Tag: Brendan Barber

Below is the text of a speech made by the leader of the TUC, Brendan Barber, at their annual conference in Brighton on Monday 10th September 2012.

Congress, well it’s been quite a summer.

For just a few short weeks we put our economic problems to one side and adopted the gold standard, not the failed economic orthodoxy of the early twentieth century, but the standard of Olympic gold.

Today our Olympian and Paralympian stars are being saluted in London, but here in Brighton we can join in the celebrations. Everyone wants to claim their share of Olympic glory but we have good reason to be proud of our contribution to the Games.

It was eight years ago that Seb Coe came to this hall and told us of the importance he attached to our backing for London’s then uncertain bid to host the 2012 Games. He told us of his aim to inspire a generation. And we told him of our ambition that a world class sporting event should bring with it world class employment standards.

Since then trade unions and the Olympic bodies have been working together to realise our shared ambitions. Let us applaud the construction unions for paving the way, both literally and metaphorically, with their memorandum of agreement with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), ensuring that the Olympic Park was delivered on time, on budget and with a safety record far superior to the industry average.

Let us also praise Barry Camfield, the former Assistant General Secretary of Unite, whose work on the ODA board ensured that union values were there at the heart of the Games. In 2008 you endorsed the principles of co-operation agreed between the TUC and the Olympic bodies. They played a big part too in putting the London Living Wage on the agenda and helping us ensure that training, equality, diversity and trade union rights were all embedded in the 2012 project.

We must not forget the practical work done by the staff of the community and trade union learning centre in Stratford. Nor the immense contribution of the Games volunteers, among them many trade unionists.

Many of them were teachers. And how often did you hear medal winners praise the teachers who had recognised early potential and encouraged them to go on and do great things?

We don’t say it often enough in this country, but day in, day out, it’s the teaching profession who inspire each generation and it’s high time we celebrated the success of our teachers, schools and young people.

Naturally, the Olympics and Paralympics weren’t all plain sailing. Despite the protocol we agreed with the Games organisers, the distinction between volunteers and workers was not always policed as well as it might have been – as the Musicians’ Union motion you will debate later makes clear.

And like many others, we had serious objections to some of the 2012 sponsors. But we can say with confidence nevertheless that the Games were better because of our involvement.

Of course there is still much to be done as we enter the legacy phase. We have already made contact with unions in Brazil to see that London’s gains are not just a one off, but become embedded in the Olympic movement.

And we are continuing to fight for decent working standards for the workers around the world supplying sportswear and Olympics merchandise. The agreement that was made with LOCOG on supply chain standards prompted by our Playfair campaign – allowing our inspectors into factories in China and elsewhere to root out labour abuses – may only have come late in the day, but it provides a vital template for future Olympics and I hope the organisers of Rio 2016 respond positively.

I think what London 2012 showed was what we can achieve when we have the courage to do things differently.

Rejecting those who say we have to do things on the cheap, and instead doing things right. Engaging trade unions as partners; giving workers as well as business a voice.

Let’s not forget how it all started, with that wonderful opening ceremony. Politicians have struggled for years to define what they mean by Britishness.

Danny Boyle got it at his first attempt. It’s about our shared history. Our struggles. The suffragettes. Trade unions. The Jarrow marchers. The Windrush voyagers. The visionaries who, in the aftermath of war and amidst austerity, built our NHS.

It’s about our inventiveness. The industrial revolution. Street culture. Music. Our brilliant creative industries. Tim Berners-Lee giving the world – not the patent office – the web.

And it’s about our diversity, something that has always been part of our national heritage and character. It’s a Britishness that isn’t against others in a crude jingoism, but one that recognises how many people and traditions have fused to give us the identity we were proud to support during the rest of the Games.

It’s no wonder that some commentators on the right looked so isolated. To Tory MP Aidan Burley, who criticised the ceremony as ‘leftie, multicultural crap’ and who also happens to chair the sinister Trade Union Reform Group, let us say: you are wrong about modern Britain, just as you are wrong about the trade union movement.

