TUC chief calls on unions to seek solutions

John Monks yesterday challenged Britain's trade unions to become "part of the solution, not part of the problem".

In an address entitled "New Unionism", delivered on the opening day of the Trades Union Congress conference at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, the TUC general secretary told the unions that they should focus on problem- solving rather than political posturing.

"If we want to be seen as partners ... we must grow out of opposition. We must grow out of the narrow, negative, frustrated frame of mind we've developed through 17 years of relentless hostility," Mr Monks said.

Trade unionism, he warned, was at a crossroads. "Unless public policy changes, and above all, unless we change, we shall take the road marked 'retreat'."

He issued a challenge to unions to become part of the solution for workers and companies coping with change and competitive pressures, and "for a British government committed to dealing with our country's decline. Just as you need to talk to your employer, so the TUC must talk to the elected government of the country."

Mr Monks said that the gap between non-union and unionised Britain had never been wider. Non-union Britain was "afraid, low-paid, vulnerable - a disgrace to our country." Unionised Britain, he said, while "no paradise", was according to the official Workplace Survey, higher paid, received more training and experienced lower labour turnover.

"Our theme this week is New Unionism - the road to growth. It looks to the future while reminding us of the new unionism of late Victorian Britain, when trade unionism surged forward among the semi-skilled and unskilled," he said.

n A management-based staff federation created in the wake of the Government's banning of unions at the listening station GCHQ could be recognised by a Labour government, Labour's employment spokesman told a rally at the conference. Any independent recognised union which fulfilled the required criteria would have to be recognised according to party policy.