Anti-strike bill aims to break unions

The Trade Union Bill is set to bring in anti-democratic measures to restrict strikes and legalise scabbing, writes Jeremy Dewar.

Prime minister David Cameron dubbed the first Tory Queen’s Speech in 18 years a “programme for working people”. This sick joke was not lost on millions of trade unionists.

Trade unions are the bedrock organisations of the working class. Not only were they born in Britain at the dawn of the industrial age in order to protect workers from capitalism’s natural tendency to drive wages and conditions down but they have survived 170 years and been exported to every country in the world. They are an absolute necessity for “working people”. New business secretary Sajid Javid thinks otherwise. The Trade Union Bill is set to bring in anti-democratic measures to restrict strikes and legalise scabbing.

Its aim is to break resistance to austerity. As TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady put it, they want to “make legal strikes close to impossible”. The Bill will impose further restrictions on the right to strike by requiring all strike ballots to achieve a 50 per cent turnout, and those in “essential services” to win 40 per cent of all those eligible to vote for action. Remembering that the UK already has “the most draconian anti-union laws in the Western world”, as Tony Blair put it back in the 1990s, this is an outrageous attack on basic democracy.

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner pointed out “this proposal is coming from a new administration with just 36.9 per cent of the vote”. When you those who did not vote into account, less than a quarter of the electorate voted Tory – even Sajid Javid in leafly Bromsgrove only won the support of 38.8 per cent of his constituents. Talk about hypocrisy.

Scabbing

The first new anti-union law for 20 years will also make it legal for employers to hire agency workers to break strikes. Before now bosses have got round the law by hiring a new workforce and locking out unionised workers, or by transferring work to a different site. But this makes it much easier to run scab operations.

Other measures include placing a time limit on the legitimacy of ballots, so unions could not run campaigns of sustained strike action over a period of months, and further powers to fine, sack or even jail pickets – presumably on the hearsay of police, scabs and managers.

Turner is one of several union officers to “urge” the government to allow “electronic voting and ballots at the workplace”. Both of these have, however, been consistently denied by the Tories and Lib Dems. Far from consenting to increased organising powers for the unions, the Tories are making it harder. Civil service departments and even, disgracefully, some Labour councils are cutting shop stewards’ facility time, while withdrawing the check-off system, which deducts membership fees at source, forcing the unions to retain members by collecting subs in cash or via direct debits.

Of course the only way to increase union membership, participation and activity is through greater rank and file authority and control, but union leaders are often against handing over powers to the members on the ground. The Tories are emboldened to turn the screw on union rights.

Resistance

The National Union of Teachers, Public and Commercial Services union, the Rail Maritime and Transport union and Fire Brigades Union have all been at the forefront of resistance to neoliberalism at one point or another over the past 15 years. All provide vital services to millions. All are in the firing line.

The private sector could also be hit. The Royal Mail, colleges and even petrochemical workers at Grangemouth, who could stem the flow of petrol to Scotland and the north of England: are they “essential services”? Given the proven militancy of their workforces in the Communication Workers Union, the University and College Union and Unite, probably. The big three unions – Unite, Unison and the GMB – who brought out millions on one day strikes in health, local government and across the public sector over pensions and pay would all find it very hard at present to deliver turnouts and winning margins close to the Tory benchmarks.

There has been some fighting talk from our leaders. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “The trade unions will unite to fight these attacks.” Unite leader Len McCluskey warned before the election, “should there be a Conservative majority in May, there will be a new attack on trade union rights and democracy… When the law is misguided, when it oppresses the people and removes their freedoms, can we respect it? I am not really posing the question. I’m giving you the answer. It ain’t going to happen.” Unite will now debate removing the words “so far as is lawful” from its description of supportable strike action in its rulebook at a special conference this summer.

We need to organise on the ground – in our workplaces, our union branches, our towns and boroughs – to mount serious resistance. The early signs from demos in Bristol, London and Leeds are that thousands are ready to oppose the Tories every step of the way. But if last time the union leaders hesitated and limited resistance to a few demos and one-day strikes, this time the rank and file must take control.

As soon as the Trade Union Green Paper is published, all local union branches can organise leafleting campaigns, workplace meetings and rallies in town to explain the nature of the attack and prepare for defiance. Let’s not wait for the TUC: let’s give it a mighty shove in the right direction – onto the field of battle!