What grangemouth can tell us about the current state of the labour movement?

Quite a lot I’d argue. A big defeat that much of the left I’d argue has not really understood how big it was. Only time will tell of course but we do need to analyse the role of unions in this and how things may develop and play out in time. Unite who seems to be full of more hot air than actual punch of late unfortunately. So what will the Grangemouth dispute show in the long run? That unites is this so called fighting member lead left union? I doubt it somehow. For me it will confirm something which I’ve been thinking for a while now that trade unions have their place within capitalism now and firmly know their place in terms of what they can and can’t do. Unite knew going into this dispute that this could be a really key battle on the UK labour movement in this current age of austerity and privatisation. More and more I have sympathy with the anarchist critique of trade unions that its not the fact that unions sell us out constantly yes they do more often than not but that their structures mean that this is necessary and that maintaining relations with the boss’s and the employer is key. Unions for some time now have had to and have in many case’s apart from some like the RMT have willingly agreed to this thing they called union partnership with the employer where the union officials will know how far they can go and as to keep their seat at the negotiating table and to keep in with the boss’s as ultimately well paid union officials have more in common with the boss’s of course they are set the task of maintaining order and limiting struggle to the boundaries the boss’s set which are made perfectly clear before hand, As for the Grangemouth dispute was it always going to be a sell out? Well possibly with unites and its leading body of bureaucrats looking to get Ed Miliband and his labour party elected in 2015 a certain limit has to be held by unite who is as we know is Britain’s biggest trade union and still to this day the Labour Party’s biggest donor funding it to the tune of millions f our members hard earned pounds a year. Unite and its leading officials will want to see a labour government elected in 2015 so any unorganised struggles must be clamped down on to ensure to present a sensible face to capitalism and the labour party that they can be trusted to keep the workers in their place. To take future labour cuts, wage freezes and no repeal of any anti trade union laws. Of course Unite will accept this I hear you say why? No they won’t surely? Well the labour link is important and its not important for workers but it is important for unite and its leading layer to keep that link with the labour party higher ranks the two share a common goal of thinking they can manage capitalism better than the Tories. Of course there can be no “better” managing of capitalism it is a system based on the exploitation of labour for the production of surplus value and profit of course and for as long as it exists this will always be the way. So no amount of Ed Milibands responsible capitalism which really is a load of old guff can deflect from capitalisms aims of developing the productive forces and the ability to create and extract more profit from our unpaid labour. So what can we do as workers to fight back on the ground? Well I’d suggest that the boss’s are likely to take the Grangemouth sell out by Unite as a signal that the labour movement in the UK is weak which they probably already knew having forced through huge cuts and privatisation already with little opposition apart from a few big march’s and a big one day public sector strike in 2011 which in all honesty do little to worry the ruling class if we are brutally honest. What we do need is a proper genuine rank-and-file movement from below. Not the broad lefts which many on the left organise in today like the United Left which in affect is a election machine for the unite bureaucracy as we have seen with the last few elections in Unite if you are a in United Left you have the force of the unite bureaucracy behind you and are more or less a shoe in. The right wing in Unite is all but gone. Not tat we can be complacent there either it may return one day and there is already many talking of the right signing up to United Left to get elected. So do be careful there. But United Left a broad left is not a rank-and-file organisation organised from the bottom up. Ok it may have shop floor workers in it but is not worker lead in many ways. The NSSN could have been a really good rank-and-file organisation but I am not sure it is fully interested in organising workers across sectors and building solidarity. It may give lip service to supporting workers but more often than not in my experience the NSSN has been a mouth piece for left union bureaucrats to get on a platform and sound militant for a few hours while on the ground little in the way of organising is done. The NSSN does a lot of good in publicising disputes with its E Bulletin which I subscribe to but under the full control of the socialist part now I am not convinced it will be anything more than a recruitment front for that party unfortunately. I see very little independent rank-and-file voices on its steering committee for example. Most are Socialist party members who may well be workers themselves but I know for a fact some are not and some are paid employees of the socialist party itself. So I do firmly believe there is still the crying need for a rank-and-file network of works inside and outside of unions to link up struggles and build solidarity. To not push the ego’s of union leaders even if they do claim to be on the left. A bureaucrat is a bureaucrat whether they are left or right. Maybe a left one is more sympathetic to our struggles but they still have a role to play in the structures of the union and the wider capitalist society to maintain the order of things. The labour movement is far from dead but it is hugely weakened and venerable due to the lack of fight from all levels not just the leadership. We can affect change by organising ourselves from below. We do not need to wait for leaders to tell us to act or to fightback we can start today in ourworkplaces’s and beyond. Grangemouth doesn’t have to be remembered as yet another defeat on the long long list we have it could be turning point if we learn the lessons. The real lessons.

