Communists at the PCS Conference May 2012
Redscare
Is unity enough? Over the fouteen years since PCS was formed this question has been asked many times. Communists long argued that the creation of a single civil service union – or at least one representing the majority of employees – could help organised workers defend their conditions as was the case in the first major test on pensions in 2005. But life moves on and employers learn – the threats of one day strikes are no longer enough. Some will argue for paid selective action and it is true that in certain disputes most likely at a Group level such action can be highly effective. We doubt that this is the case in a truly national dispute where government credibility is involved. In Broadening the Battle Lines the Communist Party argued that in order to defeat the pensions’ onslaught public sector unions needed to do much more than organise one day strikes often months apart. The party suggested firstly, a joint policy statement exposing government overall strategy and explaining the political nature of the pensions’ fight. Secondly, that all unions work with the National Pensioners Convention and other campaigning groups. Thirdly that all unions redouble efforts to build local campaigns of resistance and work to maximise unity across all public sector
unions. The party argued that coordinated guerrilla action including rolling programmes and national days of action should be organised, coordinating with private sector strikes and that unions target key dates of a national and industry significance. Can our union deliver on such a strategy? As a union we argue that maximum unity to defeat the government attacks is needed but our experience is that strategic and tactical unity is not guaranteed. Nothing demonstrates this more than the aftermath of the biggest strike for a generation on 30 November. Workers saw what was possible but many believed that was all that was possible. In this situation many PCS members and activists need to be convinced of the need to renew the fight. Some are worried about how they debate the issue with members. This is not surprising given that most lay reps were not elected to lead a campaign of such intensity. This requires PCS to take its organising strategy to a new level – focussing on groups of members and issuing material which goes beyond the general. It requires a high level of political education. Can we ask members to take sustained periods of industrial action without pay– PCS members in the private sector have done it and achieved significant victories. We need to recognise where other unions are
Joint statement from the communists of PCS and UNITE At this stage, PCS and Unite can both be seen as two unions clearly on the Left of the movement. Both were prime movers behind the TUC demonstration in 2011, both have produced material arguing that there is a clear alternative to both the Government’s and Labour's acceptance of the need for austerity. Both work with other outside organisations, such as the NPC etc, and both have rejected the Government’s pension offer. It is therefore natural that both unions should seek to work together in campaigning against policies that are detrimental to members and society as a whole. PCS Conference will welcome these moves in a resolution proposed by its NEC. However, both unions are relatively new. PCS came into being in 1998, so has now largely settled down into a single union, with only minor foibles remaining. But, whatever the legalities of it, Unite actually only gradually formed a new culture in a process that took from 2007-2010. Internally, some in the union may even consider that there are still aspects of unfinished business. Both unions still have right wing factions, which may seem quiescent, but they could once again take control – feasibly even of a new joint entity – leading to a more insular and less optimistic union. Nor will merger be seen as an especially popular project amongst many activists for a major focus of our leaderships to be on organisational integration over the next few years, especially in Unite, which is only now emerging from the rigours of integration. Yet Communists in Unite and PCS strongly welcome the links developed between our two unions – there is a lot to be gained from this. But, if these links move to anything approaching a full scale merger talks over the next three years, as has been rumoured, then this can only happen if the following issues are addressed. Any merger must have industrial and political logic. Unite has members in the public sector – but only a few in the civil service, where the majority of PCS members are. This must inevitably raise questions about the structural character of any more formal approach, which could provide difficulties. continued on page 4