'We're there for Labour, we expect Labour to be there for us'
General secretary Dave Prentis at the Labour Link forum in Liverpool
What do we do for Labour?, he asked.
"We are rooted in the working lives of public sector workers. We keep the party in touch with our members", he answered.
We support Labour "week in, week out, in local elections, up and down the country. We've been there for Labour, doing the work on the ground. We are there for Labour, we expect Labour to be there for us."
It is UNISON that osas leading the campaign to protect the NHS, running 38 events around the country last week to celebrate the NHS's 63rd birthday, he added.
The party needs to stop bickering and looking back, he said – we need it "now, campaigning for us, for our members and for our public services."
We need it to be "on the same side of the street as those being harmed by the coalition."
Labour needs to work with the unions in these campaigns, but "as respected partners."
He asked Labour councillors to "support public services, that's what their priority has got to be."
On the economy, he challenged Labour to "say that there is an alternative," calling on the shadow cabinet to back a financial transaction tax and an end to Trident as an alternative to their line that Osborne's deficit reduction policy is "too far, too fast."
If this didn't happen the party would be "hollowed-out ... A superfically different version than the Tories in dealing with cuts and privatisation."
He praised UNISON's role in the Labour leadership election, as hustings were held and all candidates were featured in LAbour Link publications and on the UNISON website.
This role was not that described by the "Westminster whingers", he said.
"It wasn’t you or me who decided [the Labour leader], it was our members."
Sending his congratulations to all those UNISON members in dispute who were willing "to stand up and be counted" - 33,000 are currently being balloted over cuts to terms and conditions – he said that the union is now "in the thick of battle."
He restated the union's commitment to negotiation on pensions, but warned that "unless we get an agreement we will be on the road to industrial action."
Outlining progress, he explained that local government discussions had moved away from the central negotiations and that in health, threats to reopen protected schemes meant that a worker expecting to retire at 55 could find themselves working till the age of 66.
He dismissed the argument that poor private sector pensions should mean poor public sector pensions.
"Rather than pushing down public sector pensions we should be fighting for schemes in the private sector so that they can enjoy decency and respect in retirement."
And if the union did move to industrial action it wouldn't be at the call of union chiefs, he said: "It will be the membership as a whole that says we move to fight for our pensions."
He had a final message for members: "Thank you everyone for all that you do … and bring on the battles!"
