May Day 2008: What is the Task Facing the Workers in Britain?

This May Day we celebrate the desire of workers everywhere for a better world.The desire for a world without casualisation, exploitation, privatisation, poverty, insecurity, discrimination, national oppression, famine, curtailed civil liberties, disease, environmental degradation, arms trading, and war. We celebrate the contribution made by the struggles of workers in Britain.

How can such a world be made a reality? With most union leaders and the TUC embracing employers through “partnership” to the detriment of the workers, it is clear that the workers have a serious problem. Ditto the close relationship between most union leaders and the TUC and the New Labour Government. Some recent struggles highlight the reality of the situation.

Last years postal strike saw the Communication Workers Union leadership call for a fight against Royal Mail’s agenda of job cuts, a below the Consumer Price Index, two year pay deal of 6.9% with 1.5% of this linked to “change”, increased work loads for no extra payment, casualisation through “flexibility”, and “reforming” the final salary pension scheme by closing it. The strike was well supported. But the strike was called off just before the xmas post started i.e. when Royal Mail and the Government were at their most vulnerable! CWU HQ then signed a deal with Royal Mail, which contained all of Royal Mail’s agenda along with divisive non-pensionable lump sum bribes. That is why 33,000 postal workers voted no to this agreement in spite of the combined propaganda from Royal Mail, the Government, and CWU HQ urging a yes vote.The CWU leader says, about postal privatisation, to “..call for the restoration of the Royal Mail monopoly, that’s not feasible in the current political climate” (Billy Hayes,CWU Voice March/April 2008). Instead the CWU is joining in with a Government “review of competition” to deceive postal workers and the public that something is being done to protect Royal Mail and Post Offices. In actual fact the ending of the state postal monopoly was designed to open up Royal Mail’s work to private companies. Royal Mail is then legally bound to process, distribute, and deliver this mail at a discount for private mail operators such as Business Post and TNT. This discount from Royal Mail funds the lower prices the privateers offer. Restoring the state postal monopoly is the only way to stop this privatisation. For the CWU leaders, keeping in with Royal Mail and New Labour is proving to be a highly paid and comfortable job at the workers expense.

The potential for positive change was also hindered in the super-union UNITE. Last year the union recommended electricians accept a three-year pay deal with the Electrical Contracting Industry. The deal was rejected in a ballot and union members at meetings all over the country called for a strike. The National Officer ignored the ballot result and called a meeting of 14 stewards in London who voted to accept the deal by 8 to 6. This shows the problem of a lack of democracy for union members.

What became of the Trade Union Freedom Bill, which was the TUC’s focus for May Day 2007 in London? The Bill was born in the aftermath of the Gate Gourmet workers strike, which saw solidarity action, by baggage handlers at Heathrow Airport. Solidarity action is classified as illegal secondary action under Thatcher’s Anti-Union Laws, which were retained by New Labour. The Trade Union Freedom Bill sought to secure legal immunity for certain cases of secondary strike action by workers. At New Labour’s recent spring conference how many Trade Union leaders spoke up for the Bill? It appears that not even one did. It looks like the TUC cynically used the Bill to create the impression amongst the workers that “something is being done” and to raise their profile to aid recruitment.

The pretence of supporting radical action but doing the opposite has also been shown in the anti-war movement. During the build up to the massive 15th February 2003 London demonstration to oppose war on Iraq the CWU leader Billy Hayes “..along with the leaders of other unions..highlighted TUC rules which state a special congress must be called to enable the movement to do “everything in its power” to prevent the outbreak of war” (CWU Voice,March 2003). No such special congress ever happened. CWU notices were displayed in Royal Mail workplaces urging workers to refrain from strike action against war with Billy Hayes’ name on them contradicting the militant sounding rhetoric.

What can the workers do about such things? The urgent task is not to wait for permission or look to celebrity-style big name speakers or TUC leaders to bring the promised land. It seems that even the smallest positive change in the workplace or in society only happens if the workers themselves make it happen. Everyone’s work place and community is different, but problems are common. Everyone has their part to play in building a workers’ movement, which can consistently look after their interests at work, and in society.

On this May Day we find ourselves living a completely false life-style at the expense of other nations and peoples. Clothes, food, oil, and numerous other raw materials, plundered by the multinational companies, flow into this country. The calamity this brings to the people of the world cannot be denied. Iraq is only one example. This life-style brings death, oppression, and super-exploitation to others. Yet workers in Britain seem to have no power to contribute to the struggle stop these tragedies. Why not? Increased dependence on others for much of our food production, energy needs, and manufacturing is extremely dangerous for us too. In a crisis the rich will not suffer, just as they don’t suffer in poor countries. Together with the government’s endless privatisation this shows that the ruling class is destroying society in its blind pursuit of maximum profits. The US housing market crisis and the financial crisis facing the banks and building societies here, has underlined the instability of capitalism and the threat it poses to people’s livelihoods. The baling out of Northern Rock and the £50 billion plus handed over to the financiers by the Bank of England, all taken from the tax payer, reveals the truth about British parliamentary democracy. The banks and multinational companies tell the Government what to do - give us the money - and the Government does what it’s told.

At this time when it’s crucial that workers get organised to defend their rights many people are falling for divisive anti-immigrant rhetoric, including racist and islamaphobic propaganda. This propaganda is extremely dangerous to the workers’ movement because it prevents workers from seeing the actual sources of their problems and doing something together about them. The spirit of May Day of uniting and fighting together for a better world against those who exploit us all needs to be cherished all year round.

Workers’ May Day Collective, Britain.