Ann O’Byrne fits that bill and we fully believe she will make a huge difference to the way the city is run.
GMB union regional political officer, Neil Smith, is supporting Ann O’Byrne as Labour candidate for Liverpool Mayor.
As one of the biggest trade unions in the UK the GMB trade union can boast a positive impact on the lives of many working people. Our campaigns on employment rights, health and safety, Public services and the need for the most robust Covid safe conditions across the country are there to be shouted about and pursued robustly.
To have an impression on our society in these and other issues is an essential element of our existence. The very reason for our existence is to protect our members and their families and friends and communities. Our work during the Coronavirus in particular has been aimed at the powers that be to spend sufficient amounts of the country’s resources on protecting jobs and health. But we have also been grafting hard behind the scenes delivering food parcels and provisions to the hardest hit by austerity and the pandemic.
As a trade union proud of its traditions of fighting for working folk we need to take a three-fold approach.
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Industrial, where we use our reps and branches to tackle issues in the workplace.
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Legal where we pursue employers at tribunals or personal injury cases, targeting bosses who have ignored the laws on employment rights and health and safety for example.
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Political, working hard to build relationships with those people who have been elected to decision making roles in parliament and local authorities.
Political influence is major part of our tool box, influencing councils and MPs to challenge the government (local and national) on issues that we want to change or prevent. Cuts to public service jobs, redundancy or closure threats of large employers that could decimate communities, investment plans in our cities, towns and countryside. All these things are on our agenda and we need to engage with politicians.
Our region is proud of our recent history in demanding and receiving support from politicians. Successful battles for jobs in manufacturing like Cammell Laird and Harland Wolff, fights for jobs and services in local authorities have only been possible because of our political influences.
So that is why we are supporting the campaign for the election of Ann O Byrne to be the Labour candidate for the post of Liverpool Mayor. We need the right people on board, achieving positive change can only be won by electing good, competent, committed people. Ann O’Byrne fits that bill and we fully believe she will make a huge difference to the way the city is run.
Incorruptible, committed to trade union principles and practices, dedicated to working hard for her class and community, we see Ann O’Byrne in that light. It is an important campaign to elect good people, as the citizens of the USA have recently seen. Change for the better can only happen of we pull together and create an opportunity to transform attitudes at all levels of government.
GMB union member Ann O’Byrne deserves our support and we will get her support in return.
Neil Smith
GMB trade union
Political Officer
