Kirklees take the lead

A hat tip to Solidarity magazine for being online with this news, but a bigger hat tip to Kirklees UNISON and their Branch Secretary Paul Holmes for taking the decision to strike against threatened job losses. A ballot of the Council workforce has produced a majority for action.

A five day strike by a well unionised local authority would not only pile pressure on the particular employer, it would also signal what is possible. It would be a warning to the Government and an example to workers up and down the country. If the credible threat of such action produced significant concessions that too would be a lesson to the rest of us.

Given the uneven organisation of our movement within and between industries, sectors and even branches, we are all looking to the stronger branches, departments and even individual sections for leadership. The Kirklees vote ought to be headline news on UNISON's website. We need some audacity at the top of the Union.

It would be great if we heard from Mabledon Place something similar to what Len McCluskey said this week.

I'm hoping for a New Year message which will be a beacon to illuminate the struggles underway and to give hope to our activists and members throughout the country.