82 National TUC strategy for the defence of the TUC unemployed workers centres

Submitted by TUC Trades Unions Councils Conference

Congress appreciates the contribution made since the TUC Congress of 1981 instructed Trades Union Councils to establish the TUC Unemployed Workers Centres, to represent Congress on issues of unemployment and poverty.

In what could turn out to be the greatest economic slumps since the 1930s, millions of workers face job losses, homelessness and poverty, at a time when TUC Unemployed Workers Centres in England have reduced in numbers to 35 from a peak of 200 in 1986.

Congress proposes the following campaigns to unite the trade union movement. Congress believes this could be the basis of a 2009 response by the TUC to the economic slump:

i) a national launch of a campaign to support the TUC Congress motion of 2008 opposing the Government’s welfare reforms

ii) a national launch of a campaign calling for state intervention to protect jobs, similar to the state intervention to bail out the bankers

iii) a national launch of a trade union-led campaign to establish a redundancy counselling service for workers losing their jobs

iv) a national launch of a campaign to protect workers from unfair dismissal by employers using the economic slump as an excuse to get rid of staff who stand up for their rights

v) a national launch of a campaign against poverty for workers with and without jobs in this time of economic slump

vi) a national launch of a campaign to save the TUC Unemployed Workers Centres

vii) a national launch of One Fund For All in every workplace in our regions where we have union members, to raise funds for our centres to continue their commitment to the unwaged.

(this motion is exempt from the 250-word limit)