Where my union heads next, a look into unites internal workings

As you may or may not know I’m a member of Unite the Union a critical member at best you could say Unite I would like to say has done really nothing for me yet I continue supporting it with my subs each year and those subs continue to go to the capitalist labour party against my wish’s and my protests to the union over countless email protests yet nothing has been done on that front.

We have just seen the end of Unites political policy conference where they once again over rode the membership and voted to remain backing financially and politically the labour party. This goes against Unites policy I must point out Unite clearly opposes all cuts in its policy agreed last year in 2011 I blogged heavily about this as I felt this was a major step forward. How wrong was I since then Unite backed Labour party MP’s and councillors have continued to pass on and support the tory cuts handed to them. Not even a whimper at all has come from these not even a cry for help just a complete silence and acceptance that the cuts are necessary. Which as readers of this blog will rightly know is not the case.

So why do these Labour MP’s and Cllr’s continue to accept the need for cuts ?

Well they do not see any alternative any fight back is not in their remit they see their job as keeping a balanced budget and making sure numbers add up. Not even stopping to think what their cuts not Tory cuts their cuts at a local level as despite what Labour councillors tell you their budget is cut yes I accept that bit but its them who choose what to cut if at all. They could and its not out of their reach to oppose all cuts and turn around and say we were not elected to vote for cuts which they weren’t I accept and to say we will not make your cuts. If the Tories wish to make cuts let them and be it on their heads. But as a party if Labour is ever to regain any credibility at all they must reject all cuts as a starting policy for workers to ever engage with them ever again. Bottling it and say we have no choice or we’ll have our budget taken overhand imposed from central Gov by the likes of Eric Pickles is a complete and utter cop out. This has never even been tried not even in Liverpool when 47 brave socialist councillors stood up to the Tories and said NO and stood by this in defence of the people who elected the in to defend services. There eyes an alternative if your prepared to fight for it. Liverpool city council won a big bonus of 60 million pounds plus extra through funding for housing and local development a defiance of the government who wanted them to make cuts put them in the firing lien and unlike other Labour councils today decided to stay and fight. It is not always about doing the right thing but it’s about doing the right thing for your class and the people who elected you. I.e. the working class in this case!


By unite having a official policy to oppose cuts which in my view they do not enforce at all and backing Labour candidates who stand on a manifesto however left they claim to be accept the need for cuts which unite and the socialist party witch I’m a member of completely reject.
For unite to break from this consensus which is a labour dominated one I firmly believe they should break with the labour party and back anti cuts candidates including the likes of TUSC. Not only is this the right thing to do it is the moral thing to do why back candidates in the labour party time after time if they only turn around and attack our comrades in Unite ?? It’s just barmy and Unite as Labours biggest donor this is no more pressing than this.


For me Unite speak a good game and often back up their members for example with the bus workers strike in London which I’ll come on to but so so often they are there but are so often coming in with support too little too late such is the example with the Coryton oil refinery workers. Which Unite backed don’t get me wrong and the full time officials were genuine but were far too slow off the mark and sat on that dispute for months were instead they could have been building solidarity and links within the industry and with other unions involved in oil refinery in a bigger attempt to save the Coryton workers jobs.
With the Bus drivers dispute in London this represents opportunity for Unite but more importantly the rank-and-file members to reclaim their union and light a flame to the militancy developing within a section of workers today.

The socialist party as ever was supporting this strike by London bus workers last week and will be again on this coming Thursday the 5th and the 24th of July when further bus strikes have been called. Keep an eye on my blog and the socialist party website for more updates
www.socialistparty.org.uk

The sleeping giant has woken up - on 22 June 20,000 London bus workers came out on strike over payments for extra pressure during the Olympics. The big turnout on the picket lines reflected the enthusiasm for this display of strength. In 1982 London bus workers struck in support of the nurses but the last strike you can compare was probably 1958.
Transport for London said 85% of drivers were on strike but claimed a third of routes were operating. But most Londoners didn't bother waiting for the few overcrowded buses driven by supervisors, agency staff and a minority of new drivers on probation who had been personally warned by management. These buses were mainly for show.
Leyton bus workers took part in the 22 June 2012 London-wide bus strike, to)
Unite the Union wrote to London Mayor Boris Johnson last September and tried to talk to the bus companies. But the bosses would not talk. Just before the strike Boris found £8.3 million towards a settlement and called on the private operating companies to make up the difference (another £5.7 million according to Unite.) Three firms obtained court injunctions to temporarily stop the action.
Other passenger transport workers are getting a bonus for the Olympics. We are determined to get ours. But it's not just about the £500. It's about standing up at last against a bullying management and privatisation.


