Section1: Trade Unions & the Link

Can you tell us a little bit about your history in the Labour movement?

I grew up in the 1960s in Salford in a traditional working class street, with children playing outside terraced houses, and neighbours who looked out for each other. My dad was a fitter in a factory. He was a union man, who always paid his dues to the AEU. As a teenager, my Mum had won a scholarship to a London arts college, but couldn’t afford to go. She worked as a secretary for the EETPU.

Today, I still live in Salford with my husband Michael, my parents live a few miles away in Swinton, and my brother drives a Manchester bus. I grew up with a strong sense of social justice – life just didn’t seem fair to me. As a teenager I wanted to change the world, starting with Salford and the people on our street who worked hard but never seemed to get the breaks. I joined my trade union before I joined the Labour Party, and went on to be a branch officer for NALGO. When I did join the Labour Party in 1979 it was still a traditional party with men in caps. My first meeting was in a pub back room where the pigeon fanciers held their meetings. We were discussing the evils of Thatcherism, while pigeon feathers floated around us. I left my first meeting as GMC delegate and was branch secretary within three months.

I studied hard and qualified as a solicitor. I worked in local authorities in the North West, and ended up as Manchester council’s education solicitor. In 1984 I was elected as a councillor on Salford council because I wanted to make a difference. But in the 1980s, all we could do was try to stave off the worst impacts of a Tory government which left places like Salford to rot. Until 1997 councils like mine simply managed programmes of cuts to services, as the Tories squeezed our budgets every year.

It took me 12 years to get into Parliament. I contested Tatton in 1987 against Neil Hamilton, and in 1992 narrowly lost in Bury South. I had been a candidate for three years, and as well as the heart-wrenching disappointment of seeing Labour defeated nationally, I had to face up to my own defeat by 800 votes after three recounts. I was devastated. I remember my Mum saying – the way you make steel so tough is by tempering it. It was certainly a toughening experience.

I was elected in1997 for Salford. With the party in government, we could really start to make a difference. In ten years Salford has been transformed: more jobs, better schools, new houses, an NHS off its knees, more police, and communities back together. As a health minister and as a home office minister, I am proud to have been at the heart of a radical Labour government, with our most successful prime minister at the helm. It was great to have worked as public health minister, tackling health inequalities in a growing NHS. While at the Home Office I’m proud to have helped bring in neighbourhood policing and the Respect Agenda, with tough action against anti-social behaviour. That’s what people expect from Labour in government. I am delighted that I have recently played a part in bringing the BBC to Salford. It’s been a great decade to be a Labour MP.

I am the first person in my family to get to university, never mind to the cabinet table. I’ve done it the hard way. And I know that without the Labour party, I would be nowhere. My socialism is a product, not of academic seminars, but of my experience: from the streets and estates of the inner-city. I work in London but I live in Salford, and I always will.

How do you see the future of the relationship between the Labour Party and the unions?

Trade union members are an integral part of the electoral coalition that brought Labour to power in 1997 and sustained our party in Government for the last ten years. The party must continue to engage union members in the future.

The link with our affiliated unions gives the Labour Party much more than a valuable regular income. It means that we have an anchor in the practical concerns and realities of the modern British workplace. We have a hotline to the workforce which all the opinion polls and focus groups in the world could never match. We get incalculably better policy as a result.

Much of the most progressive legislation enacted in the past ten years has been because of Labour’s understanding of workplace issues. From the national minimum wage to paid paternity leave, millions of workers are better off thanks to Labour’s union links.

In the future we must strive to involve more trade union members in the Party’s policy-making processes, encouraging trade unions to hold more policy forums. At the national level, we must also seek a consensus around the workplace policy programme for a fourth term Labour Government to ensure that unions and the party in Government are aligned in their efforts to improve the lot of working people and not pulling in different directions.

For more detail on my thoughts on the Party’s future direction please see my website at www.hazelblears.com

How do you think the Labour Party can help trade unions grow?

Most importantly, the Labour Party must be in Government. The Tories launched a string of scathing attacks on the unions when last in power; and nothing they have done suggests they would do anything different were they to regain power in the future.

Trade unions have a crucial role to play in modern workplaces. The Labour Government must help trade unions broaden their appeal to a wider section of the workforce and break the stagnation of union membership.

Although there are clearly still bad employers and trade unions must have the legal tools to protect their members from exploitation, there are many good employers and many employees who share the aims of their employer. Increasing labour market regulation can never be a substitute for union recruitment.

Rather, government and unions need to establish a shared view of the modern workplace where trade unions can work with employers on a voluntary as well as a statutory basis.

