A call for the STUC to sign up to the 'Peoples
Charter' agenda for taking forward left policies
was defeated on a majority vote after being denounced
by General Secretary Grahame Smith as 'sloganising'.
But UNISON had backed the charter, with Mike
Kirby asking, "How can we oppose something
which includes much of our current policy?"
Mike stressed the charter was not a charter for
an alternative political party but "an opportunity
to construct broad alliances in pursuit of our
objectives".
"As politicians lose face, there is a need
to re-build credibility with the voters, the public
and our members", he added.
The charter would have provided a campaigning
tool for that.
But Grahame Smith warned that a list of 'slogans'
would lack credibility and he pointed to sections
calling for water to be brought back into public
control as being inaccurate in Scotland where
STUC campaigning had kept it in public control.
He stressed that the STUC campaigned hard on
all the policies set by the unions and that was
where the priorities should lie.
