UNISON
members employed in the Probation Service will be taking
strike action on Thursday 11 June in a dispute over pay following
near-unanimous rejection of a “zero per
cent” pay offer and a decisive
“yes” vote in a national strike ballot. This will be the first national
UNISON strike action since the General Election – and all UNISON members and
activists should do all we can to support our members in probation.
That is the
most important point which I want to make in this blog post – that we must show
solidarity with UNISON members in probation taking action, and take inspiration
from their action to every UNISON member.
We must,
however, also reflect upon the lessons which we can learn – throughout UNISON –
from our recent national pay disputes. The pay freeze across our public
services has slashed something like a fifth off the real earnings of UNISON
members across most of the sectors in which we organise. Now that we face an
even more hostile Government, holding the purse strings even where they do not
directly employ us, we need to develop a more effective approach towards
reversing the decline in our living standards that that which failed under the
Coalition Government.
Although our
General
Secretary smashed an ice sculpture in the shape of a pound sign at our
Conference in 2012 we have found the pay freeze itself less fragile.
Commenting
at the time on his 2012 Conference speech, Dave Prentis said; “I called on the TUC to organise a national
demonstration on October 20 and I told delegates that we have got to work
together to make it bigger than last March – it must be massive. Building
a movement, an unstoppable momentum an alliance of unions, community groups and
the public taking on this Government’s austerity agenda. I want it to be the
biggest campaign this union’s ever seen. The demo will be just the beginning as
we campaign and battle through the autumn and winter into next year.”
In fact it
took two years before we saw national industrial action over pay in health
and local
government, and when this action did come, it was not coordinated (either
in the timing of the action which was taken or in the demands for which UNISON
was fighting – in the health service we were striking for the implementation of
a 1% pay rise, which was what we were striking against in local government!)
Of course
the October
2012 demonstration called for by Dave Prentis, whilst massive, was
smaller than the demonstration which had taken place eighteen months previously
–as the tide of opposition which rose against the Coalition Government in its
first year and a half receded thereafter.
The high
point of trade union opposition to the previous Government had been reached on 30 November 2011, when
coordinated strike action in defence of public service pensions, saw the
largest mass strike action since the 1926 General Strike.
When, the
following month, UNISON, led by Dave Prentis, initiated what became the
settlement of those disputes on terms which no honest and intelligent person
considers to have been a victory that set the tone for national industrial
relations for the remainder of the Coalition’s term of office.
The
subsequent national pay disputes in the intervening period have been poor
simulacrums of the pensions strike, repeating that tragedy as farce. We have
mobilised members around demands, in support of which – when the employers have
rejected them – we have called a token strike action before rapidly retreating
and letting members vote on unsatisfactory settlements in ballots in which we
have resolutely refused to offer any leadership.
The living
standards of our members continue to decline, but the boost to activism during
the period up to and including strike action has helped to moderate the decline
in UNISON membership, sustaining the financial viability of our organisation.
This half-hearted
opposition from UNISON, and most trade unions, to the attacks on our members
from (what we can now see was) a half-hearted Tory Government wasn’t good
enough then – and it certainly won’t be good enough now that we face a whole-hearted
Tory Government committed not only to austerity but to direct attacks upon
trade union rights.
In three
weeks delegates will gather at our National Delegate Conference. We need to use
that occasion as an opportunity to rethink how we organise and how we fight if
UNISON as a whole is going to live up to the example being set on 11 June by
our members in Probation.
1 comment:
Well said - it is very sad that Unison probation members did not support Napo strike action against the split of probation and now that Napo are not striking in coordination with Unison - Napo have been offered the same settlement as Unison!
It reflects poorly on the NECs of both Unions.
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