But our opponents on the right had more setbacks to come. Let’s just go through these tablets of stone so many ministers hold dear.

You can’t pick winners. Tell that to Bradley, Jessica or Mo, all supported by targeted funding.

Markets always trump planning, they say. Well look at the Olympic Park, the result of years of careful planning and public investment.

Private is always better than public, they argue. Not true, as we saw all too clearly when it came to Olympic security.

Those summer weeks were a time when we really were all in it together. Not because we were told to be. But because we wanted to be. Athletes, workers, volunteers, spectators, residents, communities – all pulling together.

The same spirit we have just seen during the Paralympics. And as we reflect on the wonderful achievements of our disabled athletes, let us not squander the potential of disabled workers.

Today let us again say to the government that its decision to close 54 Remploy factories is utterly disgraceful, and it’s not too late for ministers to rethink their plans.

Congress, it’s right to celebrate the Olympics, but it’s even more important to learn from them. For the central lessons of this summer – that private isn’t always best and the market doesn’t always deliver – surely need to shape future policy.

We can’t muddle through greening our economy – we need investment, planning and an Olympic-style national crusade. We won’t build up industrial strength unless we work out what we do best as a country, whether it’s cars, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, or the creative industries, and help them do even better.

And just as the Olympics needed new infrastructure, so does the rest of the country. Not just new transport schemes or energy kit.

But new schools and colleges to nurture world class skills. And new housing to provide affordable homes and get people back to work.

So let’s build the council housing Britain is desperately crying out for. And while we’re at it, let’s build a new banking infrastructure as well, with a state investment bank, regional banks and a financial transactions tax to fund our national regeneration.

And let’s have proper regulation of our financial system too, because what the masters of the universe in the City need isn’t a light-touch but strong clear rules and powerful penalties for those who break them.

Congress, nowhere is the case for change more urgent than when it comes to economic policy. It’s clear that austerity simply isn’t working.

There has been no growth since the government came to power over two years ago. In effect the economy has become a gigantic laboratory.

Ministers are forcing through cuts the Institute for Fiscal Studies says are ‘without historical or international precedent’. Economic beliefs that failed in the 1930s and the 1980s are being applied once again.

Any scientist will tell you that an experiment that produces clear negative results is as useful as one that succeeds. But then scientists are rational – if an experiment fails they will try another approach.

After all it was Einstein who said that insanity is doing the same thing over again and over again and expecting different results. Sadly that not’s something this government comprehends.

The Chancellor says fiscal contraction will boost the private sector. Instead it has brought about a double-dip recession.

He says cutting public spending in the middle of a recession will reduce the deficit. Instead borrowing is set to go up by £150 billion.

The target for closing the deficit has already had to be extended two years. Most expect that target to go even further into the future. His response to these failures? Even more of the same.

Congress, since this government came to power its economic assumptions have been proved wrong time and again. It forecast growth of 2.8 per cent this year, yet if we get zero per cent we’ll be lucky.

It boasted of a march of the makers, yet manufacturers are suffering their worst conditions in years. It promised an export-led recovery, yet our trade deficit is at its widest level since 2005.

When it comes to economic policy, the lesson is clear: don’t believe a word this Chancellor says. And what about David Cameron?

He tells us that scrapping employment rights will boost jobs, but with no evidence to back his claim up. At least he has not got all his own way on this.

It’s right to acknowledge Vince Cable and his Liberal Democrat colleagues for resisting the full Beecroft bundle, including no-fault dismissals.

But we have still seen reduced protection against unfair dismissal and fees for employment tribunals. Many threats remain. Yet I see no investment boom. I still see big companies on an investment strike and workers afraid to spend.

Frankly, if the Prime Minister really believed in sacking underperforming workers, then why is George Osborne still in a job?

Congress, it’s time for change. The government’s strategy is failing Britain.

The economy is on its knees. Services are being devastated.

And our society is becoming more fractured as benefits are cut for the poor and taxes slashed for the rich. But austerity isn’t just some temporary sacrifice.

It could be with us for the duration. A self-perpetuating economic nightmare.

