02.05.2001

Unison minimum wage demo

Bureaucracy confronted

The ugly, bureaucratic side of British trade unionism was amply displayed at the ?Campaign for a living wage? demonstration in Manchester on Saturday April 28, organised by the half-million-strong local government and public services union, Unison.

Early arrivers at the Whitworth Park assembly point encountered a contingent of about 200 fluorescent-uniformed stewards. It soon became apparent that this group, drawn entirely from the ranks of Unison?s unelected full-time officials, had been thoroughly briefed. Their mission was to maintain an exclusivist, Unison-only character for the event and especially, if they could, to drive away the leftwing groups, which were soon to arrive, overwhelmingly under the united banner of the Socialist Alliance.

The first assault was upon the stall set up in the park by Greater Manchester Socialist Alliance. An order to remove it was rejected by the SA comrades. In an imaginative move, SA posters bearing the demand for a minimum wage of ?7.40 an hour, which had been agreed at the March 10 policy conference in Birmingham, were threaded through the perimeter railings. But soon a posse of Unison?s guards embarked on a tour to pull these down and replace them with the union?s own posters calling for ?5 an hour.

A significant number of marchers chose to carry SA placards. They were systematically challenged, to the effect that the placards were ?unofficial? and, later, when the marchers were lining up, SA placard-holders were ordered to the rear of the column. When, inevitably, the abrasive challenges from the stewards produced stubborn resistance and, in some cases, strong language from their targets, the former resorted to exhortations of ?not in front of the children!?, interspersed with threats to call the police. The exclusion attempt failed though and the 1,000-strong march moved off, with 100 or so behind the GMSA banner.

The Unison bureaucracy and, it must be added, the elected leaderships in the union?s branches, had clearly failed to build the event amongst their own membership. Only a tiny handful were present, for instance, from the 5,000-strong Manchester branch. Even more clearly, there had been no intention whatsoever to recruit support from other unions. Just two other union banners were present - from Communication Workers Union and National Union of Teachers branches - and both were carried by Socialist Workers Party members.

The reticence of Unison?s national leaders in making even this mild challenge to the Labour government over the minimum wage was revealed when, after the briefest of distances along a major thoroughfare, Oxford Road, the march veered away from the normal shopping streets route and toured empty weekdays-only business areas.

The SA contingent was easily the most vociferous on the march and - to the extent that there was anyone there to listen - its demand for a minimum wage equal to the figure which the bourgeois institution, the European Union, says capital can afford, was energetically projected. The CPGB is critical of the adoption of this demand, rather than one based upon the needs of workers, and the front page lead of the Weekly Worker on sale at the event, articulated that criticism. Nevertheless, our comrades wholeheartedly participated in the agitation for the SA?s democratically agreed policy, as did the members of all the other alliance partner organisations who were present.

There were some weaknesses in the SA intervention though. The turnout was a little disappointing. No SA banners other than GMSA?s were present. Our national leadership was represented only by comrade Dave Church. And we had no specific leaflet on the minimum wage issue. No SA briefing took place, either before or after the demonstration. If a national press release on the subject had been issued, for example, then this had not come to the attention of the comrades who carried the intervention on the day.

No doubt there was extensive local activity last Saturday in every constituency where the SA is mounting a general election challenge. This is, of course, to be welcomed. But, if it is to be successful in advancing independent working class politics, the alliance must grasp every opportunity to maximise its impact when appropriate platforms become available, especially when they are ones focused on such key class issues as the minimum wage. Localism must not be allowed to fetter such national actions.

The march ended as it began. Stewards cordoned off the entrance to Albert Square to prevent SA placards passing. Skirmishes took place after some got through. The overwhelming majority of the marchers dispersed and only a few dozen of those who were made welcome to do so, remained to listen to the speeches of Unison general secretary Dave Prentis and others.

On this showing, the elementary trade union principle of solidarity appears to be anathema to Unison?s leadership. The union?s failings are both organisational and political. Bureaucratic control alienates the mass of the membership from their own organisation. The bureaucracy and its career structures become ends in themselves and the objectives of the union as a whole become effectively subordinated to the interests of the bureaucracy. Members who are unable to play any meaningful role in determining the policies and activities of their union cannot then be easily won to participate on the rare occasions when those activities require mass involvement.

Politically, the union remains a prisoner of the capitalist system. Although its leadership has to articulate the grievances of a low paid membership, its overarching commitment to New Labour ensures that the union demands will, in the final analysis, tend to be muted and modest in the extreme.

The unity of the left which has been forged through the Socialist Alliance, presents a wonderful opportunity for organising a reassertion of independent working class politics within Unison and other unions. The SA needs to elaborate a programme upon which to mount coordinated trade union work. This should not fall short of a plan for transforming our unions into revolutionary combat organisations of the working class.

As a priority, we need to start fighting practically for all union officials to be subject to regular election; to instant recall; and to be paid the average wage of the skilled workers they represent.

Derek Hunter