Supervisors, controllers and office staff have been overwhelmingly sympathetic to the bus drivers. That is despite - partly because of - the fact some were forced to drive buses on strike day. Nearly all of them were drivers in the past and are relieved to be out of it. They see management's bullying methods much more than drivers do. They see decent, hardworking drivers, some with a lifetime's service, treated poorly.
The strike has been a big push. But the £500 bonus is still to be won. More importantly an active branch urgently needs to be built in every garage.
Bus workers - especially young bus workers - must consciously reclaim the leadership of our union. The regional officials have helped initiate this campaign but only bus workers can win it.

Picket line reports
London Socialist Party members
100 strikers picketed the Lea Interchange bus depot, next door to the Olympic site in east London. Construction workers at the Olympic site beeped support as they passed. Of the 800 workers based at the depot, only four had gone in. The workers were determined to win this struggle but also wanted to talk about the Tories, the cuts, trade unions and the Labour Party.
The picket at Hackney central at lunchtime was really good - no buses on the road and a great atmosphere. "We've been waiting for this strike for ages" said pickets at Bow bus garage. "It's not just the Olympic bonus but last year they slashed our pay, we don't get overtime we won't be paid for breaks now. Some people have lost £3,400 a year."
One of the bus drivers explained how he had completed a test run for the Olympics on his route and it had taken an hour longer than it should. This is before all the extra traffic that is expected!
In south London 50 workers formed an angry picket line at Catford bus garage. Hardly any buses went out. The passing public gave loads of support; endless beeping horns were greeted by cheers from the pickets.
In the solid strike in Bromley, pickets jeered at the very few scab buses. Committee member Steve said: "What we need is all the unions out on the same day".
You could hear the main picket line at New Cross bus garage - they were singing local football team Millwall's old chant "No one likes us, we don't care". There were about 80 on the picket lines, of all ages, sexes and countries of origin. They got great public backing. Lorry, van and car drivers tooted support, largely disproving the words the pickets were singing!
One picket told us: "The basic salary of bus drivers is £24,000 which is nothing for London prices. Yet we're frontline workers when the Olympics come. Tube workers get more than us because they fight for it and because the tube has been publicly owned while our money goes to shareholders."
Another picket explained that private bus companies like Go Ahead are still making big profits. "But," said another driver, "what about us donkeys that work hard to make their money? We get a small carrot on a long stick and we have to kick hard to get any of it."
The information screens at Croydon bus stops indicated no bus arrivals and illustrated that the strike has been a resounding success.

Full reports at http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/14751/22-06-2012


All this neds to be taken forward putting pressure on the union leadership and officials to push for more action and more concentrated action with a plan to re take the union on behalf of the members and the rank-and-file and to clear out all labour party links and anti worker sentiment and the bureaucracy which put a block on workers struggles winning and gaining momentum.

Unite is our union and should speak for us not the labour party who endorses capitalism it is time to fight for a union that is ours, Ours that the members can feel proud of and lives up to its name. United in the working class!

Unite the union opens up to the unemployed and marginalised

Less than one week after the biggest strike in generations, the country’s biggest union is launching a new membership scheme to ensure those pushed to the margins of society can benefit from collective power.

Unite’s new community membership will offer the unemployed, students and all those not in employment the opportunity to become part of one of the most powerful forces for equality in the country. For just 50p per week, community members will have access to financial and legal expertise, as well as the support of up to one and a half million fellow members when standing up for their local services.

Community members will be developed as community activists, bringing together people across their locality who have felt left down or excluded by politics to ensure that they too have a voice at a time of economic turmoil and social change for the nation.

Launching the scheme, Unite’s general secretary, Len McCluskey said:

“This scheme could transform trade unionism in the UK. It comes at a time when horrific cuts and ideological social changes are pushing more and more people to the margins.

“Last week we had the mass action by public servants fighting for pensions justice. Only 24 hours before that, the Chancellor told the country that under his government the attacks on the incomes and services of the ordinary people of this country will continue until 2017. This is a government of the few.

“These are terrible times for ordinary people, but we want to send them a message of hope. So we say now to the millions unemployed, including the young people wasted on the dole and worried for their future, in Unite you have a home. Our mission is your mission – fairness, dignity, respect and strong communities.

