— against the trade unions, the support of the Labour Party, and against Labour's use of local government to oppose government policies.
Previous issues of Socialist Action have looked at the scope of Thatcher's attack on local government and the Labour Party. But for eight years the centre of the political stage has been occupied by Thatcher's assault on the trade union movement. The defeat of ASLEF, the defeat in British Leyland, of the NGA at Warrington, of the NGA and SOGAT at Wapping, and of the miners have marked offensive.
But beneath the surface other shifts, with profound long term consequences, are taking place. These will continue to operate whatever government is elected. JOHN ROSS looks at the trends in the trade unions linked to the growth of the 'dual economy.
hE overall scale of setbacks suf fered by the trade unions sinc 1979 is obvious. Membership has fallen from 13.4 million in 1979 to 9.5 million in 1986. Days lost in strikes fell from 29 million in 1979 — an exceptionally high figure, to 2 million in 1986. The number strikes fell from 2,400 to 1,050.
Loss of membership in the strongest unions is as high. In 1979-86 the TGWU lost 31 per cent of its members, the NUR 28 per cent, GMBATU 23 per cent, the A EU 20 per cent — the last figure being a considerable underestimate.
NAMer with COrSE, have bone sector unlon.
maintained their membership. The only unions which have Natul membership are BIFU Banking, surance and Finance Union) in the exPAssing fine lattee main through - the latter mainly through amalgamations.
The most serious anti-trade union laws this century have been imposed. The right to effective picketting, to boycott goods produced in workplaces in dispute, to take immediate industrial action after mass meetings, have all been removed.
The courts. have developed the contidence to seize the assels or major unions - such as the NGA, TGWU, SOGAT and NUM. The new package of antı-union measures the manifesto would enshrine the right to scab, ban high turn out workplace ballots in union elections, and replace them with lower turn out postal ballots, and ban the closed shop.
The number of victimisations has significantly increased. More than 800 miners were sacked during the NUM Derek Thornett were victimised in Leyland. A less publicised series of victimisations has taken place in other industries.
Entire industrial sectors such as steel have been decimated. The printing industry is golng troug a revoluton which is severely weakening union power.
Privatisation is also a major threat to the unions in sectors such as health and local government.
Rank and file organisation has also decreased. The number of manual shop stewards in manufacturing around 130,000 in 1981 to 80,000 in 1983 — a 39 per cent fall in the number of shop stewards compared with a 33 per cent fall in manufacturing employment.
The total number of full time shop stewards in manufacturing in the same period fell from 8,000 to 2,000.
If these aereals wett the developments which had taken place under Thatcher then, indeed, the Situation would be bleak. However beneath the surface important shifts have taken place which pose not simply great threats to the labour movement but also major openings. Most are linked to the development of what has become known as the dual economy. The changes involved are extremely radical and demand a clear, and new, strategy from BOVCHICHL.
TO understand the task s te first the trade unions today the first fact which must be grasped is that, despite the defeats, the fall in union membership is still, as yet, limited in compared to comparable While the unemployment now anything seen in British history, the decline in union membership is still not as severe as in the recession of the 1920s and 1930s.
Between 1920 and 1928, the first eight NUPE and Only the years of the inter-war recession, the trade unions lost 42 per cent of their membership. By 1933, the trough of the inter-war period, they had lost 47 per cent. The 27 increased per cent decline in trade union memberLIl- ship since 1979 is therefore, significantly less than in previous periods of recession. The absolute level of trade union membership is twice that of the inter-war period 1970s, still the highest level in British history.
But the most important new, and long term, developments flow from the restructuring of the capitalist economy. This is the tendency developing in all imperialist economies today, to restructure the workforce around a core of permanently employed workers, cases well paid, and a periphery of part time and temporary workers with few rights - with the gap between the two sharply increasing. the 'dual economy', is the characteristic feature of the recession.
The trends towards a dual economy in Britain are clear. Since the depth of the recession, in 1981, the number of full time workers has decreased from 16.6 to Alan 15.6 million. Simultaneously the number British of part time and temporary workers has increased from 7.0 to 8.1 million.
The sex balance in these workforces is totally different. Of full time workers 69 per cent are men and 31 per cent women.
Among part time and temporary workers the proportions are nearly reversed - 38 per cent are men and 62 per cent women.
The short, reconstructed around a core of full time male workers and a periphery of short term and temporary, mainly female, workers — with the periphery increasing Tennon in size compared to the core. Outside even the periphery are 12 per cent of the work force who are unemployed - on the understate Onicial igures.
Within that workforce itself major shifts are taking place such as steel and mining in decline and the private service sector and certain high only tech sections of manufacturing expanding. The number workers is constant v rising comparea to the number of manual workers.
The differentials affecting these two parts of the economy are rapidly widening. Those on the boundary of the botthe crease of 25 per through unemployment.
historically periods of recession. scale and length of exceeds This strategy politically successful south of the as yet, Labour and started This developing.
and, apart from the dous strategic problems industries and those centrated in many sperous conditions. organise among the 'periphery' This development, the Thatcherism.
