communist-party.org.uk
unity!@TUC
Tuesday 12 l Wednesday 13 September2016
Wheels on fire
Political economy came into being as a natural result of the expansion of trade, and with its appearance elementary, unscientific huckstering was replaced by a developed system of licensed fraud, an entire science of enrichment.
by
I
Engels, Outlines of Political Economy (1844)
Members of Unite protest outside the Sports direct nottingham store urging the retailer to ‘have a heart’ by putting staff on permanent contracts and paying the real living wage. West bridgeford TV You Tube
t’s excItIng tImes, with the leader of the Labour Party calling for the popular (60 per cent) in recent opinion polls renationalisation of the railways. He has also pledged to extend public ownership of our bus networks Corbyn has set a progressive transport agenda but also shifted the parliamentary centre ground to the extent that Owen Smith is more or less matching him and the new prime minister has had to sound like a social democrat, insincere as that may be. The flow of finances in the railway industry, from passenger and tax-payer to shareholder is much like the other privatised utilities with charges to the user increasing consistently over many years at a much higher rate than inflation. The rail franchisers fight hard to protect their winwin contracts which give profits most of the time but when they fail the government takes no action against them. Well known examples include the East Coast which was successfully developed under state control but then refranchised to Virgin, and now Southern with its numerous train cancellations and resulting commuter demonstrations. The 2011 Mcnulty Report called for significant reductions of station and ontrain staff and both in the name of efficiency. Since then the government and train companies have been working behind the scenes and this is now coming to a head with disputes at Scotrail and Southern. in the past it has generally been the case that if train staff were to be cut then responsibilities shifted to the station staff and vice versa. defence of these jobs is the problems of a tory government essential for passenger safety, comfort and determined to silence political information. opposition, cull collective action, The very recent extra £20m gift from criminalise solidarity on the picket the government to Southern ‘to get to line and strangle unions with grips with things that go wrong on this part bureaucratic red tape controlled by of the network’ is money that must be a state surveillance officer. spent to ensure guards stay on their trains. or embrace the possibilities of a And the very next day one of the socialist alternative, with a labour Southern consortium declared profits of leadership determined to place £100m!The free market also has a negative trade unions back at the heart of impact on the freight sector. Rail freight economic, industrial and social produces 70 per cent less CO2 per tonne regeneration. We know the answer carried than the equivalent road journey, – as do the thousands returning to and road congestion costs UK businesses support Labour. £24bn per annum, but the decline of coal spread the word! and steel traffic is so severe that the very future of the industry is at risk. CAROLyn JOnES iS diRECTOR Of ThE A sharp decline in rail freight capacity could be disastrous for the future of the inSTiTUTE Of EMPLOyMEnT RighTS economy and public ownership of the rail freight industry is needed for long-term growth in the sector and secure future. One of the biggest problems with the fragmented private railways is the chaotic fares structure. A public railway should have a much simpler and unified fares policy with uniform concessions and fares more closely related to distance, as they are in much of Europe. The Labour Party is considering how best to bring the railways into public ownership, including decentralising some transport powers to the regions. The level of centralisation and local variation should be subject to widespread discussions with passenger groups, trades unions, local government bodies, and while they are still A manifesto for Labour Law: involved, the private companies running towards a comprehensive revision of the services. workers’ rights can be bought from the institute of Employment Rights at Andy bAin iS A TSSA ACTiViST www.ier.org.uk.
Tory problems and socialist possibilities by
CAROLyn JOnES
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THE BATTLE FOR THE LABOUR MOVEMENT 2015: A year of struggle A Morning Star pamphlet
Andy bAin
He tory trade Union Act received royal Assent earlier this year. over the summer, the government ‘consulted’ on various aspects of the Bill’s provisions – you’d be excused if you missed the detail! suffice to say, by the end of 2016 the government will kick start the restrictions relating to industrial action including the 50 and 40 per cent thresholds, new rules on voting papers, longer notice periods to employers and shorter life-spans of trade union ballot mandates. Life in tory Britain continues. While they consulted on how to restrict trade union freedoms, Jeremy corbyn was consulting on how to strengthen the voice of workers and their unions. His Workplace 2020 project opens a new chapter in workplace relations. For the first time in years, a Labour leader intends to put trade unions at the heart of economic and industrial regeneration. As part of that consultation the Institute of employment rights developed a set of policy proposals for consideration. the manifesto for Labour Law was drafted by 15 leading labour lawyers and academics and has already won the support of trade unions and the labour leadership team. the UK’s framework of law has
to change. It was born out of 19th century conditions and ignores today’s economic and workplace realities. It’s not fit for purpose in 21st century Britain. And the shift to unenforceable individual rights must be reversed. that’s why the manifesto shifts the balance of regulation from legislation to collective bargaining. extensive sectoral collective bargaining structures underpinned by strong trade union rights and enforceable statutory employment rights is the way forward. the manifesto recommends a labour model closer to that of the UK’s major european competitors, the majority of which negotiate wages and working conditions at a sectoral level through the process of collective bargaining between trades unions and employers’ federations. It makes sense. In the absence of collective bargaining, wages and conditions are set by the employer unilaterally, a situation that leads to exploitation and abuse. Under collective bargaining, inequality diminishes and productivity is boosted, benefiting the economy as a whole. the manifesto proposes a ministry of Labour, led by a secretary of state with a seat at the cabinet table to ensure the interests of the UK’s 31 million workers are heard at the heart of government. the choice is stark. stick with