“It is time now for those on the margins to organise, to come together to challenge the decisions made by the elite in the interests of the few. This is the real Big Society - ordinary people organising for themselves - in action.”

The Unite community membership is available to students, the unemployed and all others not in work for whatever reason costing just 50p a week. The scheme offers members a range of financial benefits and services, including a legal advice helpline, a welfare benefits check-up, debt counselling, assistance with CVs, application forms, and interviews and hardship grants.

For information on the scheme email: community@unitetheunion.org or call the Community Membership information line 0333 240 9798 (calls chargeable at normal landline rates) or visit http://www.unitetheunion.org/community



I think this is excellent newsws and opens the way for students, unemployed and those on low incomes to join a union and get involved in trade unions and the labour movement.

Its about time this kind of scheme is rolled out. In the 80's i understand there were similar ideas during the struggles over the poll tax for people to organise in anti poll tax unions. This is a similar idea but gives ordinary working class people a voice if not in work.

I have heard many critisisms of trade unions from people being hurt by the cuts saying the unions will only defend those in work and dont care about the disabled, students or any of us who dont work. This move by Unite is a step forward and aims to reach those people who claim trade unions are not for everyone.

Trade unions can be for all and united and organised we can win. As N30 showed the collective power of the organised working class can win and together we are stronger for it.

As a comrade informed me at a recent jarrow march meeting if this does take off it would only require trade unionists standing for elections and we have a new workers party by default. This idea is one step from forming that new workers party.

This is why i'm really encouraged by this move by unite gets ordinary peoples voices heard and hopefully can shift this union into action in opposing all cuts not just some cuts which is the current labour line.

The mass of people joining i would also hope in dragging Unite away from labour and their "too far too fast" line on cuts. The more we organise and get involved the greater our voice.

Telling others that we must oppose all cuts and not a single cut is needed and popularising that idea will be a great step forward.

So i welcoem this idea and hope many people take up unites very reasonable offer.

Is rank-and-file militancy on the rise again in Britain ?

Over the last few weeks we have sen lots of improvised walk outs and pickets of construction workers and electritions in and around London. Plus across teh rest of the country too. This has not been union lead or backed by any ballot but a clear sign that workers certainly in the construction industry have had enough. Facing cuts to their pay of around 35% they have every right to be angry i feel.
Along with the cold weather it was a sign winter is just around the corner. Despite the chilly weather though, the struggle between construction workers and the 'big seven' electrical contractors rages on as hot as ever.

These companies want to withdraw from the JIB national agreement. Balfour Beatty has been targeted because over 1,600 of their electricians have been given notice that the new inferior BESNA contracts will be imposed on them. This could mean a 35% pay cut.

Blockade
Pickets arrived in a determined mood and a blockade of the site was launched. This led to scuffles with police throughout the protest.

It appears that a number of workers refused to go into work, while many who did, took leaflets in with them.

A group of about 60 protesters blocked a supplier's entrance for a few hours, ensuring that some deliveries were missed.

A number of speakers addressed the protest including Chris Baugh, deputy general secretary of the PCS union who brought solidarity from his union and emphasised the need for public and private sector workers to take action together on 30th November and in the future.

Rob Williams, chair of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN), Clare Laker-Mansfield from Youth Fight for Jobs and UCATT General Secretary candidate Mick Dooley were also among the speakers.

The confidence of workers had been boosted prior to the protest by a meeting the previous day in Leeds.

At that meeting were Unite construction officials, shop stewards from across the country and representatives of the London rank and file body. The meeting agreed to ballot workers at Balfour Beatty sites for strike action.

Building for strike action
This is a big step forward in the fight to defend construction workers' terms and conditions. The workers can build on the huge success of their weekly protests as a platform to launch action that will shut down all sites operated by Balfour Beatty.

They now have the task of getting the biggest possible yes vote for a strike. This can be done firstly by getting as many workers as possible 'on site' into the union and at the same time convincing them to vote yes to strike action.

Those workers who joined the protest today can go back into work tomorrow and begin arguing the case for action.

Many workers who did go into work at Blackfriars today said they would vote for strike action if a ballot paper was put in front of them.

If a friendly, patient attitude is taken by pickets to workers who have not yet joined the struggle then there is every reason to be confident that they can be won over to the idea of taking action.

As Rob Williams pointed out in his speech, the worker who crosses the picket line today could well be the worker who comes out on strike tomorrow.

This point was echoed by a Unite official in the final speech to pickets when he said that the main enemy was not the workers still on the sites but Balfour Beatty itself.

