(Tuesday 21 April 2009)
SCOTTISH TUC president Fiona Farmer set the tone for this year's congress with a stinging attack on Monday on the financial elite who have caused the global economic crisis.
Ms Farmer told delegates that the prevailing economic system based on financial innovation, deregulation and a race to the bottom on business taxation has collapsed with appalling consequences for workers and their families across the developed and developing world.
She said that the market-driven model which has held sway for the last 30 years had not just failed - it had "imploded in spectacular fashion.
"The collective prosperity of ordinary workers and their families is threatened by the prodigious cost of propping up financial institutions that were run for the benefit of a self-absorbed and arrogant economic elite whose influence stretched far beyond the financial sector," she said.
Ms Farmer added that the full impact of the recession had yet to be felt in Scotland, as jobs continue to disappear in manufacturing, house building, retail and other service industries, as well as the finance sector.
"There are also increasing moves toward short-time working, pay freezes, cuts and redeployment," she pointed out.
"Once again, it is the people we represent who are carrying the can for the selfishness and recklessness of economic elites and the complacency of government," she said.
On the basis that government cannot be allowed to repeat the mistakes of the past, she also argued for a strong fiscal stimulus in the Budget tomorrow.
"Regulators should take a far tougher line on the bonus culture, capital reserves and the trading of securities," Ms Farmer argued.
She also had a clear warning for the Labour administration.
"The current situation where the government is a majority stake holder without exercising control is wholly unsustainable, politically and economically," she said.
"We have made the case for a low-carbon industrial strategy, a Scottish Investment Bank, increased investment in science, technology, engineering and maths, enhanced research and development credits, sectoral procurement strategies and increased state aid for manufacturing."
Ms Farmer also told conference that one of the highlights of her presidential year had been a visit to Venezuela in November, a country with "genuine socialist policies, where there has been major investment in health, education and housing."
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