Communists @ UNISON Conference 2010
Unity to defeat ConDems This year’s UNISON conference will be dominated by the planned assault of the new ConDem Government on the public sector. The £6 billion of cuts and the impact this will have on public services and in particular the weak and the vulnerable in our cities and towns across Britain has to be the key focal point for our union. Unquestionably, the biggest task ahead is to mobilise unity across the union and the movement in face of the biggest onslaught against working people to come in over seven decades. Of course the ability of the trade union movement to effectively resist this offensive is still hampered by the harshest anti-trade union laws in Europe. Despite empty promises from New Labour, the framework of anti-union laws have actually been made worse, during the course of 13 years of government. Recent judgements against BA cabin crew, First bus drivers Johnston Press Journalists, and others have demonstrated the lengths to which employers in the private sector will go to prevent worker’s taking legitimate action to preserve pay, conditions and pensions.
The ConDem government will almost certainly use all the anti-union laws at its disposal, to undermine action taken by public sector worker’s against the cuts. In fact the possibility of an outright ban on industrial action in the public sector is even now being floated by the ConDem government. This makes unity in the trade union movement all the more important, between public and private sector, affiliated and unaffiliated, small and large. Unity is the most effective weapon that the trade union movement has at its disposal. Things have got to change, Britain’s unions still need a mass workers’ party to represent their interests. But New Labour’s record over 13 years of government calls much into question. Under both Blair and Brown, New Labour openly defied the interests of and policies put forward by trade unions; they attacked the movement they purported to represent, imposing cuts on public services, flogging vast swathes of the public sector off. They consistently opposed any intervention to preserve or extend Britain’s productive economy. Instead, they placed their faith in gambling,
speculation and unsustainable economic policies that benefited the city and fat cat bankers. Then New Labour threw billions at the banks, instead of taking them over properly. Bankers, city spivs and monopolies have reaped super profits none of which has found its way into the public coffers. UNISON needs to ask how it got into the position of bankrolling a bunch of careerists who haven’t lifted a finger to help our union. “Don’t rock the boat” became the clarion call from sections of our union. “Any criticism of New Labour will let the Tories in” was the ridiculous rationale put forward for refusing to use what influence UNISON had to secure commitments for our members. Is the position hopeless? No, UNISON can be a powerful voice in the struggle against public sector cuts and in rebuilding the labour movement’s capacity to mobilise working people in support of socialist policies. A conference of UNISON that buries its head in the sand and refuses to question how we ended up with a ConDem government, why Labour lost 5 million voters, and what we do about it next would be a
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The outcome of the general election represents a real challenge to working people. 13 years of New Labour privatisation and war will now be replaced by the one thing that we can categorically say is worse – a Conservative government. Because that is the reality of the situation; LibDems or no LibDems, this government will be Tory through and through. It is working people who will bear the brunt of this government’s policies – as workers but also as service users, in their own communities. The only thing that stands between the ConDem government and its destructive agenda is the trades union movement and the wider working class. Over the coming months and years, we will need to build the strength and unity of the movement to withstand the attacks that we will face. The recent rulings on Unite and RMT disputes at BA and Network Rail show the lengths to which employers will go to prevent unions from taking action to defend their members interests. Work must begin now to build the kind of movement which
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