{"id":10021,"date":"2016-09-26T17:08:07","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T16:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10021"},"modified":"2016-09-26T17:08:07","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T16:08:07","slug":"unite-and-reconnect-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10021","title":{"rendered":"Unite and reconnect call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yesterday (September 25) saw the Real Britain fringe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a joint event hosted by Unite and the Daily Mirror \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and by many regarded as the fringe event of the conference.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The fringe, entitled Reconnecting Britain: Bringing people and communities together<\/em> was chaired by the Daily Mirror\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kevin Maguire with speakers Dave Johns, the lead in Ken Loach\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new film, I Daniel Blake<\/em>; Liz Carr disability rights activist and Silent Witness<\/em> star; a 98-year old Unite Community member and life-long trade union activist, Betty Tebbs; Andy Burnham MP; Real Britain<\/em> columnist Ros Wynne-Jones and Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pictured with McCluskey is lifelong union activist Betty Tebbs, 98, who stole delegates\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 hearts with her often moving and passionate speech. She joined her first union in 1932 at the age of 14 while working at a paper mill in Bury \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and raised eyebrows when she queried her first pay packet \u00e2\u20ac\u201c short by two shillings because she was a girl.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tebbs had lost none of her fire as she welcomed the re-election of Jeremy Corbyn<\/a>, before \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to rapturous applause \u00e2\u20ac\u201c calling for a general strike.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She went on to call for a broad coalition of progressive groups including the Labour Party<\/a>, the People’s Assembly, environmental groups and others to pressure the government into calling a general election.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Then when we call a general election, we can elect a government that can carry out Jeremy’s policies for peace and socialism.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rail and steel nationalisation <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

She called for the nationalisation of the railways and steel industry, the creation of an integrated transport network and for the NHS to be put “back on track”.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“This we have to do,” she said, “if we are to satisfy the hopes and aspirations of all those who voted for Jeremy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Peace and socialism are opposite sides of the same coin. We can’t have socialism without peace, and we can’t have peace without socialism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She concluded, “We can’t wait any longer. The time for action is now. The bottom line is, it’s up to us.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following Tebbs, Len McCluskey said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBetty makes me proud and very humble.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 In a speech \u00e2\u20ac\u201c punctuated by two standing ovations \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he said that these were extraordinary times and the need for unity was paramount. And our task was to make sure that Jeremy Corbyn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s policies were given a fair chance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He believed Labour was undoubtedly now a party of anti-austerity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor the first time it is clear Labour is a party of anti-austerity \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and people know that.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Of the current Tory government and its relentless programme of austerity he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is no sustainable growth within our economy. We need a vibrant manufacturing base, an industrial strategy and to invest in the welfare state, our heritage. By investing in people we can create real growth in the economy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He appealed to the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) to unite \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it was the only way to achieve these aims.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday (September 25) saw the Real Britain fringe \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a joint event hosted by Unite and the Daily Mirror \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and by many regarded as the fringe event of the conference.   The fringe, entitled Reconnecting Britain: Bringing people and communities together was chaired by the Daily Mirror\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Kevin Maguire with speakers Dave Johns, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[464],"wps_subtitle":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Peace and socialism\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 plea at Real Britain fringe","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10023,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10021\/revisions\/10023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}