It is sometimes suggested that trade unionism and politics are two separate activities and that they should remain so. Last November millions of public sector trade unionists struck in opposition to changes in their pensions the headline figure being a 3% increase in members contributions, basically a special income tax to pay levied on those workers to pay for bankers in need. 61% of the public backed the strikers against the government. The point being strikes change public opinion, the bigger and more significant the strikes the better the change.
Since then various union leaderships have tried to abandon the struggle, other leaders have tried to downgrade it. They have been doing what union leaders always do without sufficient rank and file pressure put on them. Since then the NHS destruction bill has passed (without so much as a national demonstration, let alone ballot from any of the health unions). We've also seen Gideon Osborne's fuck you budget, complete with the abolition of the 50p tax rate, balanced by decreased tax allowances for pensioners, and working families. Michael Gove's nutty schemes have kept on coming. We've even had ministers advising us to store petrol in the event of a non-existent strike. Nuttiest of all we've seen goverment proposals to withdraw housing benefit from under 25s and Tory MPs suggesting prisoners should do litter picking in chain gangs, how that's supposed to make Britain's refuse collectors feel I don't know.
The Tories only do these crazy things because they reckon they can get away with it. Trade unions are the core of the opposition in the country. They MUST fight.
