Shunning Blair but continuing their love affair with the Labour Party, delegates at the recent TUC Congress nevertheless got down to some good debate on the EU and on organisation, participation and control in the workplace... After the TUC: reassert the need for workplace organisation
WORKERS, NOV 2004 ISSUE
It is traditional to give a muted response at the TUC to a Labour Prime Minister just before a General Election, as too much association with the unions might spoil his chances. But this year's was a bit more muted than usual as the Prime Minister gritted his teeth to read a speech pledging good faith to the Warwick agreements - agreements, of course, which he and employers alike detest. Yet they are weak agreements and no previous trade union movement would have settled for them.
In return for confirmation (in the Warwick agreements) that bank holidays are holidays, the trade unions will give the Labour Party 3 million (at least), keep fairly quiet on the destruction of manufac-turing, the privatisation of public services, the plunder of pensions and the continued occupation of Iraq. The message is that the unions should be thankful for small mercies. All the alleged Left and Right in the trade unions are lined up to commit to this confusion. Lower your sights as British industry is destroyed, pay no attention to what we ourselves said yesterday. We can have bank holidays off while the bankers find new ways to fleece us. Such mucking about with politics to keep a warmonger in power, waging war on workers at home and abroad - is betrayal.
Follow Blair for a quick buck
Capitalists get uppity even about Warwick because they have been very cocky of late and made billions out of their exploitation of workers. The rate of profit is phenomenal. The quickest buck brigade has gathered round Blair, who is good news. This is why the almost Pentecostal calm of Brown seems so alluring. It is also why the monarchy is struggling to keep a place in the pecking order of the Establishment, inventing scandals to draw attention. They own the land involved in agricultural production mainly. Blair's lot are less rooted, but riding high on the capitalist wave for the moment.
Actually Ian McCartney, Chair of the Labour Party, won the hearts and minds of trade unionists in a hilarious speech at the usually private General Council dinner. He made a heartfelt and subtle appeal for support for a third term as well as telling a great joke about corgis. Not a third way however. His was a traditional speech, another go at getting it right for workers using Parliament. Behind the scenes the Labour Party and the largest trade unions are every bit as much in love as ever in the illusion over parliamentarism.
Ultimately this means the trade unions love Blair, the lover of billionaires. What they and the Labour Party are ignoring is that the EU Constitution would take away their chances of government, let alone a third term. The madness of social democracy is coming to a funny end. Blair has destroyed the Labour Party as Thatcher did with the Tories. We are left with the Liberals, national chauvinist parties, UKIP and the extreme right. None of these options are for workers. We need our own party.
The TUC Congress this year had the task of asserting the independence of trade unions for the independence of Britain. There were positive signs that there is renewed thinking with some cultural and political changes as well. Trade union speakers from South Africa, Colombia, Palestine, Iraq and above all Cuba reminded delegates of the sacrifices trade unionists still make for trade unionism and national sovereignty.
This gave an undercurrent of sincerity and clarity to much of the proceedings this year. There was an air of recognition that trade unions are not about national posturing, but about achieving change at the workplace and from this, developing the politics of social change. There is a gradual return to basics and there is no one in the trade unions obviously getting in the way. All unions want to grow and prosper and support their members. This will be the downfall of the Labour Party corruption within them: The stronger the workplace, the weaker a bourgeois Parliament.
When delegates stood in ovation for Pedro Ross, General Secretary of the Cuban Trade Union Federation, they made an important bit of history. The fact that this came as a result of a motion last year from one of the smallest affiliates is ultimately a credit to the democracy of the TUC. For the first time a European trade union centre gave unanimous support and built abiding links with Cuba.
Even sly, dishonest wording in the General Council report was rejected, following pressure from unions, by the General Secretary of the TUC himself. He described as clumsy and misleading wording which must have originated in the Pentagon. This had the effect of neutralising the General Council Report on this matter. So the British TUC can now only espouse unreserved support for Cuba's struggle against the blockade and increasing US aggression and to protect its own way of life. More unions will now make links with Cuban counterparts. The question will be not how we support Cuba but how we learn the struggle for self-determination in our very different circumstances.
Support for the struggles and sovereignty of others is not yet matched by a willingness to fight here in the defence of our independence and for trade union rights. Coat-tailed to US foreign policy and the EU's laws and political economy, Britain now faces a new challenge. Plans for an EU Constitution, described by one speaker as the "biggest slow-motion coup d'etat in history", were opened up to honest debate by the RMT, NUM, CYWU and NATFHE. Previously those opposing the euro had been attacked. The same people had been scorned when they called for a referendum. Now there's recognition that they were right.
The animosity was more subdued this year. No John Monks to wheel over ETUC Presidents to convince us of the glories of the EU. No John Edmonds with his quack economics. This no doubt will happen big style next year. No physical intimidation as previously. A Foreign Office and secret service-sponsored conference for trade unionists in October will no doubt start the brain-washing and speech writing for the debates ahead. But at the TUC the debate was conducted maturely, and a fierce assault on the pathetic quality of TUC briefings on the EU so far brought a commitment from the General Council that there would be no spin in future. We will see. There will no doubt be regrouping by the miscreants.
Debate the EU constitution
This sets the scene for every single trade union having to debate the EU constitution as a priority. Already many like Amicus are organising regional events and educational courses. Despite all the so-called victories for the self-appointed left in Amicus, they remain insufficiently alert to the dangers they face. The new General Secretary is scarcely better than the last one.
Our task now is to demonstrate that no union can achieve its objectives within the confines of the current EU set-up and that the European Constitution will intensify capitalism's attacks. This needs to be done in practice. No theoretical debates about the 900 pages of the constitution - there must be practical demonstration of the immediate difficulties key clauses of the constitution will cause in real workplaces.
These difficulties revolve around the question of power. Power over most workplaces in one shape or another is in the boardrooms and Westminster. Under the EU, power would rest exclusively with the unelected Commissioners and unelected bankers of the European Central Bank. To be clear on this threat we will need to return to basic ideas about democracy and power, and in that process throw aside all of the anti-union legislation that the new EU Constitution seeks to keep in place. A new generation of union leaders is in place at national level. We now need a new generation in every workplace. Communist leaders must emerge from this. Without communist leadership in the trade unions now the stage is set for complete incorporation into the designs of capitalism. This could bring extreme dangers.
Organise the workplace
The most important thing Congress did was reassert the need for workplace organisation. This has been done before - several times in fact, but with nasty edges. For a lot of years, weak attempts have been made by trade unions to reconnect with the workplace. These were embodied in the concept of the organising model.
This was a hollow - organise for what? It left out the key question that has interested trade unionists since our beginnings, that of power and control. No sense recruiting or organising in the workplace unless you have control over it. What do you do to control your workplace?
This is the question for the next TUC, and it is always a shame that so few who have started to address this question actually bother with getting involved in the trade union movement and therefore getting elected to the TUC structures. We have one trade union centre - we might as well try and make the best of it.
In contrast to the European Union, the best written words to come out of the TUC were: "It is vital that the TUC should measure itself by how well it helps unions to win in the workplace and to bring more people into unions. Congress believes that building membership and organisation is the most urgent priority for the coming year."
We need now to put these words into action but we will only do so if more workers take an interest in running their unions and getting elected through the official structures to the TUC. Westminster is empty. We should fill our own democratic structures.