And it’s already beginning to happen.

Beyond the boutiques of Notting Hill and the mansions of Kensington, there is another country. A Britain of boarded up high streets, pawnbrokers and food banks.

A Britain of stratospheric inequality where the rich float free and the poor sink further into penury. A Britain of hopes denied for millions of our young people.

With more than one in five under-25s without work, it’s time to stop talking about the risk of a lost generation; they’re with us now.

Congress, our level of youth unemployment is a national scandal and the government’s response has been pathetically, shamefully and woefully inadequate.

When I addressed you in Liverpool in 2009, I warned that the economic crisis could fuel social disorder. Two summers later, we experienced the worst rioting in a generation.

I do worry desperately about the country we are becoming.

What we are staring in the face is many years of stagnation. Our own lost decades.

And it won’t be the West London rich who suffer. No, it will be the rest of us.

The victims of a government that thinks it can buck the central lesson of economic history. That austerity simply begets more austerity.

Of the 173 austerity packages carried out around the world since 1973, the IMF concluded that all led to recession not growth.

But when you’re driven by ideology, like so many in power today, the facts don’t matter. To anybody who has lived in the economic real world, the pitfalls are obvious.

When wages don’t rise and jobs are made insecure, workers won’t spend. When workers won’t spend, confidence goes.

And when confidence goes, growth dies. That’s where we are now.

Congress, Britain deserves better than this.

That’s the message we’ll be taking to the British people on the 20 October as we hold our Future that Works demonstration. I hope it will be a momentous day. A worthy successor to our magnificent March for the Alternative last year.

An occasion when we not only change the terms of the debate, but when we reach out to the millions of people who share our concerns.

When I address the rally in Hyde Park, it will be one of my last engagements as General Secretary. I’ve worked for the TUC for 37 years and it’s been a privilege to spend my working life in the service of working people. But no task we’ve faced in that time is more important than the one we face now.

Britain is at a historically important crossroads. The choice we face is clear.

In one direction is decline, depression and despair. In the other is recovery, regeneration and renewal.

So, at this defining moment, let it be our movement that shows the way. Let it be us who give working people a sense of hope about their prospects.

Let it be us who show a better future can be within our grasp. And together let’s build a new Britain we can all be proud of.

Thank you.

Below is the text of the speech made by Brendan Barber to the TUC Women’s Conference on 14th March 2012.

Thanks Max [Hyde]

Thanks for your hard work on the Women’s Committee and with the NUT.

And thanks everyone for inviting me to address your conference.

Let me begin by congratulating Evelyn Martin from the GMB for winning the women’s gold badge and being awarded the MBE last year.

Let me congratulate Michelle Stanistreet for being elected as NUJ general secretary last April – the first ever women to hold this post.

And conference, let me also say a few words about two outstanding women trade unionists who we sadly lost over the last year – Marge Carey from USDAW, and Terry Marsland who made her mark with the Tobacco Workers’ Union, Tass and MSF.

Both were working-class women who grew up in Liverpool.

Both devoted their lives to improving the lot of ordinary women.

And both were an inspiration to us all.

We will never forget them.

Conference, you are meeting once again at a time of tremendous difficulty for ordinary women and their families.

The facts speak for themselves.

Women are twice as likely to be affected by government cuts as men.

Women are being disproportionately hit by the pay freezes, pension reforms and massive jobs cull in the public sector.

And women are continuing to bear the brunt of an economic crisis largely caused by the testosterone-fuelled antics of male bankers in the City.

Earlier today, it was announced that women’s unemployment has reached its highest level in a quarter of a century.

Over 1.1 million women are now without work. The number of unemployed women aged between 50 and 64 has risen by 20,000 over the past quarter. And female unemployment has risen by nearly 25 per cent in the North East in the last year.

But the headline statistics – however bad – tell us nothing about the countless personal tragedies unfolding right across Britain.

The female graduate told to start her own business because there are no jobs.

The young mother unable to find work because of a lack of childcare.

And the woman in her fifties made redundant now fearing she will never work again.

