++ TUC PLEDGES TO RESIST THE NATIONAL IDENTITY SCHEME "WITH ALL
MEANS AT ITS DISPOSAL" ++
This week the Trades Union Congress (TUC) voted at their Congress in
Brighton to resist the National ID scheme with all means at its
disposal, "including consideration of legal action to uphold civil
liberties". The motion was put forward by the British Air Line Pilots'
Association (BALPA) in light of government plans to require workers in
aviation to enrol in the National Identity Scheme in 2009. The motion
states: "Congress sees absolutely no value in the scheme or in
improvements to security that might flow from this exercise and feels
that aviation workers are being used as pawns in a politically led
process which might lead to individuals being denied the right to work
because they are not registered or chose not to register in the scheme."
The motion puts unions on a collision course with the government over
civil liberties and contradicts government spin that "unions approve ID
cards" issued after the Labour Party National Policy Forum at Warwick at
the end of July.