As well as defending those vulnerable workers who need the collective strength of trade unions to prevent their exploitation, unions need to show themselves on the side of those employees in middle-income jobs who want to ‘get on’ in their employment and need help navigating the challenging world of work. Unions need to emphasise their traditional ‘insurance’ function and develop new aspects of their membership offer based on access to training and workplace development.

A Labour Government can assist this process by an expansion of the union modernisation fund and facilitating a step-change in the number of union learning representatives. The GMB at McVities have recruited union learning reps from the Polish, Portuguese, and Pakistani communities who are making a real impact on recruitment.

What are your thoughts on the Hayden Philips review into Party Funding?

I think it us vital for the Labour Party that we get a new funding settlement. I have two crucial objectives: to ensure that we aren’t outspent at the next general election and secondly to ensure that any changed system of party funding does not break Labour’s links with the trade unions.

To these ends, it is important that our Party enters into negotiations with the other parties in good faith and that we strive to reach an agreement. Crucially, we must force the Tories to accept that only by toughening up the current limits on spending so that we have all-year round, local and national limits can there be a level playing field in electoral competition.

I also think it is important for our democracy that any increase in state funding that results from the Hayden Philips process acts to incentivise the parties into local activity and engaging more people in the political process – for example, through a matched funding scheme for members and supporters, and investment in Partnership in Power.

What should the Labour Party/Labour Government do with contemporary motions that are passed at Labour Conference?

Contemporary resolutions are an important way of members expressing their views on the issues of the day. However, the contemporary resolutions should not take pre-eminence over the more considered, deliberative policy making structure embodied by the national policy forum. Contemporary Resolutions should be passed to the policy commissions for consideration and a report should be brought back to Conference. A good example of this working in practice is the resolution passed at Conference in favour of the ‘fourth option’ for funding of local government housing investment. The policy commission established a sub-group which has allowed different stakeholders to come together to find a way forward.

Section 2: The Warwick Agreement

What have you done to help implement Warwick?

Since becoming Party Chair a year ago, I have been personally committed to delivering Warwick in its entirety over the lifetime of this parliament. I have reinvigorated the Government committee responsible for its delivery and have also ensured that the contact group of Government and unions has met to discuss progress and any areas of disagreement. We are now at the stage where the unions themselves agree that 50% of the agreement is completed and well over 80% is in progress, two years out from a likely general election.

I have also intervened on a number of specific issues to help resolve areas of disagreement or to make sure that the Government keeps to what it agreed, such as the Corporate Manslaughter Bill or the issue of the right to time off for public duties.

In your opinion, what is the most important policy in the Warwick Agreement?

I think that acting to close the loophole where unscrupulous employers count bank holidays against the four weeks statutory annual leave that Labour introduced is a fantastic Warwick policy. The government is currently consulting on introducing the eight extra days holiday in two tranches, with the first four days being introduced this October. This measure will mean that over two million workers get the right to the four weeks paid holiday a year plus the bank holidays that the Government envisaged when it first brought it in. This will make a real difference to the lives of many working people.

Our Party will have to think about the next manifesto soon - what issues would you like to see in the next ‘Warwick Agreement’?

I think it is of crucial importance that the Labour Government and trade unions reach a consensus on a vision of what a modern workplace should look like and any new Warwick Agreement for a fourth term should reflect this.

The Government has already done much to assist life-long learning in the workplace but we must go much further if the UK is to keep up. Business and trade unions alike must take more responsibility in assisting workers to access life-long learning. A shared mission with Government is needed to ensure the UK’s long-term competitiveness.

We must act on the recommendations of the Leitch Review. Sector Skills Councils must be reformed to ensure that public funding for training and vocational qualifications flows to areas of skills deficiency. For employers, a new voluntary pledge should commit firms to training their employees to minimum standards. If a voluntary approach fails, we must consider introducing a statutory entitlement to training although this must be carefully crafted and flexible enough to ensure it has benefits to employers as well as employees – international experience shows that a one size fits all approach rarely works. We can only make progress by employers embracing the skills challenge and Government must work to encourage them to do so.

Individual employees are an equally important part of the picture. Training will only increase productivity if employees are motivated to increase their skills. Motivation can be enhanced by a sense of being valued and respected at work and the feeling that employers understand the demands of life outside work – put simply, a happy workforce is a productive workforce.

As social patterns change, with a higher number of single-parent families and families with both parents in work, employers can help motivate their employees by adjusting the offer of employment to meet the challenges of modern life. Labour has introduced a right to request flexible working for parents of young children and carers. We should explore with our social partners extending this to a wider section of the workforce, starting with the parents of older children. Clearly, employers would be able to refuse those requests that made the conduct of the business impossible but the right to request flexible working could increase the number of good employers who see themselves acting in partnership with their workforce and vice versa.