'new realism' in the unions.
the new realist trend.
being actually accurately described by point to a shrinking of..
workers...
workers in the "market" or collar track).' of the WU, tom 10 per cent of earnings have seen an increase of income of 6 per cent since 1979. Those on the bottom quarter an increase of 9 per cent, those on average earnings an increase of 13 per cent, those on the top quarter an increase of 20 per cent, step down the path. and those on the top 10 per cent an incent. Two million workers have been forced into poverty of thousands of In addition to the differentials pro- unionists duced by the direct increases in wages, membership? Thatcher has sought to consolidate these economic divisions through other means - in particular subsidised sales of coun plications of new cil houses and shares. The aim of this has been not only economic but political - trade unionism to reinforce the position of a relatively prosperous section of the working class that will vote either Tory or Alliance.
has been relatively - aided by the dreadful record of the last two Labour governments. In 1979 and 1983 three million workers, the great bulk of them skilled or living in the more prosperous country, stopped voting voting Tory and vantage'.
of the workforce, and the divisions inside the the working class working class that are being consolidated by other means, evidently pose tremenfor the trade unions. First how to organise and maintain traditional trade unionism among the 'core' - in particular among the new sections of the working class where Thatcher has concreating relatively proSecond the new layers of temporary and part time workers. Finally, how to recreate the the relative unity of the working class that has been broken by the dual economy offensive of Tee development of the day undoubtedly with the SDP. helped reinforce the development of The skilled unions — the DETPU, ABU.
NCU — with their main base among the 'core' workers, are the centre of The social base of 'new realism' was John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB, in contrasting it to developments among the working class as a whole: 'industrial, demographic and technological trends . well-organised sectors and the growth of a new class of exploited workers ... New jobs are being overwhelmingly created only in private services, and these jobs are primarily for part-time women LIC manual 'I cannot... see much appeal to these . "business" unionism promoted by some commentators and unions. This model seems merger. geared only to a small part of the workforce (generally on a secure inside Bill Morris, deputy general secretary today.
at the conference to launch the union's 'link up' campaign, aimed at organising part time and temporary workers, also correctly described realist strategy of the EETPARI. Rusiness unionism is a shori The single union deals, the sweetheart approach, follow as night follows day, and you end up in a ghastly parody of the old craft unionism, crossing picket lines, selling out the jobs your fellow OOOS UW!.
Edmonds, in April 1986, could also correctly draw out the trade union imrealism: 'Business unionism is the epitome of ... sectional That kind of approach tends to depress all the social and ideological values the trade union movement is meant to represent in the cause of narrow, sectional gain. And you might also jeopardise a few civil rights in the meantime, for example, the right to strike or the right to be represented in the way you want to be represented. You are giving up something fundamental in order to achieve a very narrow sectional ad New realism is a strategy to attempt to protect the most privileged sections of - and the unions that contain them. It is prepared to accept, and requires, the destruction of other sections of the trade union movement -as was shown at Wapping and in the 'one union' deals of the ÉETPU. As a strategy it involves selling large numbers even of its own members jobs in order to secure , nign wages for tnose tnat remain - the strategy of the EETPU in the power supply industry and John Golding in BT.
in line with their social base new realist unions vote most determinedly in movement against the demands of low paid workers, women and black people - and against workers in the public sector. They are the chief opponents of unilateral nuclear disarmament, the strongest supporters of NATO etc. They are also the unions which have been most prepared to enter into contact The politcal problems in the core sector, in particular its expanding sections, explains part of the significance for the trade union movement of the TASSASTMS merger. Despite drawbacks, concentrated in the undemocratic practices of TASS's Morning Star dominated leadership, and its backward policies on issues such as women and racism. tne policies of the TASS-ASTMS merger represent form of traditional aggressive trade unionism in the core sectors - an important counterweight to the policies of the 'new realists?. While it organises among white collar workers, with only TASS stretching into nevertheless a TASS/ASTMS merger would provide an alternative to that of the EETPU/AEU. That is why both the Tories and the SDP have set the task of trying to prevent the Among the new sections of 'core' workers, in particular the high tech industries, there are only two mass roads The first the open collaborationism of the new realists -E no strike deals, one union deals, political collaboration with the SD Liberal Alliance. The second is an gressive traditional unionism ASTMS-TASS type. Socialists, as part their strategy in the unions, must g strong support to the TASS-ASTN Her zer - • while fighting to correct t wrong positions we have outlined. THE second key development taking place among 'periphery' in developments in the periphery to u core of the labour movement. A understanding the developme taking place here requires a historie perspective it is worth outlining.
The reformism of the British labo movement, based in the power of Briti imperialism, meant it historically dressed itself primarily to the topmo layers of the working class the most oppressed. Trotsky put t point very well: opportunist organis Bon ov luch vely nature concentie their attention on the top layers of t The majority of t working class. working class movement collaborated the international policies of British b perialism, failed to take up
Socialist Action 5 June 1987