“It’s times like these that we see how vital trade unions are, not just to cities like Liverpool but to the whole country,” the city’s mayor Joe Anderson declared as he welcomed delegates to UNISON’s local government conference.
And as representatives of local government workers from across the country prepared to discuss attacks on union facility time, Mr Anderson added: “I will not do anything to cut facility time, but make it easier for trade unions to work with me.”
And he said that as a former National Union of Seamen steward and convenor, and now a “proud UNISON member” himself.
Mr Anderson, who was elected mayor last year, welcomed delegates to a “city on the up”, working to improve investment, the local economy and jobs.
But, he said, government cuts were undermining the work of cities and councils like Liverpool, so that it was often “two steps forward one step back.”
And he had particularly harsh words for the “bedroom tax” cut in housing benefit facing people who are judged to have too many bedrooms, citing a recent suicide attempt by a local woman facing a cut of £50 a week.
The policy is cruel, unjust and economically illiterate, he said, and issues a rallying call to Labour leader Ed Miliband: “Do it now, do it today, say you will repeal this act.”
