EARLIER this week the News Line stated that it would not be enough to adopt a programme at the current TUC Congress, but that there would also have to be action decided on and called to carry out that programme.
We added that the current dominant leadership of the TUC was determined to stop such action at all costs, since they did not wish to tackle the Brown government. Instead they would opt for a few left words, to cover up their refusal to take decisive action and to fight.
It took less than 24 hours for our prediction to be fulfilled, and it took just one little word to do it.
Composite resolution C15 on ‘Public sector pay’ is two and a quarter pages long, with many paragraphs and innumerable clauses, and sounds quite militant.
The resolution makes nine demands on the General Council of the TUC. Its ninth demand is that the leadership: ‘organises days of action including a major national demonstration against the government’s pay policy.’
All that the POA prison officers trade union sought to do with its amendment was to place the word ‘strike’ after ‘days of’ and before ‘action’.
This was enough to set off all of the general council’s alarm bells, since these strikes would involve up to two thirds of the TUC’s membership and would be general strikes against the government’s pay policy.
This is the last thing that the general council wants, so its leading ‘militant’ members were brought out to speak as if they were supporting the call for strike action while in actuality they were opposing the ‘strike’ amendment.
Seconding composite motion C15 and opposing the POA amendment, Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘The government pay policy is disgraceful.
‘It’s no longer good enough for individual unions to fight on their own, we need to have coordinated action.
‘We need days of action organised by the TUC, a national demonstration. Bring people onto the streets to demonstrate their anger.’
We need days of action. We don’t need days of strike action!
At the same time he said: ‘We’re balloting 270,000 of our members for industrial action.’
That this will mean some limited strike action is clear.
The trade union leaders are being driven by their members into taking strike action, but they are fighting desperately to prevent such actions turning into a general strike against the government.
This is what is happening at the TUC.
TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber also intervened in the debate to oppose the POA’s amendment.
He said: ‘It’s disappointing we have a division’ claiming: ‘The composite sets out a hard-hitting programme of action’, and adding: ‘We won’t achieve unity if unions are asked to subordinate their own democratic decisions to one TUC coordinating campaign. Unions have to make their own judgements whether or not industrial action is necessary.’
If that is the case why have a TUC Congress at all, if the national leadership, the general staff of the trade unions, can call days of action, national demonstrations but must not call days of strike action.
The amendment seemed to be carried by a good majority, on the two show of hands that were called for by the chairman, but was lost in a card vote, with Unite losing its voting card at the decisive moment when the vote was called.
If Unite’s vote had been present and correct and cast for the amendment then the ‘strike’ amendment would have succeeded, or been very close to it.
Nevertheless, the writing is on the wall for the TUC leaders. They are incapable of taking the movement forward and must be replaced by a new leadership that will use the huge strength of the working class to defend jobs, wages and rights.
This means being ready to bring down the Brown government and to bring in a workers government.
