Union chief's parting shot at Labour

John Edmonds: Not going quietly

John Edmonds has used his final speech as leader of the GMB trade union to accuse the Labour government of siding with bosses over workers.

Mr Edmonds, who steps down as GMB general secretary later this week, told the union's annual conference that the government had failed to support key moves to strengthen workers' rights.

"I get the persistent feeling that this Labour government feels more comfortable with the employers' agenda than with ours," he said.

"A Labour government should be supporting working people, not denying them their rights."

Mr Edmonds also criticised Tony Blair's agreement last year with right-wing Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi to water down a European programme of employment rights, describing the deal as "shameful."

He paid tribute to the government's "considerable" achievements in introducing the minimum wage and boosting employment, but hit out at Labour spin doctors' tendency to "rubbish" trade union policies.

Rift

"These so-called political advisers and the ministers for whom they work should remember that it was the trade unions who held the party together in the 1980s."

"It was the unions who kept the party afloat when all those millionaire friends that the government has recently discovered would not have donated a used bus ticket to Labour Party funds."

Mr Edmond's comments reflect growing tension between the Labour government and its traditional supporters in the trade union movement.

Mr Edmonds, a vocal critic of Labour, has in particular attacked government efforts to encourage private sector financing of public service construction projects.

High-profile disputes over public sector pay, which led last year to strikes by firemen and other key workers, have put relations between the government and unions under added strain.

Mr Edmonds will be succeeded by Kevin Curran, the GMB's northern regional boss, who has pledged to review the union's links with the Labour party.