It is vital that Unite the union backs up its promises with swift action. Electricians and others will return to Blackfriars next week to protest.

Unite official Harry Cowap will be meeting with workers on site that day to encourage them to attend the national day of protest in London on 9th November.

That meeting could be more important if it becomes part of a campaign to secure a yes vote for industrial action and begin planning for the shutdown of the site.

Similar meetings on every single Balfour Beatty site across the country would be a big step towards defeating the attacks of the employers.


pieces of this post have come from the socialist party website and original article from Neil Cafferky

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So will we see a return to a heightened state of militancy as we gear up for N30 and beyond. Will workers gain confidence from these smale scale demonstrations and look to broaden them out. I certainly hope so as this will lead to a more democratic struggle for workers where they feel more in control of their struggles and not being spoke down to by a trade union leader all the time. Linked to a national ballot this could really go somewhere i feel. As long as the union backs the protests where it can there could be a chance of a real victory here for construction workers if they keep their nerve.

United left statement on the condems cuts

April 9 2011 as agreed at United Left AGM, London

This UNITED LEFT unanimously confirms its opposition to all the ConDem Government’s spending cuts. We commit ourselves to fight this ideologically-driven assault on our much valued public services and welfare state which is designed to make working people pay for the economic crisis. Of course there is an alternative – reclaim the missing tax billions from the banks, the multinationals and the rich and powerful in our society who are getting away scot free! Maintain public spending and invest in our future to keep people in jobs and boost the economy!

We congratulate our General Secretary and our UNITE Executive Council in their position of opposing all ConDem Government’s cuts and their call for co-ordinated industrial action, but much more needs to be do

UNITE’s position needs to be communicated much more effectively to our officers and staff; our constitutional committees; our shop stewards and activists; our political (Labour Party Liaison) structures; UNITE MPs and Councillors – and to the media and the wider public. We have concern at the confusing messages apparently still being heard within certain sections of UNITE apparently sympathetic to the Labour leadership’s message of “Too Far, Too Fast” – the so-called “dented shield approach”. This must be robustly dealt with without delay.

We must do more to educate and engage our lay representatives, shop stewards and activists across all sectors of our Union and equip them with the arguments they need to use to engage our members and our local communities if the fightback against the cuts is to be effective. This campaign requires leadership from the top but also grassroots activity at local level.

We encourage all branches and constitutional committees to send resolutions to their Regional Committees and National Industrial Sector Committee and the Executive Council confirming their support for a robust strategy of fighting all ConDem cuts.

UNITED LEFT firmly believes co-ordinated industrial action is an essential tool in the fight against the cuts. Those decisions will of course be taken by our members in democratic postal ballots, but first they must know that they will have their Union’s full support and therefore the confidence to contemplate and then fight for industrial action. We therefore urge our General Secretary to write to all NISCs with a strong message of encouragement to take up the fight. This communication should go not just to those public sector NISCs who are in the direct firing line from the cuts, but to all NISC including those in the private sector. We are seeing an employers’ offensive unleashing itself against all workers - on their pay and conditions, their pensions and their collective bargaining rights. If workers vote to take strike action, they should be encouraged to co-ordinate their strike dates with others in dispute to maximise their effect. We particularly urge an immediate fight back through public sector co-ordinated strikes over pensions and job cuts, in conjunction with other unions.

UNITED LEFT believes we must take the fight to the Labour Party at all levels and make it clear that UNITE cannot support a position of “Too Far, Too Fast” – the so-called “dented shield approach”. We must urgently communicate with UNITE MPs and Councillors to make sure they have an unequivocal message from UNITE of opposing all cuts. They must know they will receive the full support of UNITE if they face disciplinary or other action for supporting UNITE policy. We must ensure UNITE supports candidates for election who oppose the cuts.

UNITED LEFT is determined that UNITE will never abandon those who face the most serious cuts of all; the poor and vulnerable in our society including the disabled, the unemployed and those on low incomes who are now beginning to suffer real hardship as the £18B Welfare Benefits cuts begin to bite. Some are our members but many are not. UNITE’s success in fighting the cuts will require us to stand shoulder to shoulder with those at the sharp end of these, the most vicious cuts of all, hitting those who often have no voice. We urge and encourage our UNITE activists, shop stewards and members to get involved in the fightback, linking up trade unionists with students, pensioners, tenants associations, community groups, the unemployed and welfare claimants.

This is a fight to defend our class. We must redouble our efforts to ensure we will win that fight. UNITED LEFT believes UNITE’s leadership is now on board. Now we must ensure that message runs through UNITE at all levels in everything we do.