After dinner local Leeds Labour MP for Elmet Colin Burgon spoke to seminar delegates. (Usual health warning on posts made from hastily scribbled and illegible notes).Colin is proud that he is born and bred in Leeds and actually went to school with our UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis. He is retiring at the next election (he is 62 and I think he was therefore more relaxed and “off message” than other Labour MP’s who busy campaigning for re-election).
He began his speech by reminding the audience of the current strike in Leeds by UNISON/GMB dustbin and street cleaning workers. The dispute is about an attempt to cut their wages by £2-6k per year over single status. The strike has been well organised and solid with good co-operation between the unions and Colin is confident that it will succeed. A delegation from the seminar is going down to support the Picket line in the morning (see next post).
Colin managed persuasively to link the Leeds dustbin strike to Latin America! The Economic Neo-liberalism that was introduced into South America by the military dictatorships in the 1980’s cut public workers pay and privatised services and this is the same model that Leeds City Council (Lib Dem/Tory) wants to introduce. People are treated as “Consumers not Citizens”.
Colin is Chair of the All Party Committee on Cuba and Labour Party Friends of Venezuela. He has a lifelong interest in internationalism.
Colin was born in 1948 which he believes was also a start of a Golden Age for the British Working class which ended after the Oil Crisis in 1975-79. This was a time of full employment, rising living standards, dignified jobs and a sense of working class consciousness. He mused on the retreat of the left not only in the UK but in recent elections in Germany (vote for the SDP at 60 year low) and France (Socialists on 17% and Communists have practically disappeared). He blames this on the acceptance by social democratic parties of the current market led intellectual framework.
He is firmly against the “Professionalism of Politics” and warned everyone that many ordinary working people think that nobody talks to them and nobody listens to them. Controversially (not least for an avowed internationalist) he also attacked the free movement of Labour in the EU which he thinks undermine the terms and conditions of UK workers. An incomes policy by any other name. Colin is very critical of New Labour but believes passionately that Labour is the only Party for working class people for all its faults. The Party is still on its historic mission. The NHS is to him an example of “Socialism in Action”. He fiercely challenged and corrected some negative questions about the Party during the following Q&A.
I managed to ask Colin a question by firstly pointing out that we all in this room shared common values and the objective of a fairer society but we just can’t all agree on the means to bring this about. So I asked my usual question about the possible role of pension fund governance and “Workers Capital” in changing society? Colin apologised that he did not know enough about “Workers Capital” to answer the question. Which is unfortunately is the answer I get often get whenever I manage to ask this question at such meetings (us New Capitalists need to try harder).
Picture of Colin (3rd from left) with Colombian Congressman Borja; John Cruddas MP and UNISON Deputy General Secretary Keith Sonnet at the Labour Party conference - from Justice for Colombia
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