Back in business total renationalisation of the railways. On a range of policies the General Council had been forced to retreat. The mood has clearty changed now that Labour's second term is truly underway. Business that was truncated by the earty closure of last year's congress has been resumed. Council would war be justified. But this "pro-war" position cut little ice with the circumspect.
The new generation of trade union leaders stamped their mark on the congress clear. with a series of forthright
of this rotten compromise. As Mick Rix of ASLEF put it, "The UN is being used as a fig leaf. The US will launch strikes against been John Monks and the TUC that have led the pro-euro lobby. But as the prospect of a referendum approaches the TUC was forced to be more Though outright opposition to the euro was defeated on a card vote, this was only successful on the basis of a guarantee that a special conference will be held to determine TUC policy once the government's proposals are made The full impact of the euro on jobs, industry and public spending will then be debated. As delegates made clear, the key problem is that the growth and stability pact rules put strict limits on budget deficits and public spending The TUC has to decide: who is the euro designed to benefit - the workers of Europe or the multinationals? does the euro defend the welfare state - or integrate the neo-liberal agenda into the heart of the EU?