Blair presses on

[Keaney Michael <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Blair in clash with unions

No10 meeting fails to heal divisions on reform

Michael White and Nicholas Watt
Thursday June 28, 2001
The Guardian

Tony Blair set himself on a collision course with the leaders of Britain's
trade unions last night after he refused to water down his
plans for a greater private sector role in delivering public services.

At the end of a dinner in Downing Street, union leaders warned of a tense
period in the run-up to the Labour conference in October
as they attempt to persuade the government that it will fail to modernise
public services unless it harnesses the skills and goodwill
of their members.

One union source said that the prime minister "ate humble pie" during the
dinner as he conceded that Labour's plans to beef up the
role of the private sector could have been presented to unions more
effectively. After he was asked why he had "ambushed" the
unions with his plans during the election, Mr Blair reportedly offered some
soothing words by insisting that there were would be no
privatisation of medical provision.

But Mr Blair made clear that he would not back down on his wider plans. One
government source said last night: "The prime
minister made clear that he has a mandate to deliver."

John Monks, the normally mild-mannered general secretary of the TUC, gave a
flavour of the exchanges when he said that neither
side had pulled their punches. As he left Downing Street, Mr Monks said:
"There was a full exchange of views, full and frank to use
the euphemism of these occasions. There were no punches pulled by the prime
minister or by people on the union side. But it was
important that the air was cleared and we have a plan to go forward now
about we're going to make our contribution to improving
hospitals and schools."

His attempt to highlight the positive side of the meeting was echoed by
Downing Street. A spokesman described the dinner as "a
constructive meeting", adding: "Both sides are clearly committed to public
services, and to reform of the public services, and
renewed investment in the pub lic services. There was agreement that we are
not talking about privatisation."

The meeting was called after union leaders reacted with horror when Mr Blair
declared there would be no "ideological barrier" to
greater public/private partnerships in the battle to reform key services.
Sensitive to memories of the notorious "beer and
sandwiches" meetings in Downing Street in the 1970s, the prime minister
insisted that all sides agreed not to reveal what was on
the menu last night.

In last night's union delegation Mr Blair's only certain ally was the
engineers' leader, Sir Ken Jackson, who has been telling
colleagues to avoid "rushing into a confrontation which may prove needless".


Sir Ken's tone was at odds with his GMB counterpart, John Edmonds. He
acknowledged the need for reform, but added:
"Privatisation would mean we were looking over our shoulders all the time
worrying about profits.

"The watchword in the NHS should be patient care, not profit," Mr Edmonds
told Channel 4 News.

Both unions and Labour MPs suppressed their doubts during the election. But
some last night echoed the jibe made by the Liberal
Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, who told Mr Blair at prime minister's
question time in the Commons yesterday that no one
wanted "Railtrack practices imported on to the (NHS) wards".

Addressing the first post-election meeting of Labour MPs yesterday Mr Blair
insisted that reform as well as extra cash is needed to
deliver the promises on which Labour's reputation hangs.

"If we are not the reformers of the public services, people will look to
others to do it," he told MPs. "We are the people who believe
in the public services because we believe in the public service ethos. We
have to match that with a reform agenda."

Taunted by the Tory leader William Hague about replacing traditional "beer
and sandwiches with the unions with canapes with the
contractors" he later insisted: "We are not going to back down on essential
reform of public services."

Full article at:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,513779,00.html

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx