The attacks by the Tories and their friends in the press over the last week will come as no surprise to the majority of trade union members. We have witnessed the Tories revert both to type and the previous century with a deluge of references to ‘militant’ trade unionism and targeting union support for the Labour party. It is no coincidence that this comes hot on the heels of a series of polls showing how Labour is eroding the lead of the opposition, and the revelations surrounding the Tories’ funding of marginal seats through nondom Tory peer Lord Ashcroft. Jitters and wobbles from the Conservatives and their rightwing media cohorts are giving way to nasty and sustained attacks on what is traditionally Labour’s largest support base.
Pen has been put to paper before about how the Conservatives are not and will never be friends of the trade unions. But it is now not simply a case of how actions speak louder than words on touchstone trade union issues such as the employment and the economy – the Tories have the unions in their sights and are going on the attack.
The Conservatives are sitting ready to wreck the catalogue of employment rights won under Labour: they will freeze incremental rises of the minimum wage; pull out of the Europe-wide Social Charter that guarantees paid leave and breaks; and they will get rid of equal rights for part time and temporary workers.
Conservative leader, David Cameron, has gone on the record to say he thinks that current health and safety law doesn’t work, that it places too much of a burden on business. He wants to relax the law and water down requirements to make any existing regulation voluntary to employers, thus rendering it worthless and putting thousands of workers at risk of serious injury, illness and even death.
He has also given an interview about the very relationship between the trade unions and the Labour party. Cameron wants to clamp down on the historic relationship with the trade unions, a relationship that is embedded in shared values and aspirations, not shared financial considerations. Under Cameron, a Conservative government would bring in a law forcing trade unions to ballot their members – on perhaps an annual basis – on whether they wish to pay a political levy. This is a direct attempt, not only to undermine the link between Labour and its affiliated unions, but to enforce costly ballots and restrictions upon unions that would serve only to benefit the Conservatives.
As things currently stand, union members are able to opt out of paying this political levy should they wish. It is a false assertion to say that this political levy is solely to support the Labour party – a union political fund covers all political campaigning of the union as well as anti-fascist work. This campaigning has led to legislation which has made a real difference to the lives of working people across the country, such as, the establishment of the Pension Protection Fund, the gangmasters licensing act and the corporate manslaughter act.
Cameron’s would-be successor, current Conservative mayor of London, Boris Johnson wants to bring in a no-strike rule for those who are employed by Transport for London. Cameron’s friend and shadow chancellor, George Osborne has touched on the possibility of a future Conservative administration restricting the right to strike.
Parliamentary questions tabled by Tory stalwart Francis Maude provide an insight to the route the Tories will take on union organising in the workplace should they win power this year. He has put in a series of questions to government departments, questioning the use (or as the tone of his approach points – waste) and cost of facilities in each department by the recognised trade union for the civil service.
To liken the unions’ financial and pastoral support for Labour to the Ashcroft affair is just plain wrong. The unions have a formal and transparent role within Labour party structures, as do affiliated socialist societies, to ensure a broad section of members of the labour movement are fully and fairly represented.
The trade unions that affiliate to the Labour party created the party over one hundred years ago. We are part of the very foundations. We are partners in the same movement. Trade unions and the members we represent also pay our fair share of tax so by contributing to the British society and community in which we work hard and want to play a positive part.
At the weekend, Cameron gave a set piece speech which demonstrated his commitment to continuing Thatcher’s legacy and pledged to repeat her assault on trade unions. For all Cameron’s talk of change, we can be sure of one thing – when it comes to trade union rights and the work of trade unions themselves, the Tories have not changed one little bit.