponsored MPs will be expected to jump to the union's demands. Therefore the unions will pick the next leader of the Labour Party.

Bumpkin

People like Ashcroft create jobs.
People who create jobs are usually priviledged - That is not a reason to despise them.
Unite funds the labour party with workers cash and the labour party throws it down a black hole.

Ke H

The picture says it all!

Moraymint

Just like the overall appalling stench after 13 years of Labour in power, this whole Labour/unions thing, er, stinks ... as Wat Tyler so neatly summarises here:

http://tinyurl.com/yhaezwf

I know I sound like a stuck record, but the forthcoming trauma and upheaval in our society - which is now looming very large in a dark shadow just around the corner - could well make the social unrest of the 1970s seem like a bunfight at a kids' party by comparison.

The next government will have to move quickly to destroy the power of the unions in the public sector, like Mrs Thatcher did for union power in the private sector.

The forthcoming pitched battle between the government and the public sector unions will be the defining feature of the next parliament. This is what truly scares our political caste as they calculate the degree to which the size and cost of the state must, absolutely must be reduced.

Willie de Peepul

@Vulture
9:47am

Boy George's attempts to suck up to what you laughably call 'the Trade union movement' is perfectly reasonable. Even if nothing comes of it, he's cut the "Tories don't care about the Unions" plank from under their feet. And Unite's failure to attend simply rips the cloak from their own face.
Post the election, it's going to be a torrid time, whatever the result.

Moriarty

Another dose of illiterate drivel from Richard, New Labour's very own Symes.

Thank goodness he isn't old enough to vote.

Vulture

@Richard:

Tell you what, Dickie. As you have such blind faith in the one-eyed trouser snake who employs you, will you put your money where your mouth is?

I will wager you £100 that your beloved Liebour party will lose power at the General Election. If you do not accept this generous invite to relieve me of my cash we will all know that your fatuous posts are just pissing in the wind.

Done? (I take it I can contact you privately on the Downing Street email to make the arrangements?)

JONNY

I thoroughly enjoy Richard's baboo enthusiasm.
How uncritical. What a wanker. And how terribly trusting.
Even so he deserves a pat on the back from Charlie Whelan. He might even buy him a lollipop.

Richard

I see back to the personal attacks.....boring!!!!
Try thinking of something new instead of attacking my spelling, grammar, age, manhood, class, employment status or my ethnicity.
100 quid for you Vulture is nothing (you're not exactly being very brave) take it out of your profits from the Vulture funds you trade in.....you know the ones where you buy third world debt and the prosecute for repayment at inflated prices.
JONNY get a life!
You are ALL a real credit to the new image of the caring Conservatives.
Anyway lets rejoice at the latest unemployment figures and hope they continue into the summer and beyond.
Ashcroft looks like comimg back to bite Vague.....where is he by the way still hiding?
Unite will still be going long after Shameron has published his memoirs and Vague has checked out of the Priory.
Toodle pip, happy thoughts and enjoy your posting playmates.

Trafalgar

Richard, I don't believe the Tories have proposed public sector job cuts. Both Labour and Conservatives have suggested an overall reduction in the rate of increase in public spending but have been very vague about the details.

Whichever party gains power in May will have to implement a fairly drastic cut in overall spend and cut public jobs.

As for BA, that's a private company - and out of the govenment's remit. Note that Brown couldn't call off the strike. Willie Walsh faces a battle on many fronts: high fuel costs, a crippling pension deficit and reduced passenger numbers. He has to get a grip on wage and pension costs - or BA goes bust. And on past form, neither Labour nor Tories will bail BA out. Not good news for BA employees or management. I wouldn't wish Walsh's job on anyone - even Charlie Whelan.

stephen

Well the battle lines are really getting drawn judging by the exchange of comments on this site and elsewhere.

The Insitute of Directors have issued a Press Release saying
"It’s also disappointing to see that while pay in the private sector is flat or falling, public sector pay is still increasing by around 4 per cent. Given that £1 in every £4 that the Government spends is currently being borrowed, the public sector is going to have to wake up to reality. There is little alternative to a general pay freeze across the public sector next year.”

Vulture

@Richard:

I wasn't making a personal attack, little fella, so dry your eyes : I was merely offering you a bet. And if you can't afford £100 ( and I know they pay you the bare minimum in the Downing St bunker) let's make it £10. Or 10p.

Point is : unless you accept the wager we will all know that despite all your blathering you dont, actually, believe that the awful prospect of Mr Bruin sweeping back to power is a reality.

I agree with you that the nation has not yet fallen for Dave ( And who can blame them? ) and are positively repulsed by Osborne (ditto); but one thing is certain:
they would rather have their collective testicles nailed to the Forth Road bridge and be run over by the Flying Scotsman than let those horrific scumbags who you support continue in power a nano-second longer than strictly necessary.

Paul Hawkins

Richard -
If you assume that all posters on here are entrenched conservatives,I suggest you are taking the easy way out. What if some of us are not,yet still disagree with you?

