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No return to 1970s, PM warns unions
07.07.08
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Gordon Brown has warned trade unions that there will be "no return" to 1970s-style industrial relations, as they prepared policy demands for the next Labour manifesto.
But the Prime Minister signalled that he was prepared to consider their calls for family-friendly workplace reforms, such as extended rights for parents to take days off.
As the cash-strapped party's main source of income, the unions are in a powerful negotiating position, especially with another crunch by-election campaign to fund.
A raft of measures - also including free school meals for all primary school pupils - is set to be put forward at a major party policy forum the day after the Glasgow East poll, a serious test of Mr Brown's leadership.
Tory leader David Cameron has seized on the issue to accuse the Government of being "in hoc" to the unions and planning to relax industrial relations laws.
The GMB revealed over the weekend that it would be lobbying for "modernising" of voting in industrial action and election ballots, reform of the National Insurance system and better regulation of energy prices.
General Secretary Paul Kenny said: "The party is very much behind in the polls, but if we promote ideas and issues which people are concerned about, including taxes, housing and energy prices, Labour can win back the hundreds of thousands of voters it has lost."
However, Mr Brown, speaking to reporters en route to Japan for the G8 summit, ruled out going back on recent reforms of trade union law.
"Successful governments are those whose eyes are fixed on the future not harking back to the past," he said.
"The countries that prosper in the future will be those that combine fairness with flexibility to achieve full employment. So there will be no return to the 1970s, the 1980s or even the 1990s when it comes to union rights."
