Yesterday the GMB announced that their Local Government
members had voted 4:1 against strike action in the wake of management’s offer
of 2.45% with strings. The result is significant for a number of reasons, not
least that UNISON members have just commenced voting in a similar ballot that
began on June 2nd and finishes on June 20th.
The GMB explain on their website that the vote reflected
dissatisfaction with the offer and that the vote in favour of strike action was
higher than last year, but it also reflects the fact that the GMB leadership
made no recommendation in respect of the vote.
Certainly the result of the vote is a bad outcome for the
thousands of generally low paid GMB members who voted for strike action. Not only
does it mean that the GMB won’t be asking their members to take strike action,
but it also means that by weakening the campaign against the pay offer the
question of low pay won’t easily go away.
So we have a strange situation. Perhaps the best opportunity
to coordinate a generalised campaign against pay restraint across the public
sector and a union with a leadership which, at least in parts of local
government, is happy to be known as the no strike union, announcing the result
of their ballot on the day that the larger more militant union begins to ballot
its members.
The message is clear, GMB members need to begin the struggle
to democratise the union and make sure it stands up and fights back if they are
ever going to effectively abolish low pay. Reports that Socialist Appeal has
received indicate that the mood was more militant among the poorly paid manual
workers, than among the white collar sections – where UNISON is by far the
bigger union in most areas. This is echoed by the fact that in the health
service where the GMB is concentrated among low paid workers the vote was for
strike action over pay.
Democratise the union.
Fight back against low pay.
