UNISON Labour Link committee chair on Labour Party conference

Steve Warwick, chair of UNISON Labour Link committee and leader of the delegation at this week's Labour Party conference, has written a report to the union's executive on what the union achieved in Brighton.

"As leader of the UNISON delegation, I am writing to bring you up to date on our work at this week’s Labour Party conference. UNISON, working together with the other big unions, AMICUS, GMB and TGWU, established Labour Party policy on pensions, the public services, manufacturing and employment rights.

"Our own composite, on public services, called on the government to address the continuing failure of private companies and to make available real alternatives for public authorities. We won backing for a manifesto which shows we are committed to improving public services without using the private sector.

"Together we defeated the government’s position on rail nationalisation and council housing.

"Contrary to inaccurate press reports, the unions ensured that there was a debate about a date for troops to leave Iraq. We also achieved a firm commitment from the government about a date for that to happen in line with UN resolutions.

"Although none of the trade unions submitted contemporary motions on Iraq, a number of constituency parties did. These were composited into two motions - Composite 5, largely acceptable to the government and Composite 6, which was not. Both are available for download below.

"Direct talks took place during the week between the four unions and government ministers, with the support of our delegations. Our aim was to commit the government to a timetable for troops to leave Iraq.

"Discussions centred on Resolution 1546, which had been passed in June 2004. This sets out clearly that the UN mandate for multinational troops to remain in Iraq ends in 15 months time – December 2005.

"What the unions achieved, working together, was a firm commitment that the British government would be bound by, and would honour, that date and that the government would abide by UN resolutions and international law – demands which have been central to UNISON policy on Iraq.

"Our pressure forced the government to acknowledge, for the first time, that there is now a timetable to which they must adhere to end the occupation. What we achieved took us far further than either of the two composites on Iraq. This is why UNISON, together with the other unions, decided to support the NEC statement in preference to either of the two composites.

"We firmly believed that getting the government to commit to a timetable for British troops to leave was the most effective way of achieving UNISON’s policy.

"Getting a government commitment to a date as expressed in the NEC statement was preferable to a vague call in a conference motion for the government to consider setting a date in the future.

"It is also UNISON policy that full sovereignty should be returned to the Iraqi people, including control of their assets and security arrangements. We have always called for Britain to act in accordance with international law and only with the authority of the United Nations. As part of this, we are committed to working with the Iraqi trade unions and to provide support and assistance to them.

"The general secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions addressed UNISON’s conference in June and made clear that a unilateral withdrawal of troops would be bad for Iraq, bad for the emerging progressive forces, a terrible blow for free trade unionism and would play into the hands of extremists and terrorists. Available for download below is a letter from the British representative of the IFTU to trade union delegations at the Labour Party conference. The views of the IFTU had, quite naturally, a powerful effect as we dealt with the issues.

"As leader of the UNISON delegation at the Labour Party conference I am convinced that we made real progress in pursuing UNISON’s policy objectives and in ensuring that we have a manifesto that reflects our members’ concerns.