Militancy is on the march in Britain and heading for a showdown with the
Labour government. As reported by this website there have been a string of
leftwing victories in the unions over the last period, beginning with growing
discontent on the shopfloor and culminating in the election of a whole series of
leftwing national leaderships. The movement is cutting out the dead wood – after
20 years of attacks and no fightback from the union leaders or Labour
government, workers’ patience is beginning to break. This unstoppable process is
revitalising the movement, reactivating older activists and bringing a whole
layer of new young activists to the fore, and breathing new life into the old
broad left organisations.
In no union has the change been so quick and as noticeable as in Amicus, the
one million strong union, newly formed through last year’s merger of the AEEU,
engineering and electrical union, and the MSF which organises financial and
clerical workers. The old AEEU was a bastion of the rightwing under successive
leaders, and most recently Sir Ken Jackson; ‘Blair’s favourite’ union leader.
The rightwing ‘mafia regime’ of Sir Ken was decimated by the election of Derek
Simpson to the post of general secretary. Jackson and his cohorts got what they
deserved, after years of social partnership and ‘sweetheart’ (no strike) deals
with the employers, which undermined the union’s ability to fight. With the end
of the regime of fear and favour, and a massive symbolic defeat, the rightwing,
who naturally hate and are suspicious of each other, have splintered into many
rival factions. The task ahead of the left union activists is to pursue and
smash the rightwing for good, in the Executive Committee elections in September,
and win the union back for the members.
Last Sunday (May 18), Amicus Unity Gazette, the broad left of the new union,
met to discuss the plans for the forthcoming conference and the EC elections.
The meeting was attended by approximately 150 activists from around Britain, and
there was a good balance between AEEU and MSF members. There is a very good mood
among the activists who feel that after many years fighting against the stream
and holding their forces together, that now their time has come.
The main items for discussion were the progress in the merger between the two
unions: i) what position the left should take on the new draft rulebook which
will be either approved or rejected at the joint rules conference in June. ii)
The selection of a full slate to stand in the joint EC election that will be in
September of this year.
The draft rulebook that is currently under discussion is a step back for
democracy in the MSF section. The MSF currently enjoys lay control of their
union at branch and regional level in both finances and election of officers.
The draft rulebook replaces elected lay Regional Secretaries with un-elected
full time officers. It also restricts the amount of money branches and regional
councils can spend and stops them from making donations to individuals or
political campaigns and prevents branches from supporting industrial disputes.
The union conference is reduced from an annual to a biennial conference and is
no longer the sovereign body of the union, losing control over the financial
affairs and management of the union to the Executive. The rules conference is
altered from every four to every six years.
For the AEEU the draft rulebook is a step forward in that it restores the
election of lay branch officers and some level of financial independence for
branches as well as creating a regional council structure that matches the
previous Divisional Councils under the old AEU rules. It falls far short,
however, of the accountability and control by the members called for by the left
in the General Secretary election campaign, prominent amongst which was the
restoration of election of full time officials.
The main task ahead is the democratisation of the union to give the power
back to the members and secure democratic structures that will faithfully
represent the members’ interests. The Rulebook is a very important part of that
fight, and we must have the most democratic rulebook possible. However despite
the shortcomings of the draft rulebook the decision was taken to give it
tactical support, because without a rulebook the EC elections could not go
ahead. The main priority at the current time is to get a left majority on the
EC, which could then immediately take up the issue of a democratic rulebook.
The Gazette fought a hard campaign to secure the victory of Simpson in the
General Secretary election. One of the lessons of that campaign is that when the
ideas are put forward in a clear and bold way the membership will vote for them,
therefore it was decided to put up a full slate in the EC elections, and fight
tooth and nail to win every seat, and this has now been drawn up.
At stake is the control of the union. A victory of the rightwing would mean a
continuation of the discredited ideas that the membership rejected in the
election of Derek Simpson. A left EC will mean the return of the union to the
best democratic traditions of the past, an end to the policies of
class-collaboration, and the beginning of a serious fight to win back all that
has been taken away from workers over the last period, and more on top.
But the Amicus EC elections have a great significance for the whole movement.
The philosophy of New Realism (Blairism) was introduced into the labour movement
by the rightwing trade union leaders in the 1980s and 90s. Blairism has been
maintained through the support and collaboration of the big union leaderships;
but all that is beginning to change. The rightwing leaderships of the AEU, and
EETPU (who merged into the AEEU) were are the forefront of this, and their
current disarray and imminent demise are very significant for the movement.
At last year’s Labour Party conference, Blair’s motion in favour of the war
in Iraq was won on the basis of the block votes of the ‘big four’ unions which
dominate the British labour movement. The election of left-wingers to these
union leaderships represents a shift away from the discredited ideas of social
partnership, ‘sweetheart deals’ and in the last analysis Blairism. The swing to
the left that is taking place throughout the whole labour movement will cut the
ground from under Blair’s feet. Slowly but surely the sleeping giant of the
British labour movement is awakening and the shift of mood among the rank and
file is gaining greater expression and momentum.
A left EC will mean a leftwing Amicus delegation at the TUC, and the Labour
Party Conferences, which in turn will mean certain defeat for the party
leadership on issues from ‘War on Terror’, to the reform of public services.
This would cause a crisis in the labour movement, send the right into retreat
and greatly accelerate the shift to the left. Over the next period the movement
will continue to cleanse itself returning the best, most able militants into key
positions of leadership. The Blairites have watched in horror as their allies in
the unions have been thrown out by the left-moving membership – and so they
should because the unions are coming more and more into conflict with the Labour
government, and having cleansed themselves they will take up the task of
reclaiming the Labour Party.
The immediate task is to campaign hard to win the EC elections, and return
the union to its democratic traditions. For many years the AEEU was the bastion
of the rightwing in the TUC, in the future Amicus will become the rallying point
for the working class to reclaim the Labour Party, and begin a fightback to
improve our wages and standards of living across the board.
The full Unity Gazette slate has not yet been announced, but at least three
well-known Socialist Appeal supporters are standing in the elections. Mike
Gaskell in the energy sector; Phil Willis for the construction sector; and Peter
Currall in the Metals sector.
May 20, 2003.
See Amicus left candidates speak
(May 2003)
