TUC 2014 Day One

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Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Liverpool kicked off to a fantastic start yesterday (Sunday) with an afternoon of debate and speeches.
TUC debated a number of composites and motions on trade union employment rights, zero-hours contracts and agency workers, umbrella companies and the immigration bill, all of which were passed unanimously.

Amarjite Singh TUC 2014 CWU's South East Wales Amal delegate Amarjite Singh spoke in support of Composite 4, 'Challenging the politics of poverty, inequality and racism'. He called on Congress to realise the threat of UKIP and work to expose their policies. He said: "Let's not have words, let's have action."

Deputy general secretary Tony Kearns supported Composite 15, which demands to "run a major positive campaign explaining the democratic importance of trade union rights, including the right to strike."
Tony Kearns 2014 TUC Tony drew attention to the Coalition Government's changes to the Employment Tribunal process, which has seen a drop in applications from 13,739 to 5,619 - down by 59 per cent over the last year. Tony said: "Working class people are expected to pay for justice."

He continued: "We now live in a society where people go to work to get poorer."
Congress paid tribute to colleagues who passed away over the last year, including Tony Benn with a longer tribute to former RMT general secretary Bob Crow later in the week.

Mohammed Taj Praise was also given to Mohammad Taj, the current President of the TUC for his work over the past year. In his speech to Congress, he highlighted the increase in the use of foodbanks and zero-hours contracts, saying "it is a disgrace, we should not dignify zero-hours contracts with the term 'contracts'".

Congress also heard from Reiner Hoffman, President of the German Trade Union Confederation - the DGB. He agreed with the sentiment that Britain needs a pay rise, telling Congress that Germany needs one too.

Angela Eagle MP Angela Eagle, MP for Wallasey and shadow leader for the House of Commons closed yesterday's session with a rousing speech about the rise of inequality in Britain and the role trade unions can play in the next General Election. "The tories have their dodgy backers but Labour has the people's army", she said.