The TUC must be eliminated

[wurzel]

They are nothing compared to their 1970s power, but they still provide over 50% of the funding of the Labour Party. That buys them some degree of influence in government policy, together with various quangos that their tentacles stretch to.

Roll on next June.

Indeed and I would imagine that they exert a lot more influence than they did in 1997 as labour have lost key donors in recent times.

[GreenerGrass]

They are nothing compared to their 1970s power, but they still provide over 50% of the funding of the Labour Party. That buys them some degree of influence in government policy, together with various quangos that their tentacles stretch to.

Roll on next June.

[MrMark]

Lovely banks had nothing to do with it

Funny - Here I was imagining that it was the banks and their uncontrolled lending inflating a housing price bubble that caused the present situation - businesses going under, millions made unemployed etc.
All the TUC is, is the guy at the end of the bar spouting off ( a bit like this board really). If you imagine that they have any power left, you're living in the 70s.

[centurian]

Well the government have already removed the relief over 150K, so I guess it's only a matter of time before that bar gets lowered. I think the next milestone will be 100K

Quite a few TUC union-affiliated members earn just over 40K a year though, so it will hit them pretty hard if it applies to all higher rate taxpayers.

I wonder how it works on final salary schemes though - especially with employer contributions.

[GreenerGrass]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE58C15Z20090914

"Tax increases are inevitable -- the question is who will pay them: the poor and average earners, or the best off?" TUC chief Brendan Barber told delegates from across the trade union movement at their annual conference in Liverpool.

"Fairness surely demands the latter."

Barber wants tax avoidance to be addressed, a reduction in pensions tax relief for higher rate taxpayers

Pure spiteful envy there, not only do these b@stards want to tax us into poverty to support their members completely unsustainable final salary-type schemes, they want to deny one of the few ways left for private sector workers to provide a retirement.
There was a place for unions in the 19th century, but now they just destroy their own members jobs and have the nerve to start lecturing on stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with them.
They must be crushed for the sake of democracy, once and for all. Not only have they funded the New Labour nightmare, their ambition and attempts to dicate policy are growing.