New Worker Banner

The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Rousing the Workers or Not?

by New Worker correspondent

In its customary measured language, the official gov.uk website describes the Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Bill 2023 as a measure that aims “to limit the impacts of strike action on the lives and livelihoods of the public and to strike a balance between the right of unions and their members to strike with the need for the wider public to be able to access key services during strikes”. It adds that: “The legislation will allow regulations to be made to establish the required minimum level of service and specific services it will apply to, following consultation and approval by parliament.”

Not everybody agrees of course. Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), denounced the measure, presently at Committee stage in the House of Lords, as “one of the most draconian attacks on the rights of working people in decades. It’s a pernicious piece of legislation that’s in keeping with authoritarian regimes around the world”.

It is so bad, he said, that that Trades Union Congress (TUC) “should lead a campaign of mass non-co-operation and non-compliance” and an emergency congress of the TUC must be called to launch a campaign of defiance and civil disobedience against the bill if it becomes law. Wrack correctly pointed out that there was “no obvious route to challenge this attack through the courts”, therefore a mass campaign of non-compliance was essential, and could defeat the measure, because: “The government is deliberately attempting to strengthen the position of employers and severely weaken the position of workers.”

All very well, but that is easier to talk about organising a mass campaign than bringing one into being to “make this law inoperable and stop it dead in its tracks”. After all, the TUC is more concerned about stirring up apathy rather than encouraging political action. On this issue however, the TUC has taken action: it has condemned the motion and even taken the ‘radical’ step of setting up a petition to oppose it. On Monday this had 274,172 signatures.

Transport union RMT took more direct action in mid-January when it organised demonstrations outside the constituency offices of the four Tory MPs most closely involved, followed by an evening protest outside No 10 Downing Street.

Unite also denounced the measure when it first appeared in Parliament. General Secretary Sharon Graham criticised the measure as being “another dangerous gimmick from a Government that should be negotiating to resolve the current crisis they have caused”. At the same time shopworkers’ union USDAW denounced the measures for tilting that balance of power “too far towards employers and prevent workers standing up for decent services and safety at work”.

But that is about it. Beyond these initial responses there has been little activity. After searching their websites, it appears that two other giants of the trade union movement, the GMB and Unison, appear to have made little to no comment. An odd press release or two do not make a campaign.

Overall, the trade union movement has not been hyper-active on an issue that gravely affects them. Indeed, one of Unite’s responses was to claim that the measure was unnecessary because they already had a policy of striking such deals in life-or-death situations such as in ambulance workers’ strikes. Obviously, the new bill goes much further than that and is designed to deter and defeat strike action across a wide range of industries and services.

There is no sign that Wrack’s call will have much appeal to other general secretaries. Union members need to start putting pressure on their leaders to become much more active on this issue if they are not to be bound hand and foot in future industrial actions.