Rob Williams, Socialist Party workplace and trade union national organiser
“These are stormy days… I’m determined to get Britain moving, to get us through the tempest…” This is how Liz Truss attempted to rally her Tory troops, or at least those who are still onside, at the Conservative Party conference.
In her maiden – and possibly final – conference speech as Tory leader, Truss would undoubtedly have loved to summon up her inner-Thatcher, who famously declared: “U-turn if you want to, the lady’s not for turning.” But instead, she had to gloss over her retreat on the 45p high-earner tax rate, although in media interviews she has insisted that her aim of reducing tax for the rich remains.
There is a storm raging. It has already partly blown Truss off course, but threatens to shipwreck her dysfunctional government.
So when the trade unions meet in Brighton on 18 October at the rescheduled congress of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), postponed because of the death of the Queen, how this Tory government can be forced out is now on the agenda – not just for congress delegates but for the whole union movement and working class.
Vital moment
Even though it was a mistake to postpone the TUC congress, in some respects the delay has meant that its timing is at an even more vital moment. The original date would have been just days into Truss’ term of office, just after her announcement of the huge intervention to attempt to cap energy price rises. That decision was itself a reaction to the massive anger against the severe cost-of-living crisis facing workers.
Truss clearly hoped that this move, allied with her appearing ‘prime ministerial’ during the period of mourning for the Queen, would give her a breathing space and a platform to launch her premiership.
But that has proved to be exceptionally short-lived. The scale of the crisis facing working-class people, and a growing layer of the middle class, does not allow for any significant period of social peace at this stage. This is due to the capitalist crisis, both on a global scale and with the longstanding weaknesses of British capitalism.
This is the basis of the crisis of political representation for the ruling class, which has seen the Tories forced to move on to their fourth prime minister in six years. But the reckless actions of Truss’ government have undoubtedly caused a plunge into further instability.
The strike wave has escalated further in the last few weeks. Saturday 1 October saw over 170,000 workers take action in the single biggest strike day so far this year, as Royal Mail workers were joined by railworkers and dockers. Localised action is continuing to build, and public sector unions are starting strike ballots.
The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) had again organised its pre-TUC congress rally and lobby, with hundreds of union members, reps and activists intending to attend. This had to be postponed because of the delay of the TUC congress itself.
NSSN action summit
The NSSN rally and lobby always takes place before congress, but the rescheduled event is now billed as an action summit, to allow as much debate and discussion as possible on what strategy needs to be hammered out at the TUC.
The NSSN has been calling for the unions to coordinate action across all sectors in mass joint action. Eleven years ago, 29 public sector unions came together at the TUC congress to do precisely that, leading to what was effectively a 24-hour public sector general strike of two million workers against the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government’s attack on pensions.
The impact could be even greater now, given the generalised anger of all workers against the devastating rise in prices and squeeze on incomes. And this fury is spreading beyond the normal forces as the crisis bites. There is widespread support for the strikes, despite the best efforts of the right-wing media. Even half of Tory voters support the renationalisation of the energy companies.
This also includes wider layers forced into struggle. The barristers took indefinite action in their dispute and have gained major concessions. It is also notable that the industrial action ballots in the NHS include the Royal College of Midwives, and, for the first time in England, Scotland and Wales, the Royal College of Nurses, traditionally the non-strike union for nurses. Junior doctors are also moving to ballot.
Mid week demo
The TUC’s planned lobby of parliament has also been moved and is now taking place on Wednesday 2 November. It is at an even more important time, as Truss’ government is reeling.
Therefore, this can’t be a modest, staid exercise of lobbying MPs, but must be turned into a mass midweek ‘Tories Out’ demonstration. This could appeal to all those suffering under the cost-of-living squeeze, including young unorganised workers in low-paid jobs, such as those who stopped work in Amazon this summer over the 35p pay ‘rise’ insult. And it would also get an echo from students facing a catastrophic situation in further and higher education.
To realise the potential to mobilise a mass demo and militant mass action, a bold programme is needed, that includes: inflation-proofed pay rises, pensions and benefits; a £15-an-hour minimum wage with no exemptions; rent caps and a mass programme of council house building and of home insulation; nationalisation of energy, water, rail, mail, and the banks under democratic working-class control; and a socialist alternative to capitalist exploitation and poverty.
Anti-union laws
Truss and her chancellor Kwarteng have threatened further anti-union measures, possibly to be announced in the week before the TUC. But this wouldn’t be from a position of strength. Rather, it would be a desperate attempt to play to the Tory right. However, it would be utterly wrong for the TUC and the unions to repeat their sorry excuse for a fight when Cameron introduced his Trade Union Act in 2015-16. This time, any attempt to implement even more restrictions must be met with decisive and prepared action, on the scale of a 24-hour general strike.
Strike fund
In the same vein, the TUC and the unions must coordinate the launch of a public strike fund to support the crucial national action of the railworkers, workers in Royal Mail and BT, and other workers moving towards action on a national scale. As well as the finance it would undoubtedly raise, it would in itself be another act of mobilising support in working-class communities and of upping the ante against the employers and the Tory government.
The tide is turning, and the opportunity exists to finish off the Tories. They could be forced to call a general election. While Starmer would be the immediate beneficiary of the anti-Tory mood, his refusal to support the strikes is not accidental but is one of the clear signs – along with major companies holding stalls at the conference, including Royal Mail – to the capitalist establishment that his New Labour is safe for big business.
Political voice
The unions are increasingly seen as the leading representatives of the working class and all those who want to fight back. It is why the strike solidarity protests and ‘Enough Is Enough’ rallies have been so well attended. But this must extend to the political plane as well as the industrial.
A new political formation that stood for workers on a socialist programme right now, would be well-placed, should a Starmer government inherit the stormy waters of crisis-ridden capitalism, to give a political lead to the working-class fight that will be necessary and inevitable.
