Labour stuffs manifesto with goodies for its paymasters in the trade unions

TRADE union bosses gave Labour's manifesto a rapturous welcome today after the party unveiled a set of plans tailor-made to appeal to them.

Jeremy Corbyn's programme for government was trailed as being "For the many, not the few" when he announced it in Bradford.

But along with sweeping plans to increase spending and taxes, Labour has included a host of relatively obscure measures which tie in with union special interests.

The party pledges to restore conductors to trains, re-introduce pay bargaining across whole sectors of the economy and hold inquiries into decades-old industrial disputes.

Some of Labour's measures will make it easier for workers to strike - for example, allowing online voting and scrapping the minimum turnout requirements for a ballot.

And others put the unions at the heart of the economy, by allowing them to define whether or not workers are self-employed and govern apprenticeship programmes.

Unite boss Len McCluskey praised Labour for "offering real change", while other union chiefs said the manifesto plans were "exciting and progressive".

Last week, it was reported that several measures in the manifesto had been copied directly from union briefing documents.

Labour is mostly dependent on large trade unions for its funding, after donations from wealthy individuals dried up in recent years.

And when the final version of the manifesto was published this morning, it contained several measures which are likely to be of little interest to the general public but embraced by the unions.

The document pledges to nationalise the railways, adding: "We will deliver real improvements for passengers by capping fares, introducing free wi-fi across the network, ensuring safe staffing levels, ending the expansion of driver only operations, and introducing legal duties to improve accessibility for people with disabilities."

Over the past year, the unions have waged a bitter battle with Southern Rail over plans to remove conductors from trains.

RMT boss Mick Cash said today: "Labour’s manifesto recognises the dangers of driver-only operation and commits to safe and accessible railways for all.

"The manifesto represents a massive boost for public transport after more than two decades of Tory privatisation."

Labour also pledges to hold public inquiries into the Battle of Orgreave, a clash between striking miners and police officers in 1984, and the practice of "blacklisting" workers who agitated for better conditions.

In addition, the party will open the archives relating to 24 activists who were taken to court for joining a flying picket in Shrewsbury in 1972, and the case of dozens of striking workers from Cammell Laird shipyard in Merseyside who were fired 33 years ago.

The manifesto also states: "Labour will legislate to permit secure online and workplace balloting for industrial action votes and internal union elections."

Coupled with the abolition of last year's Trade Union Act - which states that a strike ballot must get a 50 per cent turnout to be valid - the move will make it easier for union chiefs to hold strikes.

The power of the unions would be bolstered by Mr Corbyn's plans to give them seats on the boards of the Ministry for Labour and the Institute of Apprenticeships.

Labour's manifesto even gives a namecheck to obscure regulations such as "TUPE" and the "Swedish derogation", both measures which affect workers' rights in certain situations.

Mr McCluskey, known as "Red Len" for his hardline views, said today: "What Labour is doing today is what Labour does best – offering real change for the many in this country. Labour will invest in our people and build a Britain that we can all be proud of."

Mick Whelan of transport union Aslef added: "This is an exciting and progressive platform on which Labour can fight the next election.

"We especially welcome the promise to bring Britain’s railways back into public ownership – a policy on which Aslef has campaigned passionately ever since John Major’s ill-starred privatisation of British Rail in 1994 – and freeze passenger fares across the network."

And TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: "What’s not to like?"