Just over a month after welcoming in the new decade, for many it already feels like we are on a general election footing. Ever present polls, media coverage and column inches are monitoring this year’s journey to the ballot box. We are hearing about aspiration versus austerity; plans and protection for the NHS; alterations to the education system; and electoral reform.
The polls are narrowing and the parties are steadily presenting promises and policies on key issues to woo voters. Despite a drop in membership in the last few decades, trade union members still remain a sizeable proportion of the electorate and, at the very least, are representative of the huge swathe of voters that could make or break a party’s chances come election day.
But what issues are key to the many thousands of working people represented by trade unions? Let us be clear from the outset that in this respect the concerns of trade unionists do not differ greatly from the vast majority of the general public – high up on the agenda are the age-old bread and butter issues of employment, crime, the NHS, the local community, education and immigration.
However, the concerns that consistently rate highest amongst union members – particularly in the current climate – are that of the economy and decent, sustainable employment. In the past year or so, arrogantly anticipating power, the Conservatives have made stealthy attempts to court the trade unions, appointing a ‘Trade Union envoy’ to approach unions.
If the Tories are so apparently intent on wooing union members perhaps we should take a closer look at both their record and rhetoric on the touchstone trade union issue of the economy and employment? In addition, how does what they say in public chime with private approaches? Well, to date the Tories have opposed all the action Labour has taken to support and shore up the economy in difficult times – tax changes and deferrals, investment in jobs and skills that have helped safeguard people’s jobs as well as keep them in their homes. They have criticised the bank bailout that brought the economy back from the brink and was, consequently, a life raft to the hundreds of thousands of ordinary bank workers earning the equivalent of the minimum wage.
The opposition of the opposition speaks volumes. They would do what they did last time they were in power and leave the recession to run its course, relegating millions of workers, young and old to the scrapheap.
This brings us to the Conservative strategy on employment and, by association, its attitude to the very workers who form the backbone of the British economy. Commenting on the hostile takeover of British institution Cadbury by American company Kraft, Tory whip Bill Wiggin, said of workers worried about what such a takeover could mean for them, their families and their future: “Who wants to hire a whingeing workforce when you can have a positive upbeat one”. In the same interview he went on to tell local BBC radio listeners that he was not a fan of Unite – the union campaigning to protect his constituent’s jobs – and the campaign would not make any difference as he believed Cadbury would not sell and stay independent. Well, he got that one wrong.
Just a week later, the Conservative shadow business minister, Jonathan Djanogly, raised his resistance to the news that the much fought for Temporary and Agency Workers Directive will come into effect next year. He criticised the directive not because he does not feel it goes far enough to end the exploitation of workers and create a more level playing field. No, he believes bringing in the directive will mean a dramatic rise in unemployment and will damage UK business. Does this refrain ring a bell? Well, yes it should. Over a decade ago, when Labour introduced the national minimum wage that was opposed by the Conservatives, the Tories said something similar. In fact, they said that it would increase unemployment by one million. They got that one wrong – again.
Later last month, we saw the release of GDP figures that illustrated the beginnings of what trade unions hope is a return to economic growth and the start of the road out of recession. Yes, we are aware that the recovery remains frail and will need careful support but we know that is down to the positive action taken by Labour. Trade unions know that without a Labour government we would be in a much worse position in respect of the economy and employment.
Both the words and actions of Conservatives in the last eighteen months, not to mention the eighteen years they last spent in power, speak volumes of their attitude towards the livelihoods, concerns and hopes of those that trade unions seek to represent. The Conservatives cannot airbrush away their embedded and contemptuous attitudes to employment and their ineptitude when it comes to the economy; trade unions will increasingly turn to Labour to commit to and deliver on these fundamental areas.