Reforming the image of trade unions

As the Labour party's annual conference entered its final full day, Len McCluskey emphasised the need for strong trade unions to tackle David Cameron's public services reforms.

Speaking at a Unite the union fringe event, 'The right to strike in Britain and Europe: Why are we the poor relation?', McCluskey argued that the policies of successive governments had hampered the right of workers to organise and "severely weakened" employment rights movements.

He said: "In the eyes of the public, trade unions are not viewed as important. This opinion is passed on to the political class through focus groups."

And with mass industrial action called for November 30th, McCluskey called on union members to ensure a "large and positive turn-out" at the ballot box.

"The industrial action on the 30th must start a series of long disputes with a government hell-bent on destroying our public services," said McCluskey.

Also speaking at the crowded fringe event in the Jurys Inn was labour law expert Professor Keith Ewing and Unite union executive Martin Mayer.

Ewing set out a history of the trade union movement and claimed that current strike action provision was "inadequate".

Echoing McCluskey's plea for a high turn-out ahead of the strike action ballot, Ewing urged members to vote in "the first serious referendum on the government's policies since the May 2010 election".

Mayer, a bus driver from Sheffield, discussed his own experience in industrial action and called for a restoration of the centrality to society of the trade union movement.

He said: "We must restore trade union rights as an essential tool to getting justice and fairness in society."

The fringe, hosted by Jim Sheridan MP, also heard from Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International who presented an international and comparative perspective.