The latest 'consultation' from the ConDem government is likely to scrap employees' right to ask for time for skills training - foolish when we need to upskill our workforce. The axe is also hanging over the agency workers directive.

During this time of change within Labour both the parliamentary party and the unions need to reinvigorate their relationship to show their core values to the general public

Tory talk is of a rise of compensation claims over the last ten years yet successive reports illustrate there is no such thing and that claims have, in fact, been falling over the past decade.

A glance at the party's history reveals their chequered history on relations with trade unions, from Lloyd George in the 'Great Unrest' to Vince Cable in the Daily Mail

A Conservative win could see deep incursions into hard-won rights at work

Just over a month after welcoming in the new decade, for many it already feels like we are on a general election footing. Ever present polls, media coverage and column inches are monitoring this year's journey to the ballot box. We are hearing about aspiration versus austerity; plans and protection for the NHS; alterations to the education system; and electoral reform.

Over the past 12 years the trade union movement has worked with the Labour government to bring in a vast tally of rights and recognitions that have made a real difference to the lives of women in the workplace and beyond. The trade unions have campaigned long and hard on behalf of working women, for workplace equality rights and an end to gender based discrimination. These very same rights were, at best, eroded and at worst, extinguished during the previous 18 years of Conservative rule.

As we near November and the first anniversary of Obama’s historic election victory, it seems a fitting point to reflect on what this regularly referenced and successful campaign entailed. Not least, the timing is key as here at home we enter the ‘long campaign’ to next year’s general election. So what can be learnt from the Obama victory and how can it be applied in the next six months? In particular, the US unions were at the heart of the campaign to get the Democrats into the White House and, in many aspects, led the way in demonstrating how organisations like unions can communicate with their members and ultimately impact on the result of a general election.

Last week’s Labour party conference has been widely billed by politicians, activists and others as ‘the fight back’ conference.

In the trade union movement, we’re familiar with fighting. Fighting, that is on behalf of our members – for decent jobs, training and opportunity. It is also well documented that at times and on key issues that matter to our members we have challenged this Labour government – on issues such as the part privatisation of the Post Office, protecting and extending pensions, rights for temporary and agency workers and Public Finance Initiatives.

The dispute at the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight following the announcement that production would move to China, with the resulting loss of 625 jobs, has brought home not simply the reality of the recession but the rhetoric around ‘green jobs’.

Back in November, as the G20 gathered in London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown led the world in calling for ‘global solutions to global problems’. The unprecedented problems of what is largely being viewed as the greatest financial crisis of a generation demands that governments work together on regulation, reform and resolution.

The financial uncertainty that has gripped the globe in recent times has brought insecurity not just to the world markets and economy but also to staff who work in financial services in the UK.

In the last few weeks, with the press and public furore over MPs’ expenses dominating the headlines, you could be forgiven for forgetting that the UK is in the midst of a major global recession.

The Labour party was created by the trade unions at the dawn of the twentieth century, to give a political voice to the values, concerns and aspirations of trade union members. Over 100 years later trade unions continue to recognise this historic and important relationship, working and organising for change in both the workplace and Westminster.