Perhaps the most positive development at the TUC congress was the formation of a new Trade Union Co-ordinating Group, led by left-wing MP John McDonnell and bringing together the RMT, PCS, NUJ and FBU (with the POA, NAPO and BFAWU expected to come on board soon). The group aims to act as a workers’ voice in parliament and coordinate the parliamentary work of trade unions.
Its formation is a positive step, and is a clear indication that at least the leaderships of some key unions are thinking practically about the issue of working-class political representation rather than just making platitudes. However, PCS leader Mark Serwotka’s speech at the group’s founding meeting — in which he argued that unions should support any candidate of whatever party, so long as they agreed with basic union demands — indicates that socialists in the labour movement still have a lot of work to do in terms of winning our unions to the basic idea that the working-class movement needs an organised, independent political wing.
Neither Serwotka’s approach (that would see unions backing Plaid Cyrmu, SNP or even Liberal Democrat candidates), nor the idea that better coordination of a few unions’ parliamentary work is an end in itself, is sufficient. A wider debate about the implications this new group has in terms of wider political representation (i.e. beyond parliament), and how it intersects with existing projects such as the Labour Representation Committee, is vital.
Media sensationalism about the congress planning a potential “winter of discontent” like 1978-9 is, perhaps unfortunately, misplaced. Whatever criticisms can be made of the labour movement in1978-9 (and there are plenty), the unions were stronger organisations that were at least prepared to flex their muscles from time to time. That spirit is sadly lacking from the perspectives of almost all labour movement leaders.
The event nearly began with a rare defeat for the TUC’s leading General Council, when an amendment they opposed from the Prison Officers’ Association (which argued for further strikes — rather than just “days of action” — against the government’s public sector pay freeze) looked to have won a majority following rousing speeches from the RMT’s Bob Crow and shock last-minute support from Unite and the GMB.
It looked like a clear majority on the show of hands. A card vote was called. Unite’s officials mysteriously forgot to vote — removing close to 2,000,000 votes from the floor and ensuring that the POA amendment fell. Shamefully, Unite officers claimed to have “lost” their voting credentials for the duration of the card vote.
The more telling lesson from this vote is just how out of touch the TUC Congress is with actual developments in the labour movement. Both the PCS and NUT have further strike action planned.
This time, the whole of the civil service will be balloted for action and the NUT is balloting for more than one day of strike action, including selective action if appropriate. Public sector workers in Scotland also look likely to strike. Given these developments, you’d expect other union leaders to pledge themselves to more than a day of “action”.
A further POA motion calling for general strikes to break the anti-union laws was defeated heavily, with the CWU and the PCS weighing in against the POA. CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes had the audacity to quote Lenin in his speech, arguing that the policies of the unions needed to be “one step ahead of the class, and the POA motion is ten steps ahead.”
If leftists like Billy Hayes and the Socialist Party leaders of the PCS have built so little political consciousness and assertiveness amongst their members that they do not feel capable of winning them to a programme of industrial action to smash the most damaging set of legislation facing our movement, one has to wonder what they’ve been doing with themselves during their time in office.The other political lowlight of official Congress business was the speech from Chancellor Alistair Darling, in which he used the language of “fairness” and “social justice” to dress up a statement that the government wasn’t going to change anything it was doing and doesn’t really care what anyone thinks. A worthy but rather hangdog-looking protest from the UCU delegation (in which they held up hand-made placards saying “food and heating are not optional extras”, mirroring Darling’s refrain that “a stable economy is not an optional extra”) was the only attempt by Congress delegates to register any real opposition to either Darling’s presence at the event or the political content of his speech.
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