Rob Williams, Socialist Party Executive Committee
Two months into the new Labour government, the Trades Union Congress (TUC – which brings together 5.5 million workers in trade unions across the public and private sector) held its annual Congress.
At a time when the gap between rich and poor is at its widest, with estimates that some health workers have lost the equivalent of a year’s salary while profits are at record levels, Keir Starmer and his backers presented to Congress the mirage of reasonable employers who increasingly recognise “shared interests” and want “fairness” and “workers’ rights”!
Partnership or prepare for struggle?
Congress reflected the two major trends in the trade union movement: the trend that has signed up to Starmer’s agenda of partnership with the bosses; and the trend, which the Socialist Party is part of, that is ready to face up to the reality of Starmer’s pro-capitalist government and to prepare workers for the struggles now and to come.
Important debates took place on the first day of Congress. The motion ‘End the Hostile Environment for Workers’ included an amendment from civil service union PCS, drafted by its National Executive Committee majority. It demanded that if the New Deal for Workers isn’t delivered in the first 100 days of Starmer’s government, there should be a special congress of the TUC.
The composite motion was passed and so it is now official TUC policy – it is up to activists to make that a reality.
This shows the importance of an organised left within a trade union. The PCS speech was made by national president Martin Cavanagh, who, alongside the general secretary, is in a struggle to block the fighting strategy of the NEC majority. But because he is under pressure from an organised left, including the Socialist Party, he was forced on this occasion to stand against the partnership trend.
The next motion was from the Prison Officers Association (POA) on restoring their right to strike. A militant speech by national chair Mark Fairhurst reminded Congress that, while the original ban was made in 1994 by the Tories, the previous New Labour government under Blair and Brown had also removed the right of prison officers to strike. Even though promises had been made to the POA, this commitment to restore their rights was not in Labour’s manifesto. Mark warned Congress that this would be a test of whether the new Labour government will deliver for working-class people. Again, this was passed and is now TUC policy.
The tone of these vital debates contrasted sharply with the speech that preceded them by TUC general secretary Paul Nowak. He clearly set out his rationale for undeclared partnership with the government. While saying they won’t always agree, not once did he raise the need to take action, instead saying the unions need to be prepared to “roll up our sleeves” and work with the government.
And when Starmer addressed Congress the next morning it couldn’t have been clearer.
Blair Starmer
Echoing Tony Blair in 1997, who said ‘We won as New Labour and we’ll govern as New Labour’, Keir Starmer was explicit: “We wouldn’t have won the election if we hadn’t changed. We won as a changed Labour Party and we’ll govern as a changed Labour Party”.
That was a repudiation of the left manifesto on which Jeremy Corbyn stood in 2017 – winning three million more votes than Starmer! Corbyn’s programme was pro-worker, anti-austerity. Starmer is clear: he accepts the limitations of the sick state of British capitalism, including Tory spending plans, and is trying to neuter the workers’ movement by advocating partnership between unions and rabid big-business bosses.
Warning of austerity to come, outlining yet again the so-called “black hole” in public finances, he declared: “I have to make it clear that this government won’t risk economic stability – and with the tough decisions on the horizon, pay will be inevitably shaped by that.” There was a heckle in the hall: “tax the rich!”
Arguing for “compromise”, he said: “I call for the politics of partnership – business and workers, public and private.”
In the preceding debate on ‘Building a fairer economy’, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham opposed any Labour austerity, saying we need to tax the super-rich. RMT rail union general secretary Mick Lynch warned Labour against limiting themselves to Tory spending plans, saying we need a fairer distribution of wealth.
These criticisms and demands to go further are important. But they need to be backed up with preparations for action to ensure workers don’t continue to pay for capitalist crisis, and steps by the trade unions towards an independent working class-based political voice that fights for them.
- Read the report of the NSSN lobby of the TUC
