Now -read the book!

Here is a link to my memoirs which, if you are a glutton for punishment, you can purchase online at https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/an-obscure-footnote-in-trade-union-history.
Men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name. (William Morris - A Dream of John Ball)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Strike action works

UNISON members – taking action with other trade unionists – have achieved some success in a dispute with our largest English local authority employer.

UNISON members in Birmingham really have achieved a result in getting their employers back into negotiations over Single Status by taking strike action.

When the same view is taken here, here and here, it seems pretty clear that this is real progress.

It’s always good to see when those who describe strike action as out of date are shown to be as wrong as they always have been.

However, with disputes all over the place we need more coordination of action across the country.

This won’t be easy because of our natural proclivity for parochialism in local government – it will hardly be possible at all if (as I may have mentioned) we continue to maintain a vow of silence on the question at Conferences…

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