Moriarty

Richard

I'm afraid that ad hominem attacks are fair when the hominem that's being aded is as thick as you. There's no point attempting argument where only therapy will do.

Titus Aduxas

For anyone interested in the Unite poll, here's a link

http://dailyreferendum.blogspot.com/

Titus Aduxas

"Richard
Unemployment down, job seekers claimants down. Good news!
Third month in a row."

Yes, but..................

"However, the number of people unemployed for more than 12 months increased by 61,000 over the quarter to reach 687,000, the highest figure since the three months to August 1997."

"The inactivity rate for the three months to January 2010 was 21.5 per cent. The rate has not been higher since the three months to October 2004 and it is up 0.4 per cent on the quarter. The number of inactive people of working age increased by 149,000 over the quarter to reach a record high of 8.16 million."

JONNY

'Get a Life' is it then?
The cliche that ends all cliches.
Quel Wanker.

Tiberius

Come on, guys.

Surely you recognize that Richard is Tamzin, put up to come on here and reclaim the UKIP vote for Cameron.

Nicholas

Give it up Richard. If you are not going to engage in anything other than posting Labour-sponsored soundbites and then hurl abuse when you are rightly challenged, I suggest that you piss off to some lentil eating, bearded and sandalled website where your comrades will appreciate the unmitigated crap you post.

I dislike socialists. Not so much because of their uncompromising and in your face ideology - althought that does really stink - but because of their dishonesty, their hypocrisy and the fact that none of them can ever argue their case without stereotyping and demonising the opposition. It is the intellectual equivalent of stuffing the people you disagree with into concentration camps - which I'm sure you and the comrades would really love to do. We are all Tory toffs with loads of money who want to oppress the workers and cut frontline public services. Tired, untrue and so last century.

Brown is puerile, like you. Always pointing the finger at the Tories. They don't have any policies but their policies are wrong. They do nothing but what they do is wrong. They are the "nasty" party but when they propose something sensible and caring he either steals the idea or accuses them of not meaning it. The man is a complete SHAM and you have the bare-faced cheek to call Cameron "Shameron"? Laughable.

I think socialism has been very bad for Britain mainly because of its inherent dishonesty and the fact that you people just can't stop lying, can't ever tell the truth, can't ever take it on the chin, can't ever admit when you are wrong, can't ever take responsibility for what you do. New Labour has brought socialism into public disrepute. Socialism, The Big Lie, needs to go. You need to go too.

Mazza1230

The workings of Government's Union "Modernisation Fund" deserves to be widely publicised at every opportunity:

For example the £4million supplied to Unite by us Taxpayers allows Unite to ask its members for £4million less in dues than they would otherwise have to.

But the members can then donate this windfall to Unites strictly ring-fenced "Political fund". This in turn can then be donated to the Labour Party.

Clever eh! I wonder how many of us Taxpayers knew we were indirectly helping to fund the Labour Party ?

2trueblue

Which part of Unite is united? And on what matters are they united?Very little mention is made of Harmans man???? Very interlinked this lot.

Andy Leeds

I hope Willy Walsh does not back down. BA needs to reduce costs and its Cabin Crew are grossly overpaid in relation to other airlines. BA has lost almost a billion in the last two years so that says it all.

As to Unite it is clear it should be broken up. I also think all members of a union should have to contract in to the unions political fund rather than out of it. We should also immediately stop the union modernisation funds from the state, money that is merely recycled to the Labour Party. State funding for the one party state.

Major Plonquer

I think you lot should lay off Richard. I know who he is and perhaps I should speak up on his behalf. When you hear his story perhaps you'll understand his horror of seeing a future Conservative government.

Richard was born a poor black child. His mother was a lesbian from the Belgian Congo and his father was a shop steward at Britain's greatest ever company, British Leyland.

At the age of 11 Richard was offered a position at his local grammar school but his dad threatend a General Strike if he took it so he dutifully went off to Bog Standard Comprehensive in Wallsall where he learned reeding and speling. They didn't teach 'rithmetic because they considered that elitist.

Richard never graduated from Bog Standard. Instead he ran away to join the Socialist cause in Spain fighting against Franco. Unfortunately he was 35 years too late and Franco was already dead.

Returning to the UK Richard refused to join the exploited workers of the world and instead received his paycheque from a company called Giro allowing him to spend much of his day down the bookies extrolling the unfairness of capitalism and claiming it was unfair that the workers were forced to actually work.

In 2005 he was unsuccessful in his attempt to join the BA cabin staff. He failed the interview when his skirt did not match his moustache and beard.

So you see. You should give this wretched soul your sympathy. The fact that he is now gainfully employed as a part time blog commentator by the Labour Party means that at last he is now contributing to society. OK he doesn't ACTUALLY pay tax but he would if he made any money. Its the thought that counts.

Franco, by the way, is still dead.