Report from National Shop Stewards Network Meeting London 28th June 2008
The meeting was attended by approximately 200 delegates, and was chaired by Dave Chapple – chair of the outgoing steering committee. He introduced four platform speakers:
Bob Crow – Gen Sec RMT: reiterated his belief that the NSSN is necessary to raise the level of political debate at workplace level. Disappointing that some unions have stated opposition to the NSSN – what are they frightened of? Unless we have political action at the highest level, however, we will always be arguing about the same workplace issues. The recent ECJ rulings on primacy of business interests over local collective agreements are a throwback to Taff Vale. None of the three major parties will challenge this because none are acting for the trade union movement. That is why RMT’s motion to the TUC to allow Trades Councils to submit motions and send delegates is so important. He appealed for delegates to push their unions to support.
Onay Kasab – Greenwich UNISON: spoke about the socialist witch-hunt by UNISON against three colleagues and himself. He alleged this was because of a leaflet challenging the ruling out of order of many motions at Annual Conference critical of support for Labour.
Karen Reissmann – UNISON Manchester Health Branch: spoke about the benefits of linking struggles together. The combined day of action which brought supporters of the UCU, PCS and others with her own campaign gave confidence to the rank and file.
Brian Caton – Gen Sec POA: criticised the leaderships of some unions and the TUC for failing to represent the views of the affiliated membership in relation to attacks on public services and TU rights and freedoms. The POA has submitted a motion to the TUC calling for a general strike unless the government repeals the anti-TU laws. He repeated his call at the Trades Councils conference for unions to “choose freedom – break bad laws”.
After speakers from the floor, there were workshops to debate contemporary issues, under the same headings as used for the Regional Conference.
The workshop on Political Representation seemed most relevant to the work of the NSSN, and this was well attended.
Dave Nellist – Chair of the Campaign for a New Workers’ Party: argued that the closeness of the 3 main parties today resembles the situation with Tories and Liberals of 100 years ago – the need for a workers party is the same. 11 years of a labour government has not fundamentally changed things for the better; and illegal foreign wars, privatisation and failure to tax the rich has further advanced the consolidation of capitalism. Whilst there may have been an opportunity to mobilise enough people to reclaim the Labour Party at the Stop the War Demo in 2003, this course is no longer achievable – he estimated that it would need 50 to100 activists in each constituency to organise to change the party’s direction. There is actually one party of business with the illusion of a choice between the 3 parties, and this is why the CNWP is trying to break away the left activists who remain within Labour. He warned that unless this new party emerges the BNP will fill the vacuum – and we saw evidence for this in the Henley by-election where the BNP beat Labour. He cautioned against the mistakes made in previous attempts to found a new party (SLP, Respect), and predicted the new party would not be established as a single event – rather we should support single issue candidates to establish the idea of an alternative, and lobby for support among activists at the TU conferences. The A8 accession, economic recession and the rise of the far right give the campaign urgency, and it is the responsibility of TU activists to build it.
John Rogers – Labour Representation Committee: agreed with Nellist’s analysis of the Labour government, but claimed nobody really knows what to do about it. Unions need to develop their own programme of political action, and GMB has shown the way by targeting support for MP’s who follow their programme, but UNISON is opposed. The LRC believes that we still have a small voice within the party, and that this should continue to be utilised. There are good socialists within the Labour Party and among the MP’s and we should make use of them in our political campaigns.
Unjum Mirza – Left List: said that the important thing was to build the confidence of the rank and file by actively supporting industrial disputes.
A lively debate followed, with speakers generally in favour of the new party approach. Roger Bannister claimed that once unions start to break with Labour and put up independent candidates the idea of a new party would gain credibility. Motions to do so generally are ruled out of order, so this is a barrier to overcome. Tony Mulhearn said John McDonnell and colleagues legitimise the New Labour faction by staying in the party and providing a convenient target. He could use his media profile to trigger the new party by declaring the Labour Party finished as a working class party. Alec McFadden argued the NSSN should support a new party, but we don’t want to lose comrades who choose to stay in along the way – maximum unity is required.
The Steering Committee report gave an upbeat picture of the growth of the network in the regions, most of which had held conferences. The attendance at this conference was about the same as last year’s, however, and some regions were not represented. Martin Gleeson challenged the decision of the outgoing committee to widen the definition of “workplace representatives” as stated in the agreed founding statement to include branch and trades council officers who are not elected in the workplace. This should be decided by the conference, and the change risks criticism from the union establishment that the steering committee is open to infiltration from individuals who have a political agenda not aligned with the movement. D Chapple claimed the outgoing committee were unanimous in making this change, and as no motions were allowed the challenge would have to be considered as an amendment at a subsequent meeting of the new committee.
