Something is stirring!
More and more groups of workers, especially in the public sector, are deciding to take action to defend and improve their conditions.
The excellent result of 65% of postal workers voting yes is the latest example of this. Hopefully postal workers will soon be joining workers in the rail industry and civil service in standing up for their rights.
As Pat Sikorski points out , UNISON health workers are also discussing action – while NUT General Secretary Doug McAvoy has agreed to ballot London teachers with a view to action before Easter.
We shouldn’t get carried away. We are starting from very small beginnings.
The trade unions have been battered by many defeats over the last two of decades. Though there is a shift, the number of days lost through strike action still remains pitifully low. But we needs to build on what is now developing.
In the second term of a Labour government, increasing numbers of workers are asking why they should feed the hand that bites them.
New Labour is storming ahead with privatisation – most recently in terms of London Underground. Blair and many of his front bench who are sponsored by a union are attacking workers in struggle as fundamentalists and wreckers.
This is why the Socialist Alliance Trade union conference on March 16 is the right initiative at the right time.
More than a month before the conference, over 400 activists have already signed up to debate the way forward on the political fund and the next steps in the fight against privatisation.