O’Grady takes aim at “shower of a government” and calls for election

Frances O’Grady has criticised Liz Truss and what she described as “this shower of a government”, calling for a “proper plan for fairer, greener growth” and an election.

Addressing TUC Congress today, the general secretary of the trade union federation rejected calls for wage restraint, argued that the cap on bankers’ bonuses should not be scrapped, demanded an expanded windfall tax on oil and gas companies and said “greedy energy giants” should be brought into public ownership.

“With inflation at 10%, we don’t need wage restraint. It’s time for some profit restraint. Taxpayers helped business with their bills, now it’s time for business to play their part,” O’Grady told delegates.

“No lay-offs this winter, no boardroom bonanzas and no shareholders sprees. Put the cap back on bankers’ bonuses, let’s have a bigger windfall tax on greedy energy giants. And don’t just bail them out, bring them into public ownership.”

She told Congress that “working people are not fooled by trickle-down economics”, describing it as “the same old Tory money trick”. She added: “Austerity means NHS waiting lists grow and businesses go bust. When workers get money, they spend it. When the rich get money, the offshore it.

“So I have a message for Liz Truss, working people are proud of the jobs we do. We work hard. We work the longest hours in Europe. Yet, thanks to your party’s 12 years in government, millions are struggling to make ends meet. We don’t need lectures on working harder. This country needs a proper plan for fairer, greener growth.”

Truss was criticised during the Conservative Party leadership contest, earlier this year, after a recording revealed the Prime Minister saying that British workers lack “skill and application” and need to show “more graft”.

“The Prime Minister believes that Britain’s poor productivity is down to the poor performance of workers – that’s a bit rich from a PM whose own performance crashed the country. She didn’t even turn up for work yesterday,” O’Grady said.

O’Grady described the government’s “top priority” as “attacking the right to strike to make it harder to win fair pay” – a reference to recent changes to regulations allowing agency workers to be brought in to break strikes – arguing that it is a “cynical effort to distract from the chaos that they have caused”.

She argued that workers are simply asking for “respect, and fair pay” and added that “if it takes strike action so be it, we stand with you”. She called for a “real plan for growth” so that “workers don’t need to go on strike to defend their pay” and said the TUC is “already” coordinating strike action.

“When workers are left with no choice but to vote for strike action for decent pay, I say bring it on,” she said.

The TUC general secretary warned the government: “If ministers want to pick a fight with us, we are more than ready. Today, I give them notice. We’ve already taken legal counsel. We know that you’re in breach of international law and trade deals that enshrine labour values. So, read my lips: we will see you in court.”

She called on ministers to “do right by” public servants, who she said “got us through the pandemic”, urging them to give them a “proper pay rise, a real pay rise”.

O’Grady also highlighted the TUC’s ‘Demand Better’ rally, due to be held on November 2nd in Westminster, adding; “If this shower of a government is still clinging to power by then, we will demand that general election.”

“We are trade unionists – just as when the TUC proposed the furlough scheme at the start of the pandemic, we’ve got answers to the problems that Britain faces. We’ve seen the difference our movement makes right around the world. From Amazon to Starbucks, growing membership, winning deals,” she said.

“Change can come and we can build it. Remember those kids who save half their school dinners to take home for tea, remember pensioners too poor to keep warm and workers who can’t afford to get sick while NHS waiting times soar. None of this is inevitable. These are political choices made by politicians and we can vote them out.”

She concluded: “We can build a better world. We will fight for our class and together we all win. Solidarity.”