Unions unite in their opposition to PFI

John Monks told last month's Trades Union Congress that public services had continued to be "a major, major question for the general council over the last year." The subject was also the focus of one of the key debates.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of public services union UNISON attacked: "a world where private contractors, with an appalling record of failure are praised as innovators and risk takers. A world where think tanks sponsored by companies making millions from privatisation, produce influential reports promoting it."

Monks was also scathing about the process: "Handing over a service lock stock and barrel to the private sector is not an innovative or entrepreneurial solution - it's buck passing, an abdication of responsibility and, ultimately a policy that will fail."

The GMB continued its high-profile campaigning against PFI by exposing the profits and directors' pay of 10 of the leading firms with PFI contracts. General secretary John Edmonds condemned the "privatisation pay pirates" like the £583,000-a-year Paris Moayedi of Jarvis, a contractor with 21 PFI projects and the maintenance company at the centre of the controversy over the Potters Bar train crash.

Delegates backed a motion that called for a moratorium on further PFI projects while a detailed independent inquiry takes place.