Section 3: Issues for Working People

What action would you take to improve protection for Agency & Temporary Workers?

I think the best way forward is to have European-wide legislation, so that we have a level playing field. The Warwick agreement committed the Government to pursue the Directive at European level and this is what we are currently doing. I have been to Brussels in the last month to meet with the ETUC, the European Commission and the EPLP. I have also met with the unions and the TUC.

We are still debating how the Directive can ensure protection of vulnerable workers and maintain flexibility to maximise employment opportunities. Under British law, agency workers do have rights to minimum wage, sick pay, paid holidays, maternity pay and so on. An outstanding question is pay rates and it is right that if an agency worker stays at a company for a period and is effectively part of the workforce, they should receive equal pay and treatment for the same work as a directly employed counterpart. We must ensure this, however, without jeopardising the agency sector as a whole as it is a route back into the labour market for many people, especially those who might otherwise find it difficult.

In the meantime, the DTI is currently consulting on a range of measures to tackle specific abuses. We must end the already illegal situation where particularly migrant workers are paid below the minimum wage. In January, Alistair Darling announced a 50% increase in the enforcement budget and fines for non-payers of the minimum wage but we must constantly review the effectiveness of this. Workers should also have a clear right to withdraw from accommodation, transport and other services provided by an agency. This would prevent unscrupulous employers paying minimum wage but clawing back a large percentage of their worker's wages through these tied services.

How would you ensure that women & men are treated equally in the workplace?

The most crucial way in which I can ensure workplace equality is to support the implementation of the Women and Work Commission’s February 2006 report “Shaping a fairer future” which points the way forward to closing the gender pay gap with a number of practical ideas. They included £20million in government funding to raise skill levels; the promotion of quality part-time work; the matching of jobs and skills in a local context; the training of workplace equality representatives; and better careers advice for girls at school. I recently visited the Royal Mail at Nine Elms Lane in London to see the new opportunities for part-time women workers. Also, I believe that Government should explore ways that it can better support union equality reps in the workplace.

What are your views on the transfer of public services and staff to the private sector?

I believe that the most important test of a public service is whether the ‘customers’ of the service – the patients, the pupils, the passengers – are satisfied. The best way of ensuring the future of collectively provided public services, paid for by tax and free at the point of need, is to ensure that people who can afford to opt-out of the state system actually choose to remain within it.

In order to deliver fast and responsive services we may need a mixture of directly provided public services, private providers and the voluntary sector, with each case judged on its merits.

The staff in our public services are, of course, our most precious resource and we cannot have a situation where millions of public sector workers go home each evening dissatisfied with the Government despite the massive investment that has taken place. We must create a new dialogue with staff to ensure that they involved in shaping decisions and listened to in a time of large-scale reform and are as supported as much as is possible when they are personally affected – for example, by the transfer of services to other sectors. Again, the NHS provides an example with the newly created Stakeholder Forum where staff, unions, employers and government can debate the issues.

What are your views on the role and future of private equity firms?

I think this is a complicated issue. Some private equity firms buy-out failing businesses and turn them round, thereby saving jobs. In these circumstances private equity firms should be supported. However, private equity buy-outs that are little more than asset stripping, that cost jobs, are unacceptable and we should find ways to regulate this activity. There must be enhanced transparency in the private equity sector.

Pensions & training are a crucial element in the relationship between workers and employers. What role should trade unions play in negotiating the relationship?

I want to see a great deal more workplace negotiation between unions and employers on these issues. The trade unions must better exploit the provisions of the Information and Consultation Directive to facilitate this.

Also, on pensions the DTI is currently examining the arguments to include pensions as a bargaining issue in the statutory bargaining process. I think it is right that if pensions are a common feature of collective agreements, that the statutory minimums be extended to reflect that

Everyone is entitled to fourteen weeks unpaid parental leave, but this is not much use to single parents or those on low wages. What action would you take to support those parents in most need?

The government has made enormous progress on increasing family friendly rights, the latest stage of which is the Work and Families Act 2006. Statutory maternity pay was increased to 9 months in April 2007 with the aim of a year’s paid leave by the end of this Parliament. When maternity leave is extended to a year, fathers will also gain a new right to additional paternity leave during a child’s first year, if the mother returns to work. I think concentrating on extending paid maternity and paternity leave during this parliament is the right action to take to support those parents most in need.

Section 4: General Political Issues

How would you ensure the defence of the UK and what role would Trident play in it?

