PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

19 uia ad FIGHTING ZERO HOURS The annual general meeting is upon us again and obviously this year is going to be very difficult. No doubt there will be an air of sadness but the business on behalf of the membership has to go ahead. We all know this is what Bob would want. Everything is prepared and ready for business as usual and I would like to give a big thank you to all head office staff for the effort and hard work that they have put in to make this possible. We are still facing the same problems and attacks as last year and, as a union, we need to be united and strong in the face of increasing attacks on our members and working class people in general. The increasing use of workers on zero hours contracts is a major concern to this union. This affects all parts of the industries that we have members in. The latest figures show that there are over 1.4 million of workers on these contracts. The government is taking us back to Victorian times. These are workers with no holiday rights, no pensions, sick pay benefits, or indeed, any sort of job security whatsoever. The way to tackle this is to recruit them into the union and force, by whatever means possible, these companies to offer them proper employment contracts. Labour says that they will do away with it if they are elected, that remains to be seen. They also promised to renationalise the railways before Blair was elected. The continuation of “downsizing” is going on right across our industries too. Not only does this affect workers now but it takes away job opportunities for future generations. The biggest scandal that we are facing is the lack of a future and hope for the young people, not just in this country, but across the globe. We are not in danger of passing on worse conditions to the young, we are doing so, and for this we should hang our heads in shame. They will face a longer wait to get pensions when we should be looking for earlier retirement schemes with a decent pension. Even with the best education, they can only get jobs in the service industry, usually on the minimum wage. It is no wonder that we have so many young people living on the streets and turning to drugs, they see no future. It is our duty to fight to preserve jobs and future opportunities for work, as our TFL members did, to give the young hope. I believe that because of the way this union is structured, we can meet these battles full on and help to win the war against the unjust system that is capitalism. To do this we need to builds alliances, not just with like- minded people in this country, but with fellow workers across the world. That is why it is good to see that we will be carrying on the tradition of having overseas guest speakers at this year’s AGM. Some will be new visitors and some will be old friends, but we welcome them all equally as they stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our struggles. Finally, I know there will be sadness and a sense of loss this year, but I am also sure that there will be the usual heated debates and the good humoured socialising. We can be proud of our achievements and look to the future starting with a successful and productive AGM. To all delegates, enjoy yourselves! Regards Peter Pinkney President’s column