OVER 100,000 Royal Mail workers are striking again today. 30,000 BT Openreach engineers, along with 10,000 BT call centre workers are also on strike, demonstrating what the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called a ‘serious determination’ not to accept a miserable flat rate pay increase imposed on them.
CWU members, in their first national strike for 35 years, join the mass eruption of workers across the country as they force their union leaders to take action at a time when energy prices are shooting through the roof and inflation is soaring.
If the working class is showing a ‘serious determination’ to fight against bearing the brunt of the capitalist crisis, the same cannot be said of the Trades Union Congress leaders.
The TUC has refused to offer any leadership in this fight, instead, spending its time producing endless reports on the sufferings of workers and begging the Tories to do something to relieve their pain.
At a time when every worker faces being driven into life-threatening poverty, the last thing they need is to be told to rely on the charity of the Tories.
This reactionary refusal of the TUC leaders to fight against the Tories is complemented by the position of the leaders of the largest trade unions whose members are walking out in mass strike action in defence of pay and against the brutal fire and rehire policies of the bosses.
At the weekend, the UK’s two largest trade unions, Unite and Unison, announced that they would be submitting motions to the TUC conference on Sunday 11th September calling for these national strikes to be ‘synchronised’ in order to have more impact.
By restricting the calls for strikes to be ‘synchronised’ or ‘co-ordinated’ these leaders are consciously avoiding the issue of fighting for a general strike.
On the question of a general strike, Mick Lynch, leader of the RMT union, was quite clear. He has repeated many times that leaders of individual unions cannot call for a general strike as this is the sole responsibility of the TUC.
Workers will ask themselves why then are these leaders not flooding the TUC conference with motions demanding they call a general strike?
With British capitalism diving into recession, with inflation running out of control and a ruling class intent on sending billions of military ‘aid’ to Ukraine to keep the imperialist war drive against Russia going, there can be no return to peaceful negotiations or concessions from the Tories.
The front runner for the Tory leadership, Liz Truss, has made it abundantly clear that she intends to launch an all-out class war against workers and the unions, using the full strength of the capitalist state to outlaw strikes and break them using legalised scabs.
This is a war against the working class that bankrupt British capitalism must fight to the finish. The union leaders’ refusal to fight to mobilise the enormous strength of the working class against this weak, collapsing ruling class is an act of monumental betrayal.
The working class is more than ready for action to bring down the Tories – what is an absolute necessity is a new leadership prepared to fight for and organise the general strike.
Just saying ‘enough is enough’ is an avoidance of the fight required today, and those leaders who refuse to fight for a general strike must be removed and a new leadership that is prepared to organise for the working class to go from a general strike to taking the power must be built throughout the unions and amongst young people.
Only the WRP and Young Socialists are organising to force the TUC to call a general strike.
We urge thousands of workers and youth to join us in Brighton at 8.00am on Monday September 12, the opening session of the TUC, to force the TUC to call an immediate general strike to kick out the Tories and bring in a workers’ government that will nationalise the banks and major industries, placing them under the management and control of the working class as part of a socialist planned economy (see advert page 1).
Join the WRP to build the leadership for organising the British socialist revolution that will consign bankrupt capitalism to the dustbin of history where it belongs.
