Employer issues dominate Labour Party conference

Employer issues top the agenda at this year’s Labour Party conference for the first time in years.

The conference, which began in Brighton yesterday, sees work and pensions secretary, David Blunkett, discussing potential solutions to the UK pensions crisis, ahead of November’s Pensions Commission report.

Unions are pressing again for government recognition of secondary picketing in light of the British Airways/Gate Gourmet dispute, although they will get short shrift from prime minister Tony Blair.

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But while ministers may not be prepared to concede on secondary strikes, they did make a pre-election pact over greater employee rights and the unions are calling for these promises to be honoured.

It is also likely that motions condemning the increasing role of the private sector in the health service and urging UK workers to get the same employment rights as their European counterparts will be passed.