The following letter from a Unite member in Yorkshire shows the
increasing understanding of many union activists and stewards about the
need to have a leadership which both understands what the bosses are
really up to and knows what the movement must do in response.
A reply to
Les Bayliss
A Unite
shop-steward recently passed me a press release by general secretary
candidate Les Bayliss, who is seen by many as representing the right wing elements inside the union machine. The steward was angered by the way in which Les tries to
justify the inactivity of the union leadership when it comes to fighting
factory/plant closures, and the consequent job-losses.
The press-release
starts off by celebrating the success of the campaign to prevent the closure
(at least in the short-term) of the Corus steel plant on Teesside. Every
trade-unionist will be delighted that 2,000 jobs have been saved for now, but
Les uses the success of this campaign to attack ‘activism’ in the union.
According to Les,
the sale of Corus to Thai steel giant SSI was achieved by "Tery (sic) and the team… work[ing] quietly
and patiently
to get agreement with Corus to sell the plant and then go onto (sic) secure a buyer for the
business. The campaign was based on a clear strategy that involved organising
the workforce, winning the support of the local community and influencing local
politicians." (My emphasis.)
In other words,
the strategy is about asking big business to kindly and considerately save the jobs of these
workers, against the backdrop of the biggest world crisis of capitalism since
the 1930s. What happens when SSI decide that it is no longer possible to run
the plant profitably? Or when they decide to slash wages to remain
‘competitive’? Will the union be able to conjure up another buyer?
Les pours scorn
on those in the union who believe we should be fighting to defend our jobs and
conditions against these attacks. "Ironically this success story will
never be afforded legendary status", he opines, because "[i]t wasnt (sic) a romantic glorious defeat,
with slogans and marches and strikes and thousands of column inches devoted to
the notoriety of an individual."
Instead, he goes
on to say that the strategy was "a clear example of Unite at its best and
a model for the Unite I want to see develop in every sector." So it’s
pretty clear what sort of union Les would wish to see. To Les I pose the
following: what about Cadbury’s, closed without a single hour lost to
industrial action? Or what about Rover? The list goes on. In these cases, the
union’s ‘strategy’ was, instead of organising industrial action to fight the
closures, to ‘negotiate’ to persuade some capitalist somewhere to save the
plant.
For every success
such as Corus, dozens of other plants and factories will close up and down the
country if the union is prepared to do nothing more than plead for some
business to step in and save the day. Cadbury’s is a case in point – here, the
‘saviour’ reneged on the agreement and closed the plant anyway! At a rally in
support of the threatened workers, left-wing filmmaker Ken Loach (much to the
surprise of the assembled union bureaucrats) declared that the only way to save
the factory was to take industrial action. How right he was! Sadly, the union
persued Les’ strategy, and the jobs were lost.
I am delighted
that the Corus workers still have their jobs. But the union cannot rely on the good
will of some
big corporation to step in and buy up failing businesses. Against a backdrop of
the deepest capitalist crisis since the 1930s and the most savage cuts since
the 1980s, we need our union to be at the forefront of the fightback!
Threats of
job-losses and pay cuts must be met with robust industrial action, including
work-to-rule, strikes and even occupations. Disgracefully, the occupiers at the
Vestas wind-turbine factory received no official support from Unite.
And what of the
Labour Party? Back in opposition, it is now holding its own leadership
election. With the one socialist rank-and-file candidate, John McDonnell, kept
of the ballot paper, we see the farcical spectacle of several New Labour
figures promising to ‘renew’ the party. Well, we must hold them to their word!
Whoever wins this contest, we demand the next Labour government nationalise any
plant or factory threatened with closure, under the democratic control and
management of its workers!
Only one
candidate in this general secretary election bothered to visit the threatened
Vestas factory. Only one candidate stood with the construction workers striking
to defend jobs at Lindsey Oil Refinery. Only one candidate has vowed to support
union members whenever they take industrial action, even when it breaks the
Tory anti-union laws. That candidate is Jerry Hicks.
If elected, Jerry
has promised:
• To only take
the average wage of a skilled worker. No more six-figure salaries for union
officials!
• To fight for
the repeal of all anti-union laws, and to support workers who defy them.
• To fight for
the creation of a million green jobs, the first 3,000 of which go to
blacklisted construction workers. The capitalists won’t give us this – only a
democratically-planned socialist economy will!
• To fund only
those Labour candidates, MPs and councillors who support our policies! No more
blank cheques to New Labour! Only by implementing a socialist programme can
Labour defend the interests of working people!
If you agree with these ideas, vote for Jerry! If you
would like to help the campaign, please get in touch!
