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After nearly a decade of Labour in office, our memories are fading of what things were like under the Tories in the 1980s and early 90s – crumbling public services and unemployment hitting three million.
People are also beginning to take for granted the reforms made in the first term of the Labour Government so they no longer give the Government the credit it deserves for policies like the minimum wage, statutory recognition or the pursuit of full employment. Remember when trade union banners appeared on the March for Jobs or the campaigns against youth unemployment? Labour has now banished youth unemployment, and there are two million extra jobs in Britain.
But over time people forget and begin to ask – does Labour still deserve our support? Would it really be any different under the Tories? Some may even make the mistake of falling for the new Tory leader David Cameron’s superficial attempts to show his Party has changed.
The reality is that Labour has a strong record of delivering for working people in stark contrast to the record of the previous Tory governments. It also has a strong future programme in the form of the Warwick Agreement – an agenda for the workplace for a third Labour term. So there is no better time to take stock of where the Government is, a little over one year into its third term, in delivering the pledges of that agreement.
A number of Warwick pledges have already been delivered. Good progress is being made on many more. And the Labour Government has recently restated its commitment to implementing the entire Warwick agreement over the course of this Parliament.
Some of the commitments already honoured include increasing protection from dismissal for strikers from 8 weeks to 12 weeks; announcing the first round of 33 projects of the union modernisation fund with Government support of £3million to help modern unions grow; and passing the Work and Families Act 2006 which will increase statutory maternity leave to 9 months in April 2007 with the aim of a year’s paid leave by the end of this Parliament.
Labour has also rolled-out childcare schemes so that 800 Sure Start children’s centres are already open and Labour is on the way to delivering a childcare centre in every town – 3,500 by 2010.
The Labour Government is committed to legislating on corporate manslaughter and the Home Office introduced the Bill in July this year.
Equal pay is a real concern for millions of women workers and the Women and Work commission’s February 2006 report “Shaping a fairer future” points the way forward to closing the gender pay gap with a number of practical ideas. The Labour Government’s Women and Equality unit is currently examining the recommendations to produce an action plan.
The Labour Government recently announced a review of facility time for workplace union representatives and has undertaken initial consultations on the challenges they face. The review, reporting within a year, will examine ways in which their role should be adapted to the modern workplace and their contribution maximised.
There are many other Warwick commitments in progress relating to public services, manufacturing and working rights but perhaps the most significant are the ending of the practice by some employers of counting the 8 Bank Holidays against the entitlement to four weeks statutory leave and taking action on pensions following the Turner Report.
The Labour Government launched an initial consultation on the 8 extra days holiday in June this year, seeking views on increasing the statutory annual leave entitlement from 20 days at present to 28 days. The consultation proposes that the first extra holiday will come in on October 1st 2007 with the rest to follow which will benefit over 2 million workers.
On pensions, the Labour Government has gone further than the Warwick agreement by pledging to restore the basic state pension link with average earnings, meaning that by 2050 the basic state pension will be worth twice as much as if it had stayed linked to prices. It will also modernise the contributory principle on which our pension system is based so it gives a better deal to women and carers, many of whom currently miss out on a full basic state pension.
Of course, there are many commitments still to be implemented over the three years to the next General Election and there are many details still to be worked out where unions and the Government may disagree. But one thing is clear, it is a Labour Government that forged the Warwick Agreement and it is only a Labour Government that will deliver it for working people. At a time when some are forgetting what Labour has achieved and is achieving, we would all do well to remind ourselves of that.
PS: Visit www.unionstogether.org.uk for more information about the Warwick agreement and the Labour Party – Trade Union Link.
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