The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 22nd September 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 22nd September 2023
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
The 155th AGM of the TUC was not what it was in its glory days. Once upon a time it received wall-to-wall TV coverage, and with hordes of labour correspondents filling the pages of newspapers with detailed reports of debates. Now things are very different. A Google search for “TUC Congress Liverpool” brought up a tenth of the hits for Saturday’s “Fleetwood Town v Oxford United” lower league football match.
Those who are very keen can watch the entire proceedings on YouTube. On Sunday these had less than 350 views each. The speech from the new General Secretary, Paul Nowak, managed to attract a record 2,100 views.
It is significant that the right-wing press found little to denounce at Liverpool.
In its glory days the TUC was an important body. Whether or not Labour was in power, Cabinet or Shadow Cabinet ministers flocked to the TUC. This year it was very different. Even Labour’s leader was absent (he put in an appearance last year) and sent his deputy, Angela Rayner, where she received more applause than she deserved. To make up for that disappointment of not having the entire Shadow Cabinet we were graced with the presence of a representative of the American trade union federation the AFL-CIO. The only other overseas speakers were from the Chilean and International TUCs, although there were fringe events on international topics.
There are presently 48 unions representing 5.5 million workers affiliated to the TUC. This is a sad comedown from its peak in 1980, when the TUC represented nearly 13 million workers. At present, union density is only 22.3 per cent generally and fell last year despite the strike wave. Although public sector density is 48.6 per cent, it is only 12 per cent in the private sector. There are another one million workers in non-TUC unions ranging from grand Royal College of Nursing RCN) to the small but active Industrial Workers of the World.
The largest union in Britain is Unison with 1,184,991 members, which has recently taken the crown from Unite with 1,130,045 members. The one with the most descriptive name is the 1,203-strong National Society for Education in Art and Design, and the smallest is the pitiful but once mighty National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which now has just 82 members.
Apart from the formal business there were many fringe meetings. There delegates can discuss matters such as “The case for a National Climate Service”, listen to the train drivers’ union argue for “Investing in rail for a greener future” and War on Want on the fashion industry. One of the most popular fringe events is that organised by the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, where delegates can show solidarity with the Cuban working class, particularly those working in the Havana Club distillery.
Cuba solidarity is seen by the Congress House bureaucrats as a fairly harmless activity, useful for keeping lefties occupied. This was made clear in August 2006. Then Owen Tudor, the TUC’s international officer, had a chat about the forthcoming Congress with an American Embassy labour affairs official, later made public by WikiLeaks. Tudor lamented that delegates would condemn Israel’s recent military actions but reassured his American visitor that support for Cuba was nothing to worry about as it was just a routine “warhorse issue”.
This year there was a preview showing of London Recruits, a film celebrating the young British activists (mostly communists) who were sent to South Africa disguised as tourists. The TUC likes to boast about the heroic role it played in overthrowing apartheid. This is largely fiction as the TUC did next to nothing and faithfully followed the Cold War-influenced Foreign Office line and that from the white-based South African trade unions who were keen supporters of apartheid. It took a lot of pressure from left-wing activists to stir the TUC into something approaching activity, long after anti-apartheid had become a respectable cause.
More nonsense
But to return to Liverpool in 2023. This year’s Congress kicked off with the launch of a brand news “trade union faith and belief network” that “will start an ongoing dialogue between unions, faith organisations and community groups, and will explore common ground on the dignity of labour and trade union rights, and in-work poverty”. The TUC might regret setting up this network as sooner or later they will discover that not all religious groups are model Guardian-reading liberals.
Perhaps speaking with crossed fingers, Labour’s token speaker Angela Rayner said that an employment rights Bill would be introduced within 100 days of a Labour Government taking office, but she was a vague on the details apart from introducing electronic balloting in trade union elections. Although she said Labour would repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act this implies all the other anti-union laws will remain in place. Needless to say, her pledges are not to be taken seriously. The pledge to end zero-hour contracts only lasted until Saturday lunchtime and no doubt others will go the same way.
In all there were 81 motions, including two emergency motions. Only one was rejected outright. This was a demand form the Prison Officers’ Association for local trade union councils to have a greater say in the TUC’s affairs, including being able to speak and vote on any motion before the TUC, and even a seat on the General Council. This was rejected on the grounds that workers are already represented at the TUC through their unions. Cynics might think the TUC rejected this motion because the Congress House bureaucrats do not like ordinary working class left-wing activists demanding real action.
From a trade union perspective there was little that was controversial. No-one will be surprised to know that the TUC-backed “Fair funding for public services” favours “Investment in public service” and wants more “Public service investment”, which is like being against sin. The same goes for motions supporting “Ending child poverty” and opposing “Violence against women and girls”, the latter of which would let Myra Hindley off the hook.
Other more specific pious nonsense got through. On example of this was the motion from the Musicians’ Union supported by the National Union of Journalists, wanting to retain the BBC licence fee model on the grounds that it employees lots of musicians. That is all very well, but it also sees the BBC as a bastion of “professional journalism and impartial reporting” despite its appalling record of biased anti-working class coverage since the 1926 General Strike.
By far the worst TUC policy was that which urged support for the Ukrainian Nazis. This was not unexpected as last year the TUC passed a motion demanding increased military spending, under the guise of improving industrial capacity.
GMB President Barbara Plant demonstrated her total ignorance of the situation by saying that the openly Nazi Ukrainians were as deserving of military support as was the Republican government in Spain after Franco’s coup. Even this absurdity was too much for some supporters of this deplorable but successful motion.
Only the Fire Brigades Union opposed this stain on the trade union movement, vainly pointing out that the conference had deplored the rise of the far-right in Europe. The only other international issue to have a specific motion was opposition to moves to ban local authorities from boycotting unsavoury companies with dodgy investments.
Some of the motions seemed like time-fillers. While there is a legitimate case by the Professional Footballers’ Association to demand for equal pay and conditions for female footballers, surely there are other places where the College of Podiatry can demand better designed boots for woman footballers.
Alongside traditional trade union issues familiar in 1868, there were some very modern forms of exploitation. The Writers Guild of Great Britain has taken on the might of Netflix and Amazon Prime amongst others, to secure decent returns for their scribblings. These multinationals force writers to sign ‘buy-out’ agreements forcing them to give away all intellectual property and copyrights. This means that if they produce a hit they do not benefit from any repeat fees and are not allowed to adapt their own work for books or theatrical shows. These terms are much worse than those demanded by traditional media companies.
The dangers of Artificial Intelligence taking over jobs and making workplace surveillance even worse was the subject of a motion by the Communication Workers Union supported by the fear of the Musicians’ Union that it will make its members redundant.
Some people might find contradictions between the TUC’s support for the High Speed Railway, which will involve chopping down forests, with a demand for more urgency on climate change.
Congress also deplored the Westminster government vetoing the SNP Government’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which is one of the main causes of the SNP’s decline in popularity. One wonders if many delegates are aware that the TUC is now committed to a policy sending certain male sexual offenders to female prisons in the name of equality for transgender people.
No-one will disagree with the demand for “an end to unpaid overtime for midwives and maternity support workers”, improving the “Standing of education in the UK”, expressing “Solidarity with transport workers and renewed campaign for better public transport” and “Tackling flags of convenience and growing domestic shipping”, but one should not wait for the TUC to do anything effect about any of these issues. The TUC policy of repealing of all anti-trade laws is not something Congress House bureaucrats really want as it would give them extra work to do.
One demand that might be acted on is that for a “Royal Commission into the criminal justice system” as Royal Commissions sit for ages looking at subjects to no great effect.