What Future for the 'Awkward Squad'?

? Alter cight years of New Labour government, continuing privatisation and attacks on pension rights, the union leadership strategy is in crisis. None of the union leaders would now describe themselves as supporters of Blair, and virtually all publicly opposed the war in Iraq. This has lead many of them, including Dave Prentis of' UNISON and Tony Woodley, to be described in the press as the "awkward squad' But this demarcation with Blair has not been enough for union activists. Following industrial action they have elected the really awkward Mark Sewotka in the PCS, Bob Crow in the RMT and now Matt Wrack in the FBU. Activistsare drawing the lessons of their union's relationship with New Labour. What these three new general secretaries have in common is their open challenge to unconditional support of their union for Labour. And the! are encouraging their members to organise for strike action, including national strike action, over the issues they face. The PCS is preparing strike action over a massive 100,000 job cut in the civil service, and the RMT campaigned for rail re-nationalisation during the election. Disaffiliation from Labour? Unconditional affiliation of unions to the Labour Party has been under strain over the last few years. The FBU disaffiliated after its vilification by the New Labour government during its strike for better pay. The RMT was expelled as it supported the Scottish Socialist Party, with its policy of rail re-nationalisation And while the PCS has never been affiliated, Mark Sewotka has been a very public supporter of the RESPECT Coalition. The challenge to the traditional relationship of the unions with Labour is felt everywhere. In UNISON, Dave Prentisis forced to go along with improvements' in the union's Labour link, to head off a more serious challenge of reducing donations to the Labour Party to the basic atliliation and to back only those Labour candidates who support the union's main policies. In July 2004, to mobilise for New Labour to be re-elected to government and head off this crisis. the union leaders obtained the modest Warwick Agreement. It does not even include a halt to privatisation or the repeal of the anti-union laws. Yet even this was too much for Blair. who did not include a single pomt from the Warwick Agreement in the Queen's Speech. In fact the re-clection of New Labour is bound to increase the political crisis as unions like UNISON will have to confront the government with national industrial action to stop the pension reforms, while the threat of the privatisation of the post could lead to a Respect and the SSP A new fighting union leadership that breaks with partnership with both the employers and New Labour, is a necessary precondition for a renewal of the unions. This means a break-up of the old unconditional political relationship to Labour as the SSP and RESPECT gain in credibility. This is already happening with Mark Sewotka's support for Respect and amongst union activists. A joint SSP and RESPECT fringe mecting at UNISON's conference this year was attended by nearly 500 people, a quarter of the delegates, to hear George Galloway and the SSP's Colin Fox. workplacescanberebuilt.using the old methods of the early MARK SEWOTKA - PCS twentieth century. The PCS. taking on job cuts and low pay with industrial action, is the fastest growing union in Britain. with 300.000 members out of the 500,000 civil servants. Even the TGWU has recognised the need to fight low pay by organising a strike of agency cleaners at the House of Commons. And in east London, TELCO, a joint community and union campaign, has effectively targeted Canary Whart and other big local employers about low pay. We need a return to national strike action against national attacks, such as against the forthcoming pension reform. National strike action is not an easy option in the current situation with the continued use of anti-union laws, out-sourcing, and the extensive use of temporary and agency staff. The use of agency statt is a particular pernicious tool to break the unions, with rates of 25 percent in local government and even 70 percent at the BMW Oxford Cowley Plant. But national action is an essential weapon in mobilising and unifying the whole union membership. globalisation and the However capitalist political consensus over neo-liberalism are new elements in the situation today compared to twenty-live tears ago. The erosion of confidence in the traditional parties is typified by record levels of abstention in elections, and also affects trade unions because of their close relationship with the state and the traditional parties of government The distrust felt by members and workers because of the unions' close relationship to Lahour can be overcome through an opening up of political representation with other parties such as the SSP and RESPECT. But to re- establish confidence. the unions will also need increase democracy so that the decisions of members are respected and carried out by their elected representatives at all levels, rather than being obstructed by the bureaucracy as in parliamentary politics. Governments of the left and the right. signed up to international treaties, such as GATTS, the new EU Constitution or the proposed 'Bolkenstein' EU Directive on services, have abrogated their power to regulate their own economies. This makes an appeal to government to protect welfare public services more difficult. in big workplaces are fewer today not just because some of our union leaders refuse to organise such strikes, but also because such workplaces arc fewer in number. Privatisation and outsourcing to a multitude of smaller employers is rite across the world. More politics In order to meet this me: situation, the unions have be more political, to take :* the challenge of capitalis: globalisation, to seek alliances at Europear: and global levels not just with trade unions but also with the social movements - that is working class organisations of citizens as organising against the nco-liberal offensive. Such alliances can roll back neo-liberal attacks like the privatisation of water and gas in Bolivia, can force trans-national corporations like Nike to change its employment practices. and defeat new neo-liberal treaties such as the EU constitution in France. There is now a political re-composition taking place to the left of the neo-liberal New Labour involving the new political forces RESPECT and the SSP and new movements exemplified by the World and European Social Forum. Revolutionary socialists can encourage the recomposition in the unions and champion a fighting strategy to head-off the forthcoming attacks and rebuild the unions into effective organisations. In Britain RESPECT and the SSP must be at the centre of this by helping create broad left-wing networks, that include militants from the Labour Left, the Communist Party and other socialists, that argue for a break with partnership with the employers and New Labour, to be internationalists, and retum to a militant and fighting tradition. 11