EDITORIAL
A formula for even more unfairness
Ever since the Labour government was elected, the refrain of the trade union leaders has been the same. When workers have complained about the bosses’ offensive; about low pay, long hours, new management techniques or job losses, the trade union hierarchy has responded, "never mind, our turn will come, we will get fairness at work soon".
When people have been fed up to the back teeth with a health service that is falling apart, with decaying schools, with privatisation as far as the eye can see, the answer is the same. The Labour government will do something for us soon — they will give us trade union rights.
Of course TUG leader John Monks and his cronies pretended to negotiate on behalf of union members. At every step of the way, when the government announced another of its likely proposals they said, no, this is not good enough, our members deserve more. Expert bargainers that they are, they said, we want more —and by the way, if you make it worse we really will have to do something.
Now with the publication of the ludicrously-titled "Fairness at Work" Bill, the union bosses’ bluff has been called. After trade union rights were effectively destroyed by the Tories, what is now on offer is a cold, tasteless mess of pottage.
But do we hear the top table at Congress House calling for action? Not a bit of it! Rather we are told by TGWU leader Bill Morris, for example, that this is "the beginning not the end" — despite the fact that Tony Blair has made it clear that there will be no further legislation on this subject within this parliament.
Of course the trade union leaders are helped in their cover up by the employers. The CBI are apparently complaining — so the Bill must be a good thing, mustn’t it? Such a knee jerk reaction tells us more about how much the employers have come to expect from New Labour than about the substance of the proposals.
On trade union rights as such, the bill's provisions are toothless. Recognition will not be enforced.
The proposals for "family friendly" policies may be in line with the European Convention on human rights, as Stephen Byers tells us, but they will be of no use to low and even middle income households, because the extra leave entitlements are unpaid.
There is a whole raft of data to demonstrate that existing provision is not used because people can’t afford it. Christine Gowridge, director of the Maternity Alliance, which is leading the parental leave campaign has said that most new mothers already opt to return to work rather than exercise their existing right to take more time off without pay.
On trade union rights as such, the Bill’s provisions are toothless. The clause which has had most exposure is the so-called "automatic" recognition of trade unions if more than half the workers in a bargaining unit are union members.
However what has received much less publicity is that the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) may decide, at its sole discretion, to force a ballot anyway if it decides that such would be "in the interests of good industrial relations", or if they have evidence that significant numbers of union members do not wish the union to represent them for collective bargaining purposes. The CAC will be appointed by the Secretary of State, and while the legislation sets out that it, and each of its panels, must include representatives both of employers’ and employees’ interests, experience of such bi-partite bodies like Employment Tribunals does not give much confidence.
We must fight on, demanding the repeal of all anti-trade-union laws.
Recognition will not be enforced, much less serious negotiations. But even if it were, it is not in these types of provisions alone that serious trade union rights rest.
As Greg Tucker, candidate for RMT General Secretary said
"When it comes down to it, what is offered in this legislation is pretty meaningless. All labour movement history demonstrates that it is only through strong collective action that trade unions can win victories against employers, who are driven by the relentless search for profit. That is why it is critical to use the space opened up by the debate around this Bill to push forward with organising for full trade union rights — and demanding the repeal of all anti-trade union laws not touched by this Bill."
That is why Socialist Outlook strongly supports the Reclaim our Rights campaign and the call to make May Day 1999 a real workers’ day by building a mass demonstration to demand our rights.