Shamefully, on Monday 1 July, Unite the Union – without any warning or consultation with the workers – cancelled the planned strike action at the Port Talbot and Llanwern steelworks.
This strike was supposed to be the battle to save the steelworks and the thousands of jobs under threat. It was supposed to be a battle to save the town from extinction.
This retreat – as this is what it is – follows promises by the Tata bosses to resume “talks” if the union were to call off the strike.
Without any actual guarantees in place, the union has placed its trust in Tata to reach a resolution around the negotiating table, hoping that their hand will be strengthened when Labour comes to power on Friday 5 July.
The trade union bureaucracy is well-versed in these kinds of ‘tactics’ – those of prevarication and retreat – which only serve to de-escalate the struggle and disorient the workers.
It is a well-known ploy by the bosses to deceive the unions with empty promises, to trick them into cancelling strikes. The union leaders then welcome such moves as a ‘victory’.
Just like the Grand Old Duke of York, the union leaders are marching the men up to the top of the hill and back down again. They were never interested in a real fight. Such a retreat can only lead to despondency and demoralisation.
Let us be clear: there can be no trust in the bosses, nor in backroom negotiations. These same bosses have not budged an inch in the last seven months, so why would they budge now? The time for talking is over. We need to hit them where it hurts!
Fostering illusions
All that has been achieved by these “talks” so far is alienation of ordinary workers and sapping of remaining hope that things can be turned around.
Many now seem to accept that the closure is inevitable, and the decision to call off this strike – without consulting the rank-and-file – will no doubt fuel this disillusionment.
The move was pushed by the bureaucratic apparatus of Unite, including Sharon Graham. They are fostering illusions in Starmer’s Labour Party, which has promised subsidies for the Tata bosses, paid for out of the public purse.
But why should we give any more taxpayers’ money to these vultures, who are willing to sell our communities down the river?
What’s more, Tata has previously stated that no amount of investment is going to change their minds. They’ll simply take the money, and close the steelworks at the soonest opportunity.
The trade union leaders seem to think that if they do as Tata demands, they will be rewarded for their subservience. In fact, they will get the opposite: Tata will ruthlessly punish Unite for even thinking of taking strike action.
As you would expect, the Labour MP for Cardiff East, Jo Stevens, relished the calling off of the strike as “very good news”.
But a similar line is also being trumpeted by leading members of the so-called Socialist Party, who are licking the boots of the Unite bureaucracy.
When the strike was called, they demanded serious action and mass mobilisation. But now, they congratulate Unite for cancelling the strike and the mass rally!
Time for action!
It is clear that Tata was getting nervous about the strike action, showing that this is exactly what would have put the bosses on the backfoot.
This was the time for all-member meetings, and preparation for an occupation strike, i.e. for workers to take over the blast furnaces and prevent their closure.
Such a strike would have had unanimous support from the community, like the Harland and Wolff occupation strike in Belfast in 2019.
It could have forced Tata into making concrete concessions. It could have even pressured the Labour Party into nationalising the steelworks.
Instead of leading a fightback, however, the union leaders did everything they could since December to hold the workers back. As a result, the first blast furnace has already closed.
At the time of writing, Tata has made no guarantees that they won’t begin closing the other blast furnace later this week.
If we let the union leaders get their way, they will prepare nothing but a “managed decline” – a death by a thousand cuts for the whole Port Talbot community.
The workers of Port Talbot can trust no politician, union bureaucrat, or company boss. We can only trust ourselves. The real power lies in the hands of the working class.
The only thing that can save the steelworks from this betrayal is if the workers ignore their leaders, set up their own rank-and-file strike committees, elect their own leadership, and draw up an emergency plan to occupy and save the steelworks.
