tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30704611.post8187112204783654895..comments2023-05-28T10:59:57.169+01:00Comments on Jon's labour movement blog: Strike action has all but disappeared from the public sectorJon Rogershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10779486527359048519noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30704611.post-63148013984921160452018-05-31T16:58:15.447+01:002018-05-31T16:58:15.447+01:00Jon is quite right to bring these figures to our a...Jon is quite right to bring these figures to our attention and the unfortunate reality is that the 2017 statistics confirm a long-term trend, not unique to but especially acute in Britain: broadly static or declining union membership and density, and reduced combativity contributing to an erosion of living standards for large sections of the working class (both 'blue' and 'white' collar) and a rise in grotesque inequalities of income and wealth.<br /><br />Having said that, the 2017 figures don't tell the whole story. Of course, last year saw the implementation of the key feature of the Tories' Trade Union Act 2016 with its imposition of a high hurdle for participation and 'yes' votes in strike ballots and it was also the year of a general election that yielded an encouraging result with Labour emerging with a substantially increased number of seats and Theresa May only able to retain No 10 on the basis of an especially rotten pact with the DUP.<br /><br />My suspicion is that there is an element of 'wait for Labour' under a Corbyn/McDonnell leadership, an understandable but in many respects dangerous attitude, and one that some union leaders are likely to be only too happy to encourage. But what the latter half of 2017 also illustrated was that national unions had the capacity to campaign and win membership-wide ballots that beat the Tory legislation. The dramatic highlight came from the CWU ballot of its more than 100,000 across the recently privatised Royal Mail where the union secured a thumping majority (over 89% 'yes') on a turnout of 73%. Of course, there was no strike in the end, but whatever the merits/flaws of the ultimate deal with Royal Mail management it was an overall victory.<br /><br />The other case worthy of note comes from the UCU where again a national strike ballot across more than 60 'old' (pre-1992) universities yielded decisive majorities that again surpassed the Tories' draconian 50% threshold for turnout. There is most certainly a debate to be had about the deal that emerged to end the dispute and, in particular, how the settlement was sold to lecturers, but the UCU strikes in the university may well have accounted for more than half a million strike days in the first quarter of 2018 (40,000 members x 14 days of strike action). The separate pay dispute involving a small number of Further Education branches of the UCU has undoubtedly generated several thousand more.<br /><br />Of course, these facts - and numerous small-scale fightbacks from Hackney traffic wardens to Hull recylcing workers - can't mask the uncomfortable truths contained in the official statistics for last year, but we certainly shouldn't ignore the beacons of hope flashing midst the gloom. George Binettenoreply@blogger.com