Like 52-year-old Helen from London.

A community care worker for 10 years who lost her job back in 2009.

She hasn’t worked since.

As Helen says: ‘I’ve been for interviews, I send my CV off all the time, but there is nothing. It’s so depressing, so frustrating, I don’t know what to do’.

Conference, let’s be clear: the jobs crisis facing women is a national scandal – and we will not stand by while this government destroys the lives, livelihoods and aspirations of millions of women in this country.

Think too about all the other things the coalition is doing.

Funding for the EHRC slashed.

Changes to the state pension age that disadvantage half a million women.

Plans to cut maternity leave to 18 weeks – or zero if Steve Hilton gets his way.

Hard won abortion rights at risk.

Basic employment rights deemed to be red tape.

Legal aid cut mercilessly.

Refuges for victims of domestic violence closed.

Colleagues, the evidence is clear: this is the most female-unfriendly government in living memory.

With women bearing the brunt of the coalition’s policies, with so few women supporting the government, what has Number 10’s response been?

To appoint a new tsar for women. To say a few warm words about getting more women onto company boards. To talk about tax breaks for people who employ cleaners and servants.

Conference, let’s be clear: this is a government that knows absolutely nothing of the lives led by ordinary women in Britain today.

If there’s one statistic that shows just grotesquely unequal our country has become, then it’s surely this.

The richest 1 per cent of the population – the people the government desperately wants to cut tax for – already claim more in tax reliefs each year than the typical woman working in the private sector earns in a year.

That’s not just deeply shocking; it’s a moral abomination that shames our society.

So how, in the midst of austerity, do we win fairness, equality and justice for women?

How do we respond to the government’s attacks on women’s rights, jobs, and services?

And what can we in the trade union movement do to make a difference to the lives of the most vulnerable, disadvantaged women in our society?

Let me describe what I think must be our three key priorities in the year ahead.

First priority: we’ve got to set out our alternative to austerity.

With the cuts hitting women hard, it’s our job to show there is a better way to get our economy back on track.

Ministers want us to believe that austerity will be worth it in the long run; that the sacrifices we are making now will pay dividends at some indeterminate point in the future.

But we need to get the message across that it won’t like this – that austerity means high unemployment, stagnant wages and falling living standards for the duration.

Instead we need to give ordinary working people – ordinary women – a sense of hope about their prospects.

That’s why, over the past year, the TUC has made the case for a different strategy based on growth, jobs and tax justice.

Keeping our economy moving, keeping people in work, and keeping tax revenues flowing – with those at the top making a proper contribution at long last.

In a sense we’ve got to shift the terms of the debate from deficit reduction to economic renewal.

Because it’s only through building a fairer, stronger economy ­­­- providing decent work for all – that we’ll be able to deal with our debts in the long term.

As Keynes once said: ‘look after unemployment and the budget will look after itself’.

And this takes me onto our second priority: we’ve got to keep fighting the cuts in our workplaces and our communities.

What we’ve got to do is build on the huge success of our massive mobilisations of March 26th and November 30th last year – in which women of course played such a prominent role.

Not just working alongside all those organisations – from charities to women’s groups – who share our concerns about the scale and speed of the cuts.

But also reaching out to those millions of people from every walk of life – men and women; black and white; young and old – who believe in a better, more hopeful vision for Britain’s future.

A big part of the task we face is showing just how devastating the cuts are to the everyday lives of people of all backgrounds.

And the good news is you’re already leading the way of that front.

Thanks to the excellent ‘Women and the Cuts’ toolkit which was launched last autumn, you’re already building up a detailed picture of how austerity is affecting women in communities the length and breadth of Britain – complemented by the mapping exercise you are now undertaking.

Our task is simple: to make this kind of work the norm not the exception right across our movement – giving us the evidence, the testimonies, and the arguments we need to take apart the government’s case for cuts.

So to our third priority: we’ve got to get organised.

As vital as our campaigning work is, there can be no substitute for effective trade union organisation in the fight against austerity.

