"The real enemies of the working class don’t arrive in small boats, they fly in by private jet"
Addressing union delegates in his Liverpool home town, Paul Nowak made a passionate speech calling for urgent change in government and a new deal for workers.
In his first general secretary speech address to the Trades Union Congress, Nowak slammed the Tories as “useless, incompetent and past their sell-by date” and called for urgent political change and to “vote Labour”.
Nowak started his speech by attacking the government’s approach to refugees and said that, for him, it was personal, expressing his pride as the grandson of immigrants.
“The real enemies of the working class don’t arrive in small boats, they fly in by private jet,” said Nowak.
He highlighted widening inequality and the need for a wealth tax and for, “those with the broadest shoulders to hold the biggest load”.
“Demand for foodbanks doubles every year and a quarter of a million people are sat on NHS waiting lists here in Liverpool alone,” said Nowak.
“Nothing works in this country anymore and no-one in government cares.
“I quote the Education Secretary – everyone sat on their arses, can you think of a more perfect metaphor for this government? A crisis of their making and someone else gets the blame.”
Nowak also commented on the need to build on trade union membership.
“It has been a massive year for unions, but despite the wins, despite the media coverage, union membership is not growing,” he commented.
“All too often there isn’t a union in their workplace, nothing is more important that building a stronger trade union movement, it matters everyday.”
He set out Labour’s new deal for workers as the “biggest expansion of workers’ rights in a generation” and called for a wealth tax, setting out a challenge to politicians to ask more of those who have the most.
He ended his speech with a rallying call for political change: “A challenge to both wings of our government, to kick this rotten government out of office.”
The Trades Union Congress set off the conference yesterday with an announced that it has reported the UK government to the UN over anti-strikes laws slammed as “unworkable” by the trades union body.
The general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) warned the UK risks being “an international outlier” on labour standards as a result of the Strikes Bill.
We will be providing further coverage of the TUC Congress, taking place in Liverpool until Wednesday.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward, focusing on trade unions and environmental issues
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