I believe that the defence of the UK requires a mixture of conventional forces – a strong navy, army and air force - and also a nuclear deterrent. I supported the renewal of Trident. I think it is right that we do not take decisions now that may jeopardise the security of future generations. In an uncertain world, we simply do not know what threats we will face in thirty of forty years time so we should leave ourselves maximum flexibility over our strategic posture.

We also need to address the issue of international terrorism. Our security rests not just on our armed forces but also on the security services, the police and community engagement programmes.

Do you think academy schools and trust schools are the best way of improving UK education?

I think academy schools are one aspect of a range of measures that have transformed the UK education system. On their own, they are not the answer. As part of a system that provides a variety of educational options to parents including specialist schools, they are an excellent way of improving results.

What more do you think the Labour Party should be doing to tackle the threat of parties such as the BNP?

The BNP prospers when other parties, particularly the Labour Party, withdraws from the community and ceases to engage in the issues of most concern to people. The main thing we can do to tackle this threat is to reinvigorate our party on the ground. It must be the Labour candidates and activists making the phone calls, knocking on doors - matching the BNP in areas where they are resurgent. The elections on May 3rd showed that hard campaigning can prevent the BNP from making advances.

We must also address the issues that have created the uncertainty that allows the BNP to peddle their extremism. We need to build on the work already going on to improve the trustworthiness of the immigration system. We must continue to support our security services and engage the UK’s different communities in the fight against terrorism. We must also address the housing issues which can underpin resentment. Stakeholders, including housing associations and local authorities, should agree a local housing plan and their programme of repairs and building should be based on local communities’ needs.

How do you think a Labour Government should tackle prejudice against immigrants and asylum seekers?

Community cohesion is a crucial ingredient of strong communities. Prejudice against those newly arrived to our country undermines this cohesion. The Government can work with local authorities to strengthen communities in a number of ways. For example, ensuring integration in the schooling system and extra help for the children of asylum seekers who don’t have English as a first language; ensuring that housing allocation policies don’t lead to the creation of ‘ghettos’ where asylum seekers are allocated only the housing that other tenants don’t want; ensuring that the minimum wage is enforced so that existing workers don’t feel they are being undercut.

It is also important to ensure that local communities are being treated fairly. This means there must be a proper assessment of all asylum applications, those who are not genuine asylum seekers or those who have entered the country illegally should not be allowed to stay. Those who are here legitimately will benefit from a widespread sense that the system is fair.

What law would you most like the Labour Government to pass?

We have to keep moving ahead on our manifesto pledges – to keep the economy stable, to tackle unemployment, poverty and homelessness, to raise the quality of public services, especially school standards and banishing waiting from the NHS, to give communities the powers to tackle anti-social behaviour, and to tackle climate change. I will support laws that achieve these ends.

What parts of the European Social Model should the UK seek to emulate?

Partnership between employers and unions rather than the Tory model of the ‘two sides of industry’ where the only way forward is through conflict.

How would you assist the development of trade unions and workers rights in the developing world?

One of the major ways to achieve the advancement of workers’ rights internationally is through the multi-lateral structures the UK is already a part of. Working through the WTO, EU and UN, we can ensure trade agreements take account of international labour regulations. We can also use consumer power locally to affect the behaviour of companies abroad.

What is your view on the 4th Option for council housing, as called for by the Labour Conference?

Housing is as big an issue now as it was in 1945. The problems we face today are very different yet the fundamental need to ensure enough good housing for our citizens remains. In order to achieve this, there should be an end to ideological divides on housing policy, with stakeholders including housing associations and local authorities agreeing a local housing plan with their programme of repairs and building based on local communities’ needs. High quality social housing, such as that provided by councils and housing associations should continue to play a major part in helping ensure everyone has a decent home. Good councils should be allowed to build houses or prudentially borrow to meet the Decent Homes standard for their existing stock if that is what will best meet the needs of the local community.

How can a commitment to the environment help working people?

More can be done to encourage community businesses which tackle climate change and also provide jobs for working people. There is a growing social enterprise sector, including mutuals and co-ops, and this can be the model for modern green businesses. We have increased jobs in cutting edge green industries from 170,000 in 2001 to over 400,000 today. We must nail the myth that economic growth and environmental protection are mutually exclusive. Our own economy has grown by 25 per cent since 1997, and our greenhouse gas emissions have fallen by 7 per cent. There is a growing immediate market for environmental technologies, and we should use government grants and expertise to stimulate this sector.

Read my statement on why trade union members should vote for me

Read my biography

Read my responses to the UnionsTogether Election Survey

View my UnionsTogether TV Interview