Brighton - Trade unions in Britain must shake off the prejudices of the 1970s and embrace a modern, competitive society, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, told the TUC conference in Brighton yesterday. Mr Blair used his speech to urge the unions to "modernise your political structures as we have done in the Labour party".
Despite fears that his speech had been upstaged by comments made by the general secretary of the GMB general union, Mr John Edmonds, who said a Labour government using Tory phrases in relation to the unions made him "shiver a little", Mr Blair appeared passionate. He promised the unions a government White Paper on fairness at work at the beginning of next year that would set minimum standards to deal with bad employers. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, sparked a row at the conference when he told the delegates that employers had a "moral responsibility" to recognise the chosen representatives of employees.