To be or not to be...?

There is a debate going on about the meaning and significance of the October 20th TUC demonstration. This is a good thing and a natural thing, although beware, there is some right cobblers being peddled.

Was the demo a success? Compared to the last TUC march or the coordinated public sector strikes last year of course it was not. Half a million into one to two hundred thousand is a decline. But this is not comparing like with like. A year has passed in which several unions leaderships allowed pension dispute to die. No new national struggles have been organised, although the Olympic bus dispute was an interesting, rare phenomenon; an offensive strike that was (mostly) successful.

I was expecting the recent march to be much smaller than it was. The major union leaderships had no interest in delivering a conspicuously large demonstration that might raise members’ expectations. The leadership don’t want a fight, but some part of the union movement clearly does. It may be a minority, but it’s a big minority, and that’s where we start from.

So the question is, apparently, general strike or tax evasion campaign? Really, is that the best we can do?

Firstly, the proposed tax evasion campaign: why this is counter-posed to strike action (you probably know who I’m referring to)? The labour movement has just turned out another hundred thousand plus demonstration. We clearly are civilised human beings that can walk and chew gum at the same time. There are also tax evasion campaigns out there, successful ones that do not need to be replicated. Can’t the unions back those instead?

Finally on tax evasion, it is perfectly possible to be anti-tax evasion and pro-austerity. Tax evasion is part of the issue, it is not the issue. The issue is whether the capitalist class pass on the cost of the recession to the working class (and future generations of working class let’s not forget).

Secondly, on the matter of a general strike: of course the people who want a general strike or even co-ordinated industrial action are not in the driving seat. But we need not confuse strategy with tactics. It goes back to the minority we mentioned earlier, who do not want to duck a fight. The minority in the labour movement must come out of the shadows. A discussion about general strikes at this point is a way of getting the minority to recognise itself. Who wants to fight back? I do!

The Tory-led government has had far too easy a ride so far. It will take everything unless it is resisted. Unions resist by collective withdrawal of labour, and when they resist they draw support, inside and outside the union movement. This is because millions of people can see that the working class is finally in the game. This is what set piece industrial action does. We need increased resistance on the part of the unions. If we can’t have a general strike now we need one and we need to be discussing how to get one (whether this involves manoeuvring within existing unions structure or rank and file pressure, like the sparks campaigns is another argument for another time).

Lastly on the general strike, there will be one on November 14th across Europe. Its key support will be in Spain, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus. Why is such action good enough for them but not for us? Must we wait until we’re in the same wretched state as the Greeks before we lift a finger to defend ourselves?

We are at war, whether we want to be at not. Tax evasion campaigns or politely waiting for Labour, which is what’s actually being proposed here let’s be honest, amounts to pacifism.

Ed Miliband promises no end to working class austerity... Ed Miliband gets booed at trade union rally

      I mean, was it something he said? No, the funny thing is this mild booing (why boo when you can throw bottles?*) is being put down to the SWP brigade. I'd love it if we had a brigade. Labour hacks seem to have a recurring collective nightmare that all that stands between proper decent society and a ruthless, tentacular conspiracy to unleash working class insurrection, is them. Ed Miliband wants to save capitalism, you understand?

The only other explanation is that a large number of trade unionists have had enough of austerity, attacks on their working conditions, standards of living and the services they provide, enough to boo the leader of the Labour Party when he suggests there will be more attacks on their working conditions, standards of living and the services they provide... On Planet Miliband does not compute.

It's down to us, the working class movement, trade unions, tenants groups, student groups and broad campaigns to make a difference. Step one is march. Step two is strike.

*Online police take note, I am not suggesting this be done, merely that Ed Miliband will get over being booed. He really will.

Bozo bites!

“I’ll crush strikers” vows Boris Johnson. “I’ll crush them like police crush football fans” he added… OK, I added that last bit, but I just wanted to remind you… Boris Johnson lied in print about the victims of the Hillsborough Disaster, and he’s very, very sorry… that he got caught out (alright, I added that bit too – but it’s almost certainly the truth).

Bozo Johnson’s calling for new anti-union laws, the headline being raising the threshold for successful strike ballots to 50% of the membership, as opposed to 50% of those who take part. Bear in mind secret ballots to legalise strike action were introduced in order to destroy more direct forms of union democracy, demobilise members and put power in the hands of union full-timers.

