CWU gives warm welcome to TUC leader

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber visited the CWU national executive council (NEC) at the union's headquarters in Wimbledon today.

Mr Barber (pictured in the middle with Billy Hayes, Dave Ward and Jane Loftus to the left and Andy Kerr, Beryl Shepherd and Tony Kearns to the right) spoke to the NEC primarily about the challenges facing the trade union movement saying: "The economy is flatlining despite the Government's austerity programme" and said this was a great threat to working people. He added that the problems were exacerbated by the "problems with the banking system and the financial crisis in Europe," but said that the biggest challenge is that this Government is "fully committed to reducing the deficit regardless of the fact that the pain is hurting but it isn't working."

He outlined that fact that cuts to local authorities were "hitting the most vulnerable the hardest" and criticised the cuts to youth services and to services that older people rely on.

The TUC leader commented on the recent riots by saying that the issues behind them were complex but that "it is crystal clear that cutting services and jobs only makes the situation worse." He added that unemployment figures, due out tomorrow, mean that we will soon hit 2.5 million people unemployed and said: "Youngsters were stuck in long-term unemployment" and that "40 per cent of black youngsters are out of work."

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Source: CWU