Support for the local authority workers' two days of strike action was patchy in Liverpool, with a low turnout for picketing council buildings, and some trade union members crossing picket lines.
Most members of Unite and Unison did not turn into work on the two strike days, but few showed their support for the strike by taking on picketing duties. Pickets were few and so spread very thinly, and not all council buildings were covered for the whole of the two days. A few Unison members made a very early start to show a token presence at John Lennon airport, and there were around half a dozen pickets outside Municipal Buildings (the council's main administration centre), the Town Hall, and Brougham Terrace, but they only stayed for two hours. I was on picket duty outside Municipal Buildings on the second day. There were only four Unison branch organisers present, and they made almost no attempt to persuade people not to cross the picket. They showed a token presence for an hour and a half and then left. Municipal Buildings stayed open.
One of the problems was that a number of council employees are members of the GMB, and this union was not involved in industrial action. Its members were advised by the GMB not to cross Unison and Unite picket lines - but at a lot of buildings, including the public libraries, there was no picket line in place. Even where there was, some GMB members walked into work. Also, some GMB members took advantage of the strike to do overtime to cover the work of their absent Unison and Unite colleagues. They were thus deliberately undermining the strike.
On the positive side, Royal Mail workers declined to cross a picket line to deliver mail to Municipal Buildings, and many members of the public who were passing by expressed their support.
One reason for the lack of action could be that trade unions have won no major victories against employers since the 70s. Trade unionists feel disempowered, and have either forgotten, or never had, the positive experience of the power of solidarity. Also, trade union organisers are bureacratic and remote. Many shop stewards in Liverpool complain of how dificult it is to contact any of the officials at the Unison branch office. They are often not available and you never get a return phone call. Since the ballot on industrial action was only narrowly in favour - 55 per cent of those who voted - the union organisers should have tried a lot harder to organise effective action, if it was going to succeed. They didn't. This is bound to make you wonder just how keen they really are to actually achieve a pay rise for their members. Unison and Unite, like most other trade unions, are still far too close to the Labour Party. They may be reluctant to upset the New Labour government by pushing too hard to get an adequate pay rise for public sector workers, when government policy is to have what they call "pay restraint". This would explain why spokepersons for the union have been so apologetic for taking industrial action, rather than promoting it as a positive way of asserting worker's rights.
Another reason for the lack of enthusiasm among the workforce could be that, compared to the 70s, workers are now much more in hock to capitalism. The promotion of easy credit means that almost everybody is in debt, and the promotion of house ownership means that most people pay out a high proportion of their wages on a mortgage; and if you lose your job you don't get your mortgage paid through social security benefits. In that situation, better a miserably underpaid job than no job at all.
One of the problems was that a number of council employees are members of the GMB, and this union was not involved in industrial action. Its members were advised by the GMB not to cross Unison and Unite picket lines - but at a lot of buildings, including the public libraries, there was no picket line in place. Even where there was, some GMB members walked into work. Also, some GMB members took advantage of the strike to do overtime to cover the work of their absent Unison and Unite colleagues. They were thus deliberately undermining the strike.
On the positive side, Royal Mail workers declined to cross a picket line to deliver mail to Municipal Buildings, and many members of the public who were passing by expressed their support.
One reason for the lack of action could be that trade unions have won no major victories against employers since the 70s. Trade unionists feel disempowered, and have either forgotten, or never had, the positive experience of the power of solidarity. Also, trade union organisers are bureacratic and remote. Many shop stewards in Liverpool complain of how dificult it is to contact any of the officials at the Unison branch office. They are often not available and you never get a return phone call. Since the ballot on industrial action was only narrowly in favour - 55 per cent of those who voted - the union organisers should have tried a lot harder to organise effective action, if it was going to succeed. They didn't. This is bound to make you wonder just how keen they really are to actually achieve a pay rise for their members. Unison and Unite, like most other trade unions, are still far too close to the Labour Party. They may be reluctant to upset the New Labour government by pushing too hard to get an adequate pay rise for public sector workers, when government policy is to have what they call "pay restraint". This would explain why spokepersons for the union have been so apologetic for taking industrial action, rather than promoting it as a positive way of asserting worker's rights.
Another reason for the lack of enthusiasm among the workforce could be that, compared to the 70s, workers are now much more in hock to capitalism. The promotion of easy credit means that almost everybody is in debt, and the promotion of house ownership means that most people pay out a high proportion of their wages on a mortgage; and if you lose your job you don't get your mortgage paid through social security benefits. In that situation, better a miserably underpaid job than no job at all.