GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

to let the young workers take a lead in this and you have got to back their

ideas.

Once we move beyond, my other point would be, the pitch, we are going to

have to decide without undermining the reality of the cost of joining as a

member, I think we are going to have to recognise that young people today are

coming to politics before they are coming to trade unionism. That is my

assessment. I actually think that is a good thing in one way, not great for the

trade union movement, but a very good thing, because young people have got

a political conscience now, they have woken up and that ain’t going back. I

think we have got to tap into that. So my approach would be to say that for the

greater good if we were to develop something like an equivalent of Momentum,

but for the trade union movement, could it be a holding position that brought

people in to our values, the trade union movement campaigns, the world of

work and could we develop it from there to then say at a certain point, if you

have got everybody bought into a campaign for a new deal for workers, many

of whom would not be part of unions, well, actually the union for you is that

union. I am with the person, I think it was you, Chris, who said you have to

look at this from the point of the movement. We are not an island. We have to

break down this type of internal competition as trade unions to solve this

problem. So my pitch would be to offer something different that could start to

formulate a different model of trade unionism using today’s technology and

making it as simple as possible.

Colin, I have worked a lot with Tim on this and me and Tim share very similar

views on this. For example, it has either been him moving and me seconding

and vice versa. Tim is a very strong supporter of the four point plan for a new

deal for workers and I think that Tim is also a strong supporter of change at the

TUC. I know the GMB have moved propositions for that and often we have

supported that one, we have been in behind that. I do not think we should

have the SWP sort of debate about “TUC, get off your knees”, there are some

great people in the TUC, but it is about having an honest discussion about

whether what the TUC does is suitable for the challenges that we now face and

it has got to up its game, we have got to up our game. We are the TUC, we

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