42 nominations were received on the day, requiring only a proposer and seconder to be eligible, and the names were not disclosed at the meeting. D Chapple said further committee members would be co-opted from unions and regions which were not represented among the nominations.
The final plenary session consisted of contributions from he floor on current disputes and campaigns which the NSSN will highlight through the coming year.
Martin Gleeson
Delegate from GMATUC
Report from Trades Union Councils Annual Conference 14th – 15th June 2008 at Sheffield
The conference was chaired once again by NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear, and over 70 delegates were in attendance.
TUCJCC Annual Report
Martin Gleeson asked why Unite’s draft rulebook does not incorporate the ASLEF ruling on expulsion of members of fascist organisations? J Dear said the legislation has not been enacted yet, and a hostile amendment has been submitted in the Lords. Lobbying is going on to defeat the amendment.
Dave Chapple told of his treatment as our sororal delegate to the 2007 TUC, where not only was he denied speaking time, but was removed from his seat on the platform during the session when Gordon Brown came to speak - for fear of an impromptu protest. Bro Chapple suggested this may have been a wise decision by the TUC!
Alec McFadden urged delegates to do whatever we can to persuade the big unions to support this year’s RMT motion to re-establish delegates and motions sent from this conference to future TUC’s. At this time it looks like the motion will fail, but other supportive unions may be prepared to re-submit the proposition in future years.
Policy Motions
Greater Manchester delegates Martin Gleeson and Dave Harker moved the motion on the Karen Reissmann campaign, and this received unanimous support. There was some criticism about the strength of the UNISON campaign, but it was recognised that pressure from below is necessary to ensure the most effective challenge to the PCT which dismissed her for highlighting the absurdity of health service cuts.
Our second motion had been swallowed up in an enormous composite covering the role of trades councils, but our contribution helped make the case for a better flow of information within the movement.
Merseyside’s emergency motion in the wake of the BNP’s advance in recent elections brought out some strong speeches in favour of joint working at local level to augment the national campaigns in the Euro elections next year.
All the motions went through virtually unopposed, but GMATUC’s innocuous-looking amendment to the MP’s expenses motion was unexpectedly opposed and fell. The majority of delegates felt that including MEP’s in the enquiry was a distraction, and would not welcome a Labour politician addressing next year’s conference on the subject. This last point was made strongly by TUCJCC member Ian McDonald, conveniently forgetting that the TUCJCC had invited a Labour MEP to speak at this conference!
In contrast to the Northwest TUC education debate a few years ago, there was not a word of protest against the condemnation of faith schools along with academies, trust and grammar schools contained in the motion on state education. It’s a pity that the teaching unions can’t be so unequivocal.
Workshop Discussions
There were two workshop sessions, with a choice of four themes.
1) Manufacturing: this was a rather disappointing workshop as delegates failed to come up with any actions to improve the situation at a local level – some delegates getting hung up on repealing the anti-trade union laws and other such peripheral campaigns. MG suggested encouragement for local authorities to promote technology parks to draw in supply chains such as is mooted in Oldham.
2) Migrant Workers: some best practice from around the country was shared in how to engage with workers from Poland. Apparently our Polish comrades like to participate in political meetings, but only if there is food and a knees-up associated with it! It was suggested that we could be prepared for encounters with migrant workers by carrying a form for details which could be passed on to the relevant union full-timers.
3) Trades Councils in the Community: a long list of practical actions we can take to raise our profile was accumulated, ranging from circulating our newsletters to union branches regardless of lack of interest shown by them, to engaging with under-represented groups at community events. White (domestic violence) and Purple (Workers Memorial Day) Ribbon days are popular with several trades councils. Setting up a mobile phone hotline for initial advice from workers in non-unionised workplaces was suggested, but it was also recognised that we generally have limited capacity to offer such services.
4) Public services: it was agreed we have role in turning opinion against privatisations, so we should add to whatever campaigns the public sector unions are running. It was mentioned that some unions are hostile to our involvement, and in some cases are following the management agenda. Jeremy Dear said the TUCJCC would take up the idea of a web-based discussion board for us to share ideas.
Guest Speakers
Brian Caton, General Secretary of the POA, spoke about the failure of the government to live up to their promise to tackle the causes of crime. Society needs to change to one based on who you are and not what you have. He had been threatened with a prison sentence if the POA strikes again, but said the POA is committed to break bad law and to “choose freedom”!
Linda McAvon, MEP for Yorks & Humber, claimed the left should see the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty as a blow. The EU is a space for progressive politics, e.g. the Social Chapter which kept Thatcherism at bay in the 1980’s. There was no audible outpouring of grief from delegates.
Bob Pemberton, TUC Officer for Unemployed Workers Centres, argued for an increased role now the economy is struggling; and local NUJ rep Sam Southgate spoke about the dispute at York Newspapers – delegates collected over £200 for the strike fund.