By Ivan Bonsell, UNISON TUC delegate (personal capacity)
The election of Starmer’s Labour government opens up a new period for trade union activists and leaders. For the first time in 14 years, trade union members have a party in power, which for some will be seen as “their party”. Of course the reality is that while many millions could not wait to dump the Tories out of power, expectations are generally quite low about what this government means for organised workers.
Against this backdrop, hundreds of delegates met for four days in Brighton to discuss and debate the way forward for the trade union movement. Representing over five million members, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) brings together nearly all trade unions in England and Wales. Over the last year, we have seen an uptick in workers joining unions, reflecting an increasing awareness of the need to collectively organise for decent pay, decent pension rights, equality, rights at work, protection for the environment etc. So will this be easier under Starmer’s government?
The 2022-2023 strike wave
The second half of 2022 ushered in a period of significant strike action, as workers tried to win deals which matched wage increases to the spike in inflation. Groups of workers won significant victories, in particular, those in private industries or small workplaces, where high union density combined with determination to see the battle through to the end were decisive. Larger groups won important concessions, most notably the NEU teachers’ union. However, a decisive victory for the working class as a whole was not achieved.
What the strike wave did do is introduce a new generation to the principles and practices of workplace disputes, in particular striking and the measures necessary to hit the legally required 50%+ turnout in a postal strike ballot. Union activists showed that systematic preparation, combined with the democratic involvement of the membership, can effectively challenge the prevailing capitalist narrative that ordinary people are opposed to strikes. Striking nurses, teachers, healthcare and teaching assistants, rail workers and postal workers etc, gained mass support for their courage, and laid down the groundwork for the battles.
What does the Labour Party have to offer?
Keir Starmer was invited to address Congress halfway though, the first time a Labour Prime Minister had done so for 15 years. On the same day that most Labour MPs were using their weight in parliament to push many pensioners into energy poverty, Starmer regurgitated familiar lines about the need to fund the £22 billion black hole that his Chancellor claims to have discovered.
He was clearly expecting a rough ride from delegates who had queued up to demand change from Labour during the previous days, starting with repeal of all anti-trade union legislation, significant public sector funding and wage rises, creation of a wealth tax, restoration of benefit cuts for parents with more than two children, serious plans to end child poverty – the list goes on.
The one significant promise was that Labour would repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act, which currently requires the 50%+ turnout, or more draconian conditions in some industries for strike mandates to be valid. Repeal of this undemocratic piece of legislation will be welcomed by all trade unionists and democrats, but we will believe it when we see it.
The reported “standing ovation” was partial, with handpicked visitors on the reserved seats on the front row, (including Angela Rayner) most excited by Starmer’s Blair-style speech. Many delegates pointedly refused to clap, never mind stand, but mainstream media predictably didn’t feel this worth reporting. But apart from one “tax the rich” heckle, Congress delegates were unwilling to get themselves thrown out.
Still, there was a major disconnect between the mood of Congress and what Starmer was signalling. Impassioned speeches by TUC President Matt Wrack of the Fire Brigades Union and Sharon Graham, Unite General Secretary, in particular gave a certain expression to this mood.
Most reasonable people would recognise that government funding gaps, in addition to urgent restorative pay rises for workers, could and should be solved by taxing the wealth and income of those billionaires and millionaires who have had life far too easy over the last few decades, rather than impoverishing pensioners, surviving just above the poverty line. Starmer’s government has the temerity to pose as the party of working people whilst totally failing to address the vast discrepancy between rich and poor in Britain. In reality, very few serious trade unionists expect this government to move significantly to shift power away from the rich.
Left-wing union leaders must follow up the stand they took at Congress with bold action against any cuts to jobs and services this autumn, building a mass campaign to to make the super-rich pay for the crisis, not working-class people. This could start with a national demonstration on Budget Day at the end of this month.
Congress also passed, by a large majority, a composite motion demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, recognition of the state of Palestine and for all arms trade with Israel to be halted. While positive, motions alone will not be enough to end the bloodshed. TUC affiliated unions like Unite and GMB, which organise workers in the arms industries, and the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union could and should be balloting members over these issues. A full year since 7 October and the ensuing events, yet still no action – it is clear that a movement needs to be built from below to force our leaderships to take the necessary steps.
Don’t look to Labour
TUC Congress has a reputation for being a conference of union bureaucrats. In many unions, the process for choosing who gets to attend as a delegate takes place without the participation of wider layers of activists, or even members. This has the effect that the delegates are generally a mixture of seasoned union leaders, long since removed from the workplace they came from, and a newer generation of elected workers’ leaders who more clearly reflect the demands of union members. There is a significant overlap between a section of trade union movement personnel and those making up the Labour Party bureaucracy, although some unions have no formal Labour affiliation.
There has been some limited movement from the RMT in particular to experiment with the creation of alternative political representation for the working class, but current leaders still gravitate to Labour. The Enough is Enough initiative was a missed opportunity as hundreds of thousands of workers and young people were enthused by the idea of an alternative movement, which was quietly dropped before it really began. Trade union leaders behind this were not prepared to give a lead any further than using this enthusiasm to secure their own negotiations and put some pressure on the Labour Party.
Climate policies
Important motions were debated and agreed at this year’s Congress. One major disagreement was over the attitude of the TUC to Britain’s industrial strategy as it related to manufacturing and energy production.
Sections of the movement want to see greater investment in skilled jobs in areas which are clearly contentious – arms production, drilling for oil, nuclear power construction etc.
Whilst it is clearly the case that all workers would agree that state investment in green technology, hydro and wind power generation is essential in tackling climate change and creating useful work, Labour have already indicated that much of what needs to be done now will not be.
But most trade union leaders have been unprepared to mount the sort of struggle needed to make such a transformation a reality – instead maintaining a narrow focus on defending the jobs of those already employed in such destructive industries. As a result, the only other option open to them is to give broad backing to industries which contribute to climate change, with the partial excuse that the UK’s “energy security” would be jeopardised without them.
Unfortunately, in the absence of a clear alternative, such illusions have been able to take root among some workers too.
Whilst it is true that there are ‘no jobs on a dead planet’, the debate demonstrates the folly of allowing which jobs are created to be determined by capitalist investment and exploration, when this is inevitably going to increasingly damage the planet.
For Socialist Alternative, the problem is capitalism, and the solution is socialism. We will fight to defend every workers’ job, and for investment in reskilling and retooling to help transition towards socially useful, green production. Socialist change means decisions being made on the basis of the wellbeing of current and future generations of working people. Leaving the carbon where it is, instead instigating a massive programme of investment in renewable energy, house building and retro-fitting, under the democratic control of the working class is what we are fighting for.
But the question of jobs today is rightly important to trade unionists. A worker-led green transition, with trade unions taking an active role would make it possible to guarantee that all those currently involved in the fossil industry be redeployed, on equivalent or better terms and conditions, in green projects.
Where next?
With the new government forced to fund wage increases for junior doctors and train drivers, it is a signal that striking can win. Some workers will no doubt expect things to get better under Labour, but this feeling won’t last long.
Starmer’s gloom and doom forecast for British capitalism is designed to be a warning to workers that it is not possible to make demands because the money is not there, either to pay employees or fund public services. It is never going to be there as long as protecting the wealth of the super-rich is prioritised.
As always under capitalism, working people have to come together in unions to use collective power to win, even despite the government’s new attempts to hold that back.
Workers will continue to ask, what is Labour for, or more to the point, why does trade union money and endorsement continue to flow in the direction of a party which openly supports the rich and powerful? We need a new party based around the idea of struggle that genuinely takes forward the aspirations of working-class people today.