Recruiting workers into trade unions, encouraging them to get active, rebuilding our collective strength: that’s what we’ve got to do now.

And with union density higher among women than among men, once again you are showing how it is done.

Proof of the old adage that women need unions; and unions need women.

At a time when women are being hit hard by the cuts; when it is women who account for the majority of the 710,000 jobs being slashed across our public services; and when women are often being shoehorned into lower-paid work in the private sector -assuming they’re lucky enough to find it – the case for stronger organisation is surely unanswerable.

And as you know better than me, the way to bring women into the fold is to focus on the issues that matter most to them.

So let’s speak up for equal pay, better childcare and decent jobs.

Let’s support a woman’s right to choose.

And let’s show our commitment to ending violence against women.

And where better to start than by encouraging trade union members to support the petition calling on the UK government to sign to the Council of Europe’s Convention on Violence Against Women?

Conference, do not underestimate what you can achieve through collective action.

Your theme this year could not sum it up any better: ‘Every woman in every workplace: stronger together’.

And in the year ahead, as we face our toughest test in a generation, that’s exactly what we’ve got to be: stronger together.

Stronger together as we fight the cuts.

Stronger together as we set out our alternative.

And stronger together as we win fairness for ordinary women and their families.

Thanks for listening and have a great conference.

Below is the text of the speech made by Brendan Barber, the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, on 8th September 2008.

While the past year has had its problems for sure, by working together and campaigning together, we’ve made real progress on the issues that matter most to the people we represent.

We’ve won a historic agreement on agency workers – removing one of the worst injustices from our labour market, so never again can Britain’s army of temporary workers be treated as second-class citizens in the workplace.

And we should thank John Monks and his ETUC colleagues for the hugely important role they played in winning that deal.

We’ve put the issue of vulnerable workers firmly in the public spotlight – highlighting the overwhelming case for action in a way government, business and the public simply cannot ignore.

We’ve won major pensions’ reform so that in the future every employer will have to contribute to their workers’ pensions – and what better way for us to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Old Age Pensions Act won through the campaigning of previous generations of trade unionists?

Think too about those achievements that have rarely made the headlines.

The record number of workers accessing learning opportunities through their union.

The tougher penalties for scrooge employers who refuse to pay the national minimum wage.

The new law on corporate killing that came into effect earlier this year – there’s more still to do to hold reckless employers to account but this is a vital step forward.

In the past year we’ve also become stronger as a movement.

We’ve recorded a welcome 65,000 increase in our membership.

Reached out to migrant workers in every corner of the UK.

And signed a new Protocol with our American sisters and brothers to combat the disgraceful activities of union busters on both sides of the Atlantic.

Helping deliver for workers that most fundamental collective right: the right to organise.

We want no pitbulls here – with or without lipstick

So there is much for us to be proud of – and Congress, I’ve never been prouder to be part of this movement.

Proud that once again we led the fight against the Far Right in communities across Britain, ensuring that the vast majority of our towns and cities remain free from the poisonous embrace of the BNP.

Proud that we stood shoulder to shoulder with our comrades in Zimbabwe, and let us salute those South African trade unionists – ordinary dockworkers in Durban – who refused to unload arms destined for the Mugabe regime.

Proud that we played our part in shaping a breakthrough agreement between the trade union movements of Israel and Palestine so that the PGFTU can secure the income that is justly theirs in respect of Palestinian workers working in Israel.

Where trade unionists, despite all the difficulties, have been able to reach agreement across the divides of that bitter conflict let us hope they’ve carved a path that political leaders can now follow.

It would be right Congress too to put on record a tribute to Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the ITUC, who worked tirelessly to deliver that agreement.

And proud that we have spoken with one voice to demand fair pay for public servants and – in a year when we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the NHS – an end to the reckless privatisation of our public domain.

Together we have spoken up for public services in a way the government cannot ignore.

We have shown that you cannot create world-class services with a workforce battered and bruised by change, sapped of morale by a thousand reorganisations, and crippled by pay awards that do not begin the reflect the true cost of living.

