The Green Party And Unions

Peter Tatchell, on The Guardian's Comment is Free:

Last weekend's Green Party spring conference witnessed a further consolidation of the party's position as the largest and most progressive alternative to the big three grey parties - all of which are wedded, to varying degrees, to the corporate agenda of big business. The conference passed resolutions condemning the creeping privatisation of the NHS and calling for the railways to be returned to public ownership. In debate after debate, a recurring theme was the defence of public services and the public accountability of economic institutions.

We already have a Green Party Trade Union Group (GPTUG) with its own dedicated website and blog. It supports workers' rights and is working with union members to advance a green agenda that is social as well as environmental.

Profit-maximisation and the free market imperatives of international capital threaten the future of life on earth. They put economic growth, materialism, consumerism and money-making before quality of life and human welfare. A green-union alliance is more urgent and relevant than ever before. Many union members already share our green critique of the ever-expanding, profit-oriented, market-driven nature of the globalised economic system. Unions are potential allies for the green movement. We should work with them, in solidarity.