IN THE case of the UK trade union leadership, it is very much a case of what Lenin termed as ‘One Step Forward and Two Steps Back’.
The South Western Railway (SWR) has been renationalised making it the first train company to transfer to public ownership under Labour.
The Labour government called the renationalisation a ‘new dawn for rail’, while holding back from promising lower fares, focussing on its plans to improve services and invest in infrastructure. SWR trains are now the responsibility of the Department of Transport operator and will be integrated into Great British Railways (GBR).
Two more rail firms C2C and Greater Anglia will be brought under public ownership later this year. Seven more companies are due to be renationalised by 2027.
Current government plans are to renationalise nearly all passenger rail services across England, Wales and Scotland by 2027, proposals that have been attacked by the Tories.
On a visit to a train depot in Bournemouth, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the nationalisation of SWR as a ‘real watershed moment’.
Asked whether ticket prices would fall for passengers, she told the BBC: ‘I can’t promise you that. I would love to be able to do that but the truth of the matter is that, on an annual basis, just the day-to-day running of the trains, the taxpayer subsidises them to the tune of £2bn a year.’
She said what she could assure customers of is that: ‘I will strain every sinew to make sure that they get good value for money.’
However, as the working class pushes to the left and fights for renationalisation, the TUC leadership is moving to the right and is not just opposed to any real mass action.
In fact, Paul Nowak General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress calls for support for the ‘March for the Children of Ukraine, 1st June, assemble 1pm, marching to Parliament Square. Mobilise on solidarity. Decisive action is needed to bring Ukraine’s stolen children home and ensure their safety and well-being.’
He adds: ‘Reuniting Ukraine’s stolen children with their families is more than a humanitarian mission – it is a fight for justice, cultural preservation, and the future of a Ukraine as nation.
‘Ukraine’s children cannot wait. The time to act is now. On International Children’s Day, a March for the Children of Ukraine has been called in London to demand freedom for the children abducted by Russia and freedom for Ukraine from occupation.
‘Called by Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, the Campaign for Ukraine, Vsesvit and other Ukrainian organisations jointly with national trade unions GMB, ASLEF, NUM, PCS, UCU, NEU and Community.’
It is a call to action to the Labour movement and wider civil society ‘to take a clear stand for justice for the child victims of Russian imperialism and fascism’.
Promoting the march, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak issued the following video message: ‘More than three years on, we stand firmly against Putin’s illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine.’
The TUC leadership are seeking to make a bloc with the Ukrainian right wing who played a leading role historically in supporting Adolf Hitler in the Second World War and today are still seeking to overthrow the USSR and restore the butchers that ruled Russia before the 1917 revolution.
Russian workers and millions of Ukrainian workers do not support the Ukrainian fascists, who attempted to organise their own invasion of Russia just a few months ago.
Workers in the EU, the UK and the USA will have nothing to do with the Ukrainian fascists who supported Hitler in the Second World War and committed the most horrible mass murders.
Paul Nowak General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress calls for support for their ‘March for Ukraine’, on June 1st.
Trade unionists must respond by insisting that what is required is that Nowak resigns at once, and makes way for a new leadership that will call a general strike to bring down the Starmer government and go forward to a Workers Government and socialism!
