Its a shame that the Trades Union Council or any union in Britian doesn't call a general strike - that would really scare the shit out of Tory Blair.

But the union hierachy are a bunch of careerists who don't want to upset the Conservative Party, oh sorry i mean New Labour but what's the difference anyway!

Please Unions use your power and do something useful!!!

A UK general strike wouldn't help, because the approach of the current government is to outlaw strikes. Compare the recent firefighters' strikes - when they wouldn't capitulate, Prescott et al started talking about changing the law so that they couldn't legally strike.

Political strikes are outlawed anyway under the trade union laws Tony Blair is so proud of. However the war represents a great opportunity to break them. Just because the state would come down hard is no arguement for not doing something. People are dieing, if now is not the time to act then when is?

Of course we should have no illusions in the cowardly trade union leaders, even those who talked the talk but failed to call any meaningful action when the invasion actually started. However no trade union leaders actually want a general strike - they seriously threaten their cosy relationship with the bosses. Even in Spain it was pressure from below, from the rank and file where 90% are opposed to the war that brought about the General Strike. So we need to do the same in Britain. Obviously it's not going to be easy, we have to win the arguements about the war first, but Mayday represents a tremendous opportunity. Firstly because it is international workers day and many unions will be planning stuff anyway, and also because it will be an international day of action against the war and gives a real possibility for winning strike action against the war.

The current TUC leadership certainly don't want to rock the New Labour boat. But they don't have complete control!

Pressure from union members has forced individual unions to adopt anti-war policies (some stronger than others).

This in turn has forced the TUC to at least declare its opposition to the war, even if the leadership have managed to block united action against it.

Also, recent years have seen more radical leaders elected in many unions, and many of them (most visibly Bob Crow of the RMT, but not only him) have been speaking out against the war and calling for stronger union action.

The thing is, unions aren't one-person shows. They aren't as democratic as they should be but they are more so than most public institutions. The upside of this is, as I say, they have had to reflect the anti-war mood. The downside is that leaders like Bob Crow can't just call their members out on strike.

The argument for strike action has to be won at every level of the union; at national conferences, on the national executives, in regions and branches, and finally in ballots of all members.

So us union members and activists against this war have to get organised. We need anti-war motions passed in local branches and sent to national conferences, we need to support anti-war candidates in national leadership elections, and most imortantly, we need to win the case for striking against war with colleagues in our own workplaces.

If we can do all that, the TUC leaders will have to come along, or be swept aside.