And don’t let anyone tell us that the government can’t afford fair pay for public servants.

If it can spend billions on consultants, billions on tax breaks for UK plc, then surely it can find the money to give Britain’s teachers, prison officers, civil servants and local government workers the fair pay they deserve.

But let us be clear about this: working people are not the cause of inflation; they are the victims of it.

Congress, this campaign – and so many of our other battles for justice throughout the world – lost a great champion with the terrible loss of Steve Sinnott. His death in April shocked everyone in our movement and beyond.

Steve was not just a great trade unionist and a wonderful friend – he was an outstanding advocates for teachers, young people and state education, a true internationalist, and an inspiration to us all.

None of us will ever forget the huge contribution he made.

Congress, what unites all of our campaigns – from public services through to Zimbabwe and agency workers – is one simple principle: fairness.

Over the past year, we have led the debate on fairness, exposing the huge inequalities that now disfigure our country.

And the argument I want to make today is this: our country more than ever desperately needs to become fairer.

Gone are the comfortable realities of the past decade: that the economy can be taken for granted; that prices will remain stable; that the Tories are a spent political force.

With the credit crunch biting, with incomes being squeezed by rising food, fuel and energy costs, with the gap between the super-rich and the rest of us now a yawning chasm, the British people are crying out for fairness – and I believe the case for action is compelling.

Fairness is not some nebulous concept: it is the glue that holds our society together, the foundation on which any economic progress is built.

Too much of contemporary Britain simply isn’t fair.

It’s not fair that employees are facing a fall in their living standards while top bosses see their pay packets go up by 20 or even 30 per cent.

It’s not fair that workers pay proportionately more tax on their earnings than people who earn a hundred or even a thousand times more.

It’s not fair that pensioners and low-income families are living in fear of a cold winter while energy companies post huge profits and speculators rake it in.

You know economists debate whether and when the UK economy will be in recession – two quarters of what they quaintly call negative growth.

Let me tell them today. Millions of households in Britain are already in recession as wages fail to keep up with energy and food costs. I don’t call that negative growth – but a cut in living standards.

So it’s when times are tough that fairness really counts.

Of course we know this economic downturn was not made in Britain.

Greedy bankers, particularly in the US, and higher world demand for oil must take the lion’s share of the blame.

And in this globalised world we cannot avoid the downturn.

We can’t say ‘stop the world, we want to get off’.

But let’s also be clear.

The credit crunch is no random act of god – but inevitable.

inevitable because governments listened to those preaching the cult of deregulation;

inevitable because bankers worked out they could make money by irresponsible lending and selling on the debts; and

inevitable because property price bubbles always burst.

But in some ways you know the credit crunch has done us all a favour.

Because it has stripped bare some of the workings of the modern finance industry; and shown just how wrong it has been to put it on a pedestal as the engine of economic growth.

As the Economic Statement we published yesterday makes clear, we need a fundamental change of direction.

Policies that stimulate growth, as well as control inflation.

Policies that promote real engineering, as well as regulate financial engineering.

And policies that curtail excess, as well as encourage enterprise.

In short: a decisive break from the neoliberal orthodoxy of the past quarter of a century.

Because what we have seen in the past year, from the credit crunch through to spiralling energy prices and the loss of confidence in the banking system, is market failure on a colossal scale.

And it is ordinary people, ordinary taxpayers, who are now footing the bill.

Delegates, I encourage you all to read the Touchtone pamphlet we have just published this weekend showing the scale of inequality in today’s Britain. Recent years have indeed been a golden age for the rich.

Billions are paid out in City bonuses.

In 2000 a typical FTSE 100 Chief Executive was paid 39 times the national average. Now it is over 100 times.

And according to accountants Grant Thornton in 2006 the 54 billionaires living in Britain paid £14.7m in tax on their £126bn combined fortunes.

In other words they are paying tax at an average rate of a little over 0.1 per cent.

Congress, the grotesque inequality we see now is a scar on our country, and I have to say, that when I hear Ministers talking about celebrating more millionaires it makes me cringe.

