June 2016 communist-party.org.uk
unity!
TUC Trades Councils’ Conference Special
The labour movement needs to rethink the EU
B
ACK IN THE 1980s when the trade union movement faced a massive onslaught from the Tories, Jacques Delors as president of the EU Commission, spoke of trade unions as social partners. over the following ten years he sought to give content to the term ‘social europe’ by introducing measures which gave the same basic rights on health and safety, working hours, works councils and gender equality at work to all workers across the eu. these measures were of significant assistance for trade unionists in britain and won many to give wholehearted support to the eu as an institution – even though traditionally the labour Party had opposed the eu from atlee and bevan on to michael foot, barbara castle and tony benn. these measures were, however, directly accompanied by the first great push to secure an eu single market: opening up local government to private procurement and requiring public utilities, rails, gas, electricity, communications and ferries, to be broken up into competing and privatised units. it was claimed that this new single market would generate, through the elimination of inefficiencies, massive new levels of demand and create five million new jobs – even though workers would need to move on to where the work was needed. at the same time rules were laid down under the maastricht treaty that banned governments facing economic crisis from adopting Keynesian policies of deficit
financing to prevent rising unemployment. instead unemployment itself was meant to overcome crisis by reducing wages and pushing workers to wherever labour markets remained tight. this has remained the basic economic principle of the eu ever since and had been progressively tightened. in 2012 the eu fiscal compact banned any deficit at all. this is what the european congress of trade unions said at the time: Running as a red line through the programme of Economic Governance is the idea of turning wages into the main instrument of adjustment: currency devaluations (which are no longer possible inside the Euro Area) are to be replaced by a devaluation of pay in the form of deflationary wage cuts. To achieve this wage ‘flexibility’, labour market institutions which prevent wages from falling are perceived as being a ‘rigidity' which should be eliminated. this is also why the eu has moved to dismantle collective bargaining structures across all the ‘debtor’ nations and why the eu court of Justice has banned trade union action to enforce the same collectively bargained rates for local and ‘posted’ workers. eu economics are neo-liberal. they require competition between workers to be maximised. that’s why solidarity and collective bargaining are off the agenda. so equally is economic democracy: the ability of parliaments to limit the powers of big business. this is why the movement needs a rethink. there is no basic difference between the principles of the eu today and ttiP.
EU rubbish
Work to remove this government from office
by
RobeRt GRiffiths
WHY ARE senior Labour politicians so desperate to rubbish the past achievements of trade unions and Labour governments? In arguing the case for Britain remaining in the European Union, they seem to attribute almost all progressive workplace reforms to the EU. It’s as though all the industrial action and mass campaigning for trade union recognition, collective bargaining rights, the right to strike, equal pay for women, a national minimum wage and higher standards of health and safety never happened. Did not Labour governments pass the Employment Protection Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act, the National Minimum Wage Act, the Trade Union Act and much else besides. EU treaties expressly prohibit any EU action to enforce trade union recognition, the right to strike or a statutory minimum wage. Leading labour movement figures are ‘keeping shtum’ about a series of antiworker and anti-trade union judgments from the European Court of Justice. It as though the EU court rulings outlawing industrial action and national legislation to enforce equal treatment for imported or ‘posted’ workers have never happened - even though the British and European TUCs had plenty to say against them before the referendum began. The EU doesn’t protect workers against anti-trade union laws, because its priority is big business, austerity and privatisation. RobeRt GRiffiths is GeneRal secRetaRy of the communist PaRty
Class contradictions and political awareness generally have sharpened… resulting in Jeremy T THIS Conference, and Corbyn’s victory in Labour’s every other working class leadership elections. forum, our target must be But the ruling class are not a definitive defeat of this Tory government, sufficient to remove it unaware of these developments! They seek to destabilise the from office. It’s within our grasp. Labour leadership - and they have Our agenda reflects the aspirations of working class Britain. “left” and Right allies to help them. They’re determined to All need to be considered in the continue “austerity”, whose context of the continuing ruling unstated but clear purpose is to class offensive against us, and “rebalance” the economy by everything that we have won. shifting wealth, resources and We need unity in clear strategic direction around a practical target. industrial strength from that won The strategy must be to defeat the in struggle by workers back to those from whom it was won, the class war austerity programme of capitalist class. the European capitalist class in To do this they need to inflict a every nation, and across the EU, by decisive defeat on us as organised continuing to build a unified workers. They’ve done it before in movement, and beginning to living memory and plan to do it develop a politically focused antiagain. Our response can only be to monopoly alliance in Britain. The be equally determined, strategic… practical target – the defeat of and organise to inflict such a their Tory government. decisive defeat on them. Since Conference 2015, Unions The first opportunity is just a have taken increasingly positive couple of weeks away. The positions in struggle. We’ve seen capitalist class is divided on the sustained growth of opposition to European Union, but their real austerity through the People’s political players - not their Assembly, and the close working relationship between the Assembly maverick “Right wing”, clowns, and our own Trade Union Councils. populist careerists and selfBy
MOz GREENSHIELDS
A
T
HE RULING by Judge Elisabeth Laing that it was unlawful for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to stop the use of the check-off system by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is a rebuff to the government’s anti-union offensive and a satisfying slap in the face for the unsavoury former Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude. Confronted with a revived Labour Party and firm union opposition the Tories, already forced to carry out U-turns on some of their legislation, has backed down on some aspects of its Trade Union Bill. But the new act still carries great dangers. Still a useful read is the Communist Party’s pamphlet Trade Union Bill and how to kill it Available from the online shop at www.communist-party.org.uk
publicists - know that the future of capitalism in Europe lies with the monopoly corporate interests and ruthless neoliberal, austerity policies of the European Union. We have a huge opportunity to inflict a decisive defeat on the Cameron/Osborne Tory Government with a “Leave” vote – but much of the TUC seems determined to deliver an endorsement of the Tory leadership with a yES vote! The “rank and file” will not allow it…. we hope! Whatever the EU referendum result, we have a war to win. We must not be distracted by the Tories’ deceptions, OR believe that the new Labour leadership can deliver us from evil. As ever, it’s down to us to face the world squarely, see it as it is, not as we would wish it to be, and to develop a battleplan for winning, not just protesting. That’s our task running through every debate this weekend. moz GReenshields is deRby aRea tRades union council secRetaRy and tucJcc east midlands RePResentative and a membeR of the communist PaRty executive committee
2015 was a year of struggle in the working class and labour movement. A storm of creative political energy was unleashed by Jeremy Corbyn’s runaway campaign to win the leadership of the Labour Party. In a year-long series of sharply analytical Morning Star articles Robert Griffiths charted the renaissance of working class politics that can lead to the overthrow of this government and has laid the basis for a Labour government of a new type Read them in this latest Morning Star pamphlet. £2 www.shop.morningstaronline.co.uk