RMT protest. Photo: Judy Beishon
RMT protest. Photo: Judy Beishon

United action needed to force back attacks

A Midlands RMT Member

The Tories are discussing bringing forward new attacks on the working class, in the form of a tightening of the anti-union laws. The Tories correctly fear the power of the organised working class, and its response in the face of sharply declining living standards for the many and the soaring wealth of those at the top. They want to reassure the capitalist class that they will be determined fighters on the side of the bosses in the coming battles.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has taken to the pages of the Telegraph to talk up forcing a guaranteed minimum level of service on the railways and in other business-critical industries.

Britain already has the strictest anti-union laws in the advanced capitalist world. The hated Con-Dem government of the last decade introduced draconian minimum turnout and ‘yes’ vote requirements.

In anticipation of a potential nationwide railway strike, Shapps probably wants to say what he thinks a section of his voters want to hear. But such is the scale of the cost-of-living crisis, an increasing number of what would have been traditional Tory voters will have sympathy with railway workers fighting to defend their jobs and pay.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), which brings together most of the trade unions in England and Wales, is once again finding itself with the responsibility of the whole trade union movement on its shoulders.

Its response to the vicious attacks on trade union rights throughout the period of austerity in the 2010s was lamentable. In 2011 there were up to two million public sector workers on strike to defend pensions, before the TUC and some right-wing union leaders scandalously agreed a shoddy sell-out deal behind the scenes.

Then in 2016 a raft of new anti-union legislation was introduced, without a shot being fired back in response by those same ‘leaders’.

Transport union RMT has promised “fierce resistance”, and Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham has said: “If you force our legitimate activities outside of the law, then don’t expect us to play by the rules”.

The Prison Officers Association (POA) had its right to strike removed by the Blair government. But that has not stopped its members defying the law to take strike action.

Any attacks on workers’ right to strike must be resisted, and attempts to prevent future action would be best met by defiance and the solidarity of the rest of the trade union movement.

The TUC-organised demonstration on 18 June must be used as a launch pad to coordinate planned strikes and those already under way, bringing together more workers in both public and private sectors into the action.

The way to force back the attacks from the bosses and the Tories, is through united action. If the TUC is once again unwilling to take the lead, then a coalition of those unions who are must come together and take the initiative. 

Many of the very best trade union fighters will be at the National Shop Stewards Network conference on 2 July and will be discussing how we can fight back together during this stormy period.