Congress, you know the world has gone made when an Abu Dhabi corporation pays £200m to buy the City – and its Manchester not even London.

With three-quarters of us saying the gap between rich and poor is too wide, now is the time for decisive action.

Not just to curb greed at the top, and we desperately need reform of our tax system, but also to address desperate conditions at the bottom.

Because at the other end of the spectrum, away from the champagne bars of the Square Mile, life is very different.

Two million workers in Britain today face exploitation, maltreatment and pitiful working conditions, often quite legally.

People like 54-year-old Julie.

Had to give up her job to care for a child who had learning difficulties, and for the last 20 years has worked at home making Christmas crackers.

Paid £35 to £40 for every batch she produces, even though each one takes 40 hours to make – translating into an effective pay rate of less than £1 an hour.

Not entitled to sick pay, holiday pay or pension, and has never been given a payslip.

Or think about 52-year-old Paula, an agency worker cleaning cabins on the ferries.

Starts work at 5.30 in the morning, and after a five hour rest in the middle of the day, finishes at 11.30 at night.

And she has to do that for 14 days in a row, again without holiday pay, sick pay or pension rights.

When she complained that her permanent colleagues received better treatment, she was suspended by her agency for six weeks.

And think finally about Robert.

A coal miner for 18 years until the Tories closed his pit.

Since the early 1990s, he has worked – supposedly self-employed – as a car valet.

With his company recommending a 6am start, he clocks up 60 hours a week.

Paid a piece rate for each car washed, he also has to fork out for his own cleaning materials and damage insurance.

And at the end of an average month, after expenses, Robert takes home around £250.

Congress, this is happening here and now – in Britain, in 2008 – under a Labour government.

And it is a scandal that shames our country.

So what are the answers?

How do we make Britain a fairer place for all?

What can government do to turn fairness from a political slogan into a practical reality?

Well, let me offer ministers just three simple suggestions.

First – remove once and for all the worst injustices from our labour market.

Follow up the agreement on agency workers by ending bogus self-employment and delivering equal rights for homeworkers.

Make enforcement of the current law much more effective, especially in those sectors and businesses where the risks are greatest.

And introduce a new Fair Employment Commission to lead the fight against vulnerable working and raise awareness where it matters most.

Second – meet the public’s desire for tax justice.

Make our tax system more progressive, with low earners taken out of tax altogether and a new minimum rate introduced for those on £100,000 or more.

Pursue the tax avoiders in the City and among the super-rich with the same determination as you pursue so-called benefits cheats.

And close the loopholes that cost the public purse £25 billion a year, because three-quarters of the public think it’s too easy for the rich to get away with not paying their share.

Third – perhaps most crucially – inspire again the imagination of ordinary people showing what a Labour government is for.

Meet the massive demand for council housing and give our construction industry the boost it so desperately needs.

From healthcare to transport, criminal justice to education – show just a little less faith in market mechanisms and a little more belief in public provision.

And yes introduce a windfall tax on the excessive profits of energy companies and divert the proceeds to the poorest and most disadvantaged sections of our society.

Congress, I believe the case for fairness is as relevant now as it ever has been.

And I’m convinced that argument – for fair employment, fair tax and a fair distribution of wealth and opportunity – is not just morally compelling, it is also the way to electoral success.

So this week we will keep pressing for change; asserting what for us is a core value.

And make no mistake: throughout our history, fairness has been the lifeblood of the labour movement.

Fairness is what inspired trade unionists, socialists and progressive reformers to campaign for a universal old age pension a century ago.

Fairness is what drove Aneurin Bevan to create our NHS 60 years ago, delivering free healthcare for all despite bitter opposition from the conservative establishment.

And fairness is what motivated ordinary people the world over to march together, campaign together and stand together to help defeat the obscenity of apartheid.

Now, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, it is our duty to write the next chapter in that story.

Only by being fairer can Britain be stronger; and only by being stronger can Britain make the world fairer.

And if we can win that argument – if we can win the hearts and minds of politicians and public alike – then I believe we can win a better future for all our people.

Thanks for listening.