Union deals agreed on eve of Labour's spring conference
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Your support makes all the difference.Ministers struck last-minute deals with union leaders yesterday in an attempt to avoid embarrassing clashes at the critical spring conference of the Labour Party, which starts in Glasgow today.
After 18 months of wrangling, the Government agreed to protect the pay and conditions of hundreds of thousands of council staff whose jobs are privatised – and was immediately accused of a "climbdown" by employers.
The Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott also announced that troops covering for striking firefighters would be stood down for four weeks after the Fire Brigades Union accepted assurances that the Government had set aside sweeping reforms pending negotiations.
While there was still deep concern about the Prime Minister's hawkish stance on Iraq, it was thought the compromises on domestic issues would result in unions signing a £40m donation to the Labour Party over the next five years. The accord over local government workers in particular will lead to a less fractious relationship between unions and the Government and was seen as a major concession.
New workers delivering council services will be guaranteed pay and conditions that are "no less favourable" than staff transferred from the public sector. The code will be enforceable rather than voluntary as demanded by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and other employers' bodies. The CBI reacted with anger and said employers were "sidelined" during final talks.
Digby Jones, director general of the CBI, had been trying to persuade ministers to introduce a voluntary code which would have given new workers "broadly comparable conditions". He said it would have allowed employers to achieve "best value" for the customer.
Mr Jones said: "The Government wants to improve the delivery of public services but this is a significant step backwards and raises real questions about whether ministers are ready to take the tough decisions necessary for meaningful reform.
"Companies have been constructive but in the end they found a big sign over the door to these discussions marked 'unions only'."
Dave Prentis, leader of the public service union Unison, said the deal would end the "two-tier workforce" in local government. "It means that private sector contractors will no longer be able to make profits or win contracts by dragging down the pay and conditions of the workforce. No longer will two people employed by the same company doing the same job be on different pay rates."
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