Boris Johnson was not elected by 50% of the London electorate. Are there any MPs who were elected by 50% of their constituency? I doubt it. This government is allowed to cause “endless buggeration” (Johnson’s phrase) and even destroy vital public services, but what’s good enough for them is not good enough for Britain’s unions apparently (who, when they do occasionally grind into action, more often than not it’s to fight the government’s demolition of public services).  Johnson’s plans also include strike-bans in various sectors and provisions for minimum service levels in others.  If this were to be put into action it would be Armageddon for effective legal trade unionism in Britain, back to the Tolpuddle days, and wouldn’t that suit the Tories.

But, also, what is this based on, this new proposed onslaught on our rights? Do the unions cause “endless” problems for our Tory overlords? Hardly. There is a weird right-wing obsession with the RMT. They’re always on strike, especially on the underground and by always we mean for a few days once every couple of years or so in various sectors.

While we may disagree with the union’s tactics, they are the union’s prerogative and the RMT is certainly more active than most unions. Even so, this is hardly a wave of insurrection. The economy is not in the doldrums because of trade unions.

We are seeing the rise of truthiness in British politics:

Truthiness is a quality characterizing a "truth" that a person claims to know intuitively "from the gut" or because it "feels right" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.

 What matters these days is not logic, reason or the outcome of rigorous debate. The lack of a continual opponent, however wobbly and uncertain, seems to have made the ruling class soft in the head. Except in America it’s a very effective tactic. Remove reality from politics and you’re free to rig the terms society lives by, imagination is the only limit. The Tories have an agenda. They do not expect to win another election. They are trying to fix the terms of mainstream politics for a generation by rushing through the maddest, most provocative right-wing agenda possible. 

Expect a trade union destruction bill very soon.

David Cameron says tanker drivers have no justification for striking

Yes, well, the corrupt pig would say that. Tanker drivers can't hold the country to ransom, only 'premier league' Tory party donors can do that. What justification does the drivers union claim? Let's do what no national newspaper or TV or radio outlet seems to want to do and find out. First of all:

Members of Unite working for five major fuel distribution firms delivering fuel for household names, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, BP, Shell and Esso backed a call for strike action by an average of 69 per cent. Turnouts across the five companies averaged 77.7 per cent.

Unite urged the employers to meet their responsibilities and talk meaningfully about establishing reasonable minimum standards that secure the stability of this vital national industry. Attempts by the union to progress a forum have been thwarted by employers’ unrelenting attacks on drivers’ terms and conditions.

The results for the seven companies involved in the ballot are:

Turners 94.4 per cent in favour on a turnout of 81.8 per cent.
Norbert Dentressangle 74.8 per cent in favour on a turnout of 71.3 per cent.
Wincanton 68.4 per cent in favour on a turnout of 71.9 per cent.
BP 60.2 per cent in favour on a turnout of 85.8 per cent.
Hoyer 59.7 per cent in favour on a turnout of 79.7 per cent.

In DHL drivers narrowly voted against strike action (44.6 per cent), but voted in favour of action short of a strike (53 per cent). Members in Suckling voted against strike action (85 per cent) and action short of strike (76 per cent).

Over 61.1 per cent of those voting across the seven companies voted for strike action.

I mean, come on, just because you vote, freely and fairly for something doesn't mean you're entitled to get it; give us £250k, THEN we'll see what we can do. But why have they voted like this?

Tanker drivers work in an increasingly fragmented and pressurised industry where corners are being cut on safety and training in a bid to squeeze profits and win contracts. Drivers face growing job insecurity as a result of the contract ‘merry-go-round’ and a ‘beat the clock’ culture has flourished with drivers forced to meet ever shorter delivery deadlines.

Final salary pension schemes have been swapped for inferior money purchase schemes, and some workers are now on their sixth pension in as many years, with 10 to 15 years left to go in the industry.

Saftey, wages, pensions, piffle! What's important is that striking is bad, and the tanker drivers shouldn't do it because it would be back to the bad old days of the winter of discontent, when even tanker drivers refused to bury the dead, oh woe! If the tanker drivers do go on strike we've got to all pull together, do our bit for UKPLC (4 years without a stock market crash) and panic hoard petrol, sorry, stock up on petrol and store it in our garages... Hang on a minute, isn't that a bit dangerous?

Countdown to disappointment...?

The University and Colleges Union has called off industrial action over pensions, what's the odds now that the NUT will do the same? I sincerely hope they don't but, there's that word... hope. What's left except the hope that the British organised working class will actually do something to defend itself (and by extension the rest of the working class)?

We've tried and tried and we will keep trying to rouse people. If you don't fight you will lose. At what point do you conclude they just aren't going to listen? How long are the trade unions going to insist on being terrorised by the ghost of Margaret Thatcher and the Miners Strike? Are we really heading into a new dark-age of right-wing ascendancy? If it's a possibility we have to consider it.