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
This Trade Union Act Books@ is a clear danger still manifesto by
caRolyn Jones
T
the Morning Star is the world’s only english language socialist daily paper. founded in 1930 as the Daily Worker, the organ of the central committee of the communist Party, it is today run by a cooperative, the People’s Press Printing society whose management committee includes eight national trade unions. it provides day to day coverage of the fight for workplace rights and the struggle against the cuts and the tory government. until his election as labour leader Jeremy corbyn was a weekly columnist. leading figures in the Green Party and Plaid cymru, in momentum and cnd, stop the War write regularly in the paper. its online edition is proving very
popular with busy trade union activists who want and need reliable and informed labour movement news. a top flight design team from the famed danish Robotnik design agency are working on a relaunch. its sports coverage, especially football (including womens’ football), boxing and racing is renowned. the paper’s voices of scotland series, every tuesday, includes leading figures from the labour Party, snP, ssP and the trade union movement. the paper is available at all cooperative stores and at Rs mccolls and can be ordered at any newsagent. it is also available on line at www.morningstaronline.co.uk
Buy and read the Morning Star £1 weekdays, £1.20 weekends from your newsagent
www.morningstaronline.co.uk
communist Review Theoretical and discussion journal of the Communist Party number 79 • spring 2016 The 1916 Rising: a risen people challenges the empire Eugene McCartan State monopoly capitalism Part 2 Gretchen Binus, Beate Landefeld and Andreas Wehr Marxism versus reformism in the 1926 General Strike Jack Cohen The French anomaly Jimmy Jancovich Women workers and trade unions: still much room for improvement Review: Mary Davis plus letter, further review and soul food
this new pamphlet from the communist Party, written by John foster, ends with a warning. the eu’s imposition of neoliberal policies on all governments, including those led by the traditional parties of the left, has resulted in the collapse of support for social democracy. in the coming referendum voters will be asked to support an even more neoliberal and probusiness eu. such an outcome would pose an additional danger that cameron would use it to argue that the electorate has voted in support of the eu’s so-called free market policies and therefore against labour’s programme for public ownership and enhanced public spending. £2 from online at www.communist-party.org.uk/shop/
Written by the education commission of the communist Party this pamphlet outlines the cause and solution to the crisis in britain's education system.
HE TRADE UNION Act received Royal Assent on Wednesday 4 May – the 90th anniversary of the 1926 General Strike – and much of it is likely to be in force by the end of the year. The Act is a shadow of the Bill first proposed, but dangerous details hide in those shadows so shining a light on the dangers ahead and exposing the intentions behind the Act are vital. If not our kids and their kids will suffer as the power of trade unions to organise, to represent and to defend living standards are choked off by this anti-working class Act. Some of the more bizarre proposals in the Bill have been removed as have some of the more extreme. But many of the “flagship” elements of the Tory Bill are now UK law. On ballots, the imposition of a 50% turnout and an additional 40% support for workers in important services make it near impossible for many of those leading the resistance against privatisation and cuts to take industrial action. Promises to review and roll-out e-ballots were dumped, kicked into the long grass of an independent review. And even when these new hurdles to strikes are navigated successfully, proposals to bus in agency workers – often vulnerable people coerced into taking jobs under new Universal Credit rules – still lurk in the background. On political funds, though delayed for 12 months, the opt-in system is now law and threatens to undermine the political voice of trade unions. And the bureaucratic nonsense of unions having to declare all political expenditure over £2,000 a year stands in complete contrast to the privacy and anonymity given to offshore funds and off-shore Tory funders. The idea of giving concessions where agreement can be reached permeates much of the Trade Union Act. But if the Government were really supportive of industrial relations being conducted by agreement, they would have introduced statutory procedures to encourage collective bargaining. Instead they have put in place yet more hurdles for unions to jump and created a statutory safety net for employers to fall back on should relations at work deteriorate still further.
And the backdrop to this unnecessary Act is the newly empowered state surveillance officer. The Certification Officer has powers to initiate complaints, undertake inspections, record names, determine outcomes and impose fines of between £200-£20,000 on any national, regional or local branch. Issues for inspection include political fund procedures and expenditure, internal elections, ballots and much more. It’s true the government inserted a clause saying the CO would not be ‘subject to directions of any kind from any Minister of the Crown as to the manner in which he is to exercise his functions’. But it’s not the manner that is so objectionable. It is the nature of the work he undertakes that raises concerns and it is the nature of the work that is set by Ministers. This was a nasty Bill that’s turned into a nasty Act. Parliamentary activity has delivered what it can in the face of a government determined to silence political opposition, cull collective action, criminalise solidarity on the picket line and strangle unions with bureaucratic red tape controlled by a state surveillance officer. If this Act, like the 1971 Act before it is to be defeated, the immediate battle will be extra-parliamentary, led by workers responding to attacks on their standard of living and working conditions. Those battles are already being fought in the UK, Spain and France and will continue to grow as current economic policies fail to deliver anything other than growing inequality and lack of opportunity. In the longer term, Jeremy Corbyn and his team need to be given the space and time to develop alternative economic and industrial policies that will expose the political nature of Tory attacks and show how another narrative and political agenda is possible. To that end, IER is working on a Manifesto for Labour Law which places trade unions back at the heart of economic, industrial and social regeneration In the meantime, the labour movement must do all it collectively can to educate, agitate and organise against this undemocratic, unnecessary and unfair Trade Union Act. caRolyn Jones is diRectoR of the institute of emPloyment RiGhts
The Empire and Ukraine the ukraine crisis in its context by andrew murray £11.95 (+£1.50 p&p) 138 pages
Proud journey A Spanish Civil War memoir by bob cooney £5 (+£2 p&p), 124 pages,
Restrictions imposed by the Act
l The need to appoint an authorized picket supervisors who must make themselves known to the police and employer l Breaches of the picketing code will be a criminal offence l 50% and 40% ballot thresholds will be imposed l Yet more bureaucratic balloting requirements are to be imposed which will be costly, time consuming and open to challenge by bosses and the Certification Officer (CO) l The ballot notice to be given to bosses is extended (14 days) while the “life” of a ballot is restricted (6 months) l Unions wanting to retain check-off will have to win the boss’s agreement and pay the cost l After 12 month research, Ministers can instruct any public sector employers to end facility time l All new members will be required to opt-in to the political fund l A state surveillance officer, the CO, will have vastly extended powers to investigate, condemn and fine trade unions on a wide range of issues
Defence or Defiance derbyshire and the fight for democracy by Graham stevenson £11.95 (+£1.50 p&p) 194pp illustrated
manifestopress.org.uk
I want to join the Communist Party/young Communist League name address post code
£2 at www.communist-party.org.uk age if under 28 Download the entire document at http://tinyurl.com/pyovans
Global education reform edited by Gawain little, foreword by christine blower General secretary national union of teachers £7.99 (+£2 p&p), 126 pages,
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