UNITE leader McCluskey has made Tory PM Cameron an offer by letter to accept the thresholds necessary for legal strike action, as proposed in the new anti-union bill, in return for the Tories conceding electronic voting at work places.
The Tory Bill when it becomes an Act will require 50% turnouts, and for a legal strike to take place a majority vote of 40% at least, of those eligible to vote for a strike action to be legal. ”If your concern about turnout in strike ballots is genuine, then scrap the archaic and undemocratic reliance on postal ballots and give trade unionists the right to secure, secret, workplace balloting,’ McCluskey writes. He adds: ‘Modernise the voting system and there will no longer be a turnout problem. If ministers agree then we can reach an agreement on thresholds.’
In a single letter McCluskey accepts the right of the state to have state control over the unions, putting an end to the right to take strike action. McCluskey who opposes a general strike to smash the anti-union laws is in fact preparing the way for a Popular Front alliance with allegedly ‘progressive Tories’ such as ex-Home Secretary Davis, and groups such as Amnesty and Liberty to have less onerous anti-union laws, under a Tory government.
He also by implication is signalling that provided Cameron scraps the thresholds the rest of the bill is acceptable. It definitely is not! It includes the right of the employer to use agency workers as strike breakers, and police control of picket lines, with one trade union official responsible for the conduct of the picket. He must be authorised and provide proof of his authorisation when challenged, have an armband, and be prepared to face criminal charges if there is a violent provocation of the picket.
Keith Ewing, Professor of Public Law at King’s College, has said of the proposed Act that: ‘The police are being asked to become agents for the employer; while the employer is being asked to become an agent for the police. The police would now be empowered to have picketing stopped by triggering civil liabilities, at the initiative of the employer – even though the picket is peaceful and no offence has been committed. This is an extraordinary provision.’
Professor Ewing added: ‘Here we have the government imposing a duty on picket supervisors to produce their letter of authorisation to anyone who reasonably wants to see it. Presumably this will include employers. The risk is that this information will then be easily distributed in construction and other industries. In the light of the recent scandal and the unresolved business of blacklisting, workers will rightly be cautious about giving any information to employers about picketing.
At the Labour Party Conference McCluskey sang another tune. He said: ‘Conference, remember, that’s what the Nazis did – trade unionists in the concentration camps of Dachau – made to wear armbands with red triangles. We won’t be doing that. I will be on the picket line when Unite members are on strike and I will not be wearing an armband with a red triangle like the trade union prisoners,’ he said.
Again, McCluskey has changed his tune because he now accepts anti-union laws and wants to have an alliance with Tory ‘progressives’ as an alternative to calling a general strike to bring down the Tories and smash the anti-union laws to bring back the right to strike. No wonder Cameron said yesterday morning that he found McCluskey’s proposals ‘interesting’.
Perhaps, since they are all at the Tory Party Conference, Cameron inside and McCluskey on his knees outside, a TU delegation will be formed alongside a delegation of progressive Tories and go in to plead with Cameron to rewrite his anti-union laws! The working class must put an end to this treacherous charade of ‘On your knees’ trade unionism. McCluskey’s letter must be ripped up and replaced by the struggle for a new and revolutionary leadership inside the trade unions.
This must be prepared to defend the right to strike by organising a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers government and socialism, with the right to strike, the right to a decent home, and the right to an NHS and a Welfare State built into its foundations.
