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  1. Politics
14 September 2009

The Guardian’s trade union blunder

The Guardian accused us of ignoring trade unions in the week we published our trade union guide

By George Eaton

An otherwise unremarkable leader in Saturday’s Guardian took a passing swipe at this publication: “This week’s New Statesman is more interested in the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers than next week’s TUC; trade unions, and trade unionists, have almost vanished from mainstream political debate.”

Apparently neither the Guardian’s leader writers nor its sub-editors noticed the inclusion of our annual trade union guide in the same issue. The guide, which was flagged up on the cover, featured interviews with nine trade union leaders including the TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, Unite’s Derek Simpson, Unison’s Dave Prentis and the CWU’s Billy Hayes, as well as a comprehensive trade union directory.

But when was the last time the Guardian published an interview with a trade union leader? I called up the subject page and couldn’t find one in the past two months. Even the Times managed a two-page interview with Comrade Crow on Saturday.

On the opening day of the TUC conference, today’s Guardian is more interested in hearing from a prospective Tory candidate than a trade union leader.

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