On the weekend of 3rd June, over 10 million viewers tuned in to watch the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pageant. A further 1.2 million lined the banks of the Thames to watch 700 boats, lavishly decked out and bearing cargoes ranging from the National Children’s Orchestra to Maori Waka, go past in a celebration of 60 years of the Queen’s rule. It cost an astronomical £12m to cover the cost of celebrating 60 years of the taxpayer forking out for the extravagant lifestyles of Elizabeth II and her family.
On the weekend of 3rd June, over 10 million viewers tuned in to watch the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee pageant. A further 1.2 million lined the banks of the Thames to watch 700 boats, lavishly decked out and bearing cargoes ranging from the National Children’s Orchestra to Maori Waka, go past in a celebration of 60 years of the Queen’s rule. It cost an astronomical £12m to cover the cost of celebrating 60 years of the taxpayer forking out for the extravagant lifestyles of Elizabeth II and her family.
Rather than cutting costs by, say, scrapping the event or even the whole backwards institution of monarchy, the organisers decided that it would be easier to trick their workers into going without pay. 30 of the Queen’s unemployed ‘subjects’ (the differences between these and the Royal Family being a) that the former have no ‘birth-right’ and b) that they are actually seeking work, rather than deliberately scrounging off of the Taxpayer) were working in the freezing rain to steward the event. They received no pay whatsoever, despite being informed prior to turning up for the job that they would be given a small wage. ‘When they got to the coach on Saturday night’, reported the Guardian newspaper, ‘they were told that the work would be unpaid and that if they did not accept it they would not be considered for well-paid work at the Olympics.’ (Guardian 4 June)
The stewards worked 14-hour shifts in the freezing rain and were deprived of access to a toilet for 24 hours. This fact is more unpleasant when we consider that on the previous night, after their coach had arrived in London at 3am, they were told to pitch their tents on the concrete of the London Bridge tunnel. It was ‘cold and wet’, said one worker, who declined to give the Guardian his name in fear of having his benefits taken away. After less than 2 ½ hours sleep, both male and female workers were expected to change into their uniforms in public. After completing their slavishly long shift, the workers were taken to a campsite in Theydon Bois which one described as “swampy and wet”. “London was supposed to be a nice experience but they left us in the rain.” said one female steward, who also declined to be named. “They couldn’t give a crap … No one is supposed to be treated like that, [working] for free. I don’t want to be treated where I have to sleep under a bridge and wait for food”.
Labour’s Lord Prescott was quick to react, accusing the government of “exploiting cheap labour” with “blatant disregard for the care of its workers” (Guardian 6 June). Although it is certainly true that the men and women who provided the pageant security were not cared for in the slightest, it cannot be said that they were cheap labour. They were free labour. Although this is qualitatively different from actual slavery, it must be said that this terrible abuse of workers’ rights bears much in common. They were given the tools they needed in order to do the job, and that was it. They did not receive a wage for their labour. Instead, by being threatened with what amounts to blacklisting for the stewarding of the Olympic Games, they were economically coerced into giving their labour power for free.
Surely our Prime Minister – whose party’s own website claims that “The Government believes that we need to encourage responsibility and fairness in the welfare system” (www.conservatives.com) – has something to say about this disgrace? Perhaps he will tear up the contract of CPUK (the company responsible for the security at both the pageant and the Olympic Games) to work at the Olympic Games? Of course not. This is a government of the rich, for the rich, and accordingly, the PM’s spokespeople have brushed off the affair, calling it a “one off […] isolated incident”. The indifference of the bourgeoisie to the suffering of their workers stretches all the way to the top.
Next month, CPUK is to supply the Olympic Games with 200 fire marshals to ensure that the fire exits are kept clear and, if there is a fire, take charge of evacuation. Firemen – who, it can be safely assumed, know quite a bit more about fire safety than the government do – are appalled at this plan, especially in the light of the recent stewarding of the Jubilee. “If the stories about this company are true”, said Paul Embery, the Fire Brigade Union’s regional secretary for London, “they should be kept as far away from the Olympics Games as possible, and we certainly wouldn’t want them having responsibility for ensuring fire safety laws are enforced or other such work. The Olympic Games generates colossal levels of wealth and those whose job it is to protect the public at the Games should be properly trained, well cared for and sufficiently paid.”
Whilst the nation celebrated on June 3rd, the true face of our bourgeois state was shown, not to the adulating millions who lined the Thames and stared into their television sets, but to the 30 unpaid labourers who worked all day, in horrible conditions, with no sleep or access to a toilet, to keep the Queen’s pageant running smoothly. The contrast between rich and poor could not have been given a more acute expression.
As Socialists we must demand a full enquiry into this terrible event, and call for the drafting of new legislation to protect workers’ rights from the cruelty of their bosses. As realists, however, we know that neither of these things are likely to happen any time soon. The only way to guarantee workers’ rights is to have, in the words of Marx and Engels, “In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms […] an association, in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all.” (Communist Manisfesto) Never again will the unemployed be coerced into working for free. The working class shall work for themselves.
