Originally published @ 10:22 pm, Sat 19th Jun 2010
Ed Miliband addressed a hundred party members from Nottingham, Mansfield, Derby and Loughborough on Saturday.
The audience seemed pleased enough and convinced.
I've still not made my mind up, but this is no reflection of the meeting or the candidate. Like many, I want to see how the contest evolves and how the candidates devolvep.
Perhaps Ed's campaign is most distinctive by the emphasis on the need for a movement once again.
As it happens, most of the contributions and questions were policy based with only some mention of organisation although the coverage of workplaces by trade unions came up (only 15% of the workforce in the private sector are in trade unions).
So I raised some points on the idea of the movement and justice in the workplace.
My union, TSSA, is investing in training for workplace reps. to be more effective in the workplaces we represent, many of them in the private sector.
Ed is campaigning for a living wage. But justice in the workplace could also be served by picking up on John Edmonds' routine speech - "British Management are crap". How have we, with I.T., managed to create long hours for so many white collar workers.
And a workplace focus would bring us to campaigning for local jobs for local people and tackling things like the posted workers directive more quickly.
Rehearsing what the key to developing the labour movement again would bring some valuable insights to a new vision for Britain.
Comments