Union calls for David Cameron's TUC invite to be withdrawn
A leading union has launched a campaign to persuade the TUC to withdraw an invitation to Prime Minister David Cameron to address this year's TUC Congress, it was announced today.
The Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said it was mobilising grassroots opposition among rank and file trade unionists, claiming that members had reacted with "horror" to the prospect of Mr Cameron addressing delegates at the annual conference in Manchester in September.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today: "RMT members up and down the country are leading a grassroots campaign to get the invitation to David Cameron to address the TUC pulled and we have already made it clear that if he does pitch up, we will lead a walk-out of delegates, which will leave his words echoing around an empty hall.
"This ConDem Government are launching the biggest attack on the trade union movement since Margaret Thatcher set out to break the National Union of Mineworkers and the idea that we should sit there and take a lecture on fiscal fascism from David Cameron is madness.
"The TUC should be a platform for mobilising the co-ordinated fightback against the attacks on jobs, pensions, public services and living standards that are at the heart of this Government's programme as they try and force working people to pay for the mess created by the bankers.
"There is no way it should be allowed to degenerate into a publicity opportunity for a man whose party is hell-bent on destroying us."
