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Guardian letters page + article (below)
Unions take aim at NMD
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/letters/story/0,3604,506512,00.html
Thursday June 14, 2001 The Guardian We note with alarm George Bush's plans for an anti-ballistic missile system
(Bush talks a different language, June 13). This initiative will not make the
world a safer place and will do immense damage to international treaties
covering weapons of mass destruction. It will also considerably undermine
international confidence in treaties as a system of resolving problems, if the
US is set to set them aside when it feels it is expedient to do so. We therefore
consider it wholly inappropriate for our government to support this initiative
and strongly urge it not to do so.
Bill Morris General secretary, TGWU John Edmonds General secretary, GMB Gordon Taylor General secretary, Unison Chief executive, PFA and 13 other trade union general secretaries Unions press Blair on missiles
http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4203886,00.html Labour conference may face demand to oppose US defence plan Special report: George Bush's America Patrick Wintour, chief political correspondent, and Ian Black in Brussels Thursday June 14, 2001 The Guardian Tony Blair is for the first time facing serious union and party pressure to oppose George Bush's proposals for a nuclear missile defence shield. Unions and Labour MPs are preparing to demand that the Labour party conference backs a resolution opposing any cooperation with the US plans. In the first sign of the mounting scale of the opposition, 18 union general secretaries have written to the Guardian today warning that Mr Bush's scheme for an anti-ballistic missile system will do "immense damage to international treaties covering weapons of mass destruction". They add that if the US is to set aside treaties when it feels it is expedient to do so, "international confidence in treaties as a system of resolving prob lems will be considerably undermined". They conclude that it would be "wholly inappropriate for our government to support this initiative and strongly urge it not to do so". The letter is timed to cause maximum impact as, at the Nato summit in Brussels yesterday, Mr Blair adopted the role of the EU leader most supportive in public of the US president's plans. The prime minister praised an "articulate" Mr Bush for consulting European allies over the so-called Son of Star Wars missile defence scheme and insisted Britain shared US concerns about "unstable states".' Mr Blair made clear yesterday he wanted to avoid any confrontation with Washington over the issue, as did other EU leaders. "We understand entirely, and indeed share, the American concerns," he said. "There are highly unstable states who are developing nuclear capability. We have got to look at all the different ways, including defence systems, that we can deal with that threat." Any party conference defeat for Mr Blair on the issue would be a severe embarrassment for the party leadership, and revive memories of some of the battles in the 80s over the stationing of US cruise missiles. In private, British government officials believe Mr Bush is going to press ahead with deployment of the missile shield anyway, so there is little point mounting a futile campaign of public opposition. The leaders of most of the big Labour party affiliated unions have signed the letter to the Guardian, including the general secretaries of the Transport and General Workers Union, Unison, and the GMB. The leaders of two other unions - Usdaw and MSF - who have not signed are likely to fall into line since their annual conferences have both passed resolutions opposing national missile defence. The powerful Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union, the linchpin of Blairism in the Labour movement, is not likely to oppose Mr Blair on the issue. A union source said it was unlikely that the opposition to the missile shield would be voiced at the TUC, but plans were under way for a critical motion at the Labour conference. Before the election 181 MPs, the vast bulk of them Labour backbenchers, signed an early day motion opposing the Bush plan. Malcolm Savidge, its sponsor, said he was planning to retable the motion and was hoping to get wider support in the new parliament. The Foreign Office said yesterday that Ben Bradshaw, the newly appointed junior foreign office minister, would take responsibility for disarmament and security issues. In Brussels, Mr Blair sidestepped questions about his views on the 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty, the cold war era arms control pact which Mr Bush is determined to scrap. "I think the most important thing that came across very strongly, even from those who have reservations about missile defence, is that Europe and America should always stick together," Mr Blair said. "Of course there will be areas where we need intensive consultation and negotiation on issues like missile defence, but the world is a more stable and secure place if Europe and America are together." Mr Blair said he did not recognise the "caricature" of Mr Bush as an unintelligent unilateralist who did not care for what Europeans thought. To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
