THE former CWU postal workers trade union leader, Alan Johnson, yesterday moved into action at the behest of the Prime Minister to urge that trade union votes should be just 15 per cent of all of the votes cast at the Labour Party conference, not the 50 per cent which he says that that the four big unions, UNISON, TGWU, GMB and Amicus wield if they vote together in a bloc.
The proposal comes after the government suffered defeat on five of its key policies at September’s Labour party conference. However, the government immediately announced that it would ignore the conference decisions of its own party.
The government has continued to suffer defeats, including its first defeat in the House of Commons over its plan to allow the police to hold a person for 90 days without charge, when 49 Labour MPs voted against.
Now, Blair is getting ready to bring legislation before the House of Commons to allow him to bring in an ‘education’ market, privatise the NHS and slash incapacity benefits, which together will constitute a massive blow at the working class and the Welfare State.
Already, Labour MPs say that up to 100 of their colleagues will vote against these measures starting with the education ‘reforms’, which means that Blair will have to be rescued by the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, creating a national government in embryo.
Such a development will create massive anger in the working class, who consider that one Ramsay MacDonald is enough.
In this situation of rapidly developing crisis, Johnson’s 15 per cent voting proposal is a provocation against the unions, who not only founded and built the Labour party to be their instrument in parliament, but continue to finance it.
It is an attempt to drive the union leaders onto their knees, or to begin driving the trade unions out of the party that they created.
In fact, the trade union bureaucracy is already in the kneeling position.
When Blair was defeated by 31 votes in the House of Commons vote on the 90 day proposal, only one union said that he should be made to resign and the privatisation programme and the war in Iraq be halted. That was the RMT. All the rest said no comment, and looked the other way.
Now, Blair is engaging in a major provocation against the trade unions, and planning to get his Thatcherite legislation through the House of Commons with the support of the Tory and Liberal Democrat parties.
Millions of trade unionists do not want to see any return of the Tories, either in their own right, or as part of a national government arrangement with Blair.
The trade unions must put a stop to the privatisation of the NHS and education and bar the way to a return of the Tories.
Millions of trade unionists must put a stop to the political cowardice of union leaders who are opposed on principle to tackling the Blair government.
Workers must insist that the trade union leaders return the Labour Party to being the political party of the trade unions, and that Johnson’s proposal to reduce the trade union vote to 15 per cent of the Labour Party conference total be thrown back into his face.
The trade unions must take action to bring down the Blair government and to bring in a workers government that will end the privatisation programme and stop the war in Iraq.
A refusal to carry out this policy will allow Blair to split the Labour Party at his leisure, and also split the trade unions away from it, as he joins hands with Cameron and Davis to complete Thatcher’s privatisation programme.
Central to moving the trade unions into action against Blair and Brown’s Tory policies is the building of the revolutionary leadership of the WRP in the trade unions and amongst the youth. There is not a moment to lose.
