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No green lightfor their agenda

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Communists at 2012 Unison Conference

H

by Tom Morrison

It goes without saying that activists

should be working for a massive

turnout for the TUC’s 20 October

demonstration. However, it is going to

take more than demonstrations to

defeat the ConDem’s agenda of pubic

service cuts.

We need a strategy that will bring about achange of government. Central to this is unitywith public and private sector unionsdeveloping joint action and building allianceswith working class communities. Local anti cuts committees, with trades union

councils playing a key role, have the potentialto create mass local movements which canthen compel local elected members to fight theattacks on public services by setting needsbudgets rather than meekly implementing cutsdictated by central government. Talk of settingillegal budgets is an ultra-left pipe dreamwithout an extra-parliamentary movement.The attack on pensions, the introduction of

regional pay, the privatisation of publicservices and the latest attacks on trade unionrights are all part of the ruling class strategy toredistribute wealth from the poor to the richthrough cuts to our terms and conditions. Smash the unions and it’s a green light for

the neo-liberal agenda. Winning the pensions dispute is vital in the

battle to defeat attempts to crush ourmovement and at the heart of our campaigningmust be a political campaign which goesbeyond the usual industrial relations rhetoric.The politics of resistance have to be taken intoevery workplace and community where wehave organisation.

In previous pension strikes anddemonstrations workers were won to takeaction by making the argument that it’s not justabout pensions; it’s about pay freezes and paycuts; extending working life, and cuts to jobsand service when the demand for theseservices are going through the roof and fewerworkers are left to deliver them.Workers who at one point were saying ‘well at

least I’ve got a job’ were won to say ‘enough isenough’ and were won to fight back. Evenworkers not in the pension scheme werewilling to strike because they were sick of thedecline in their current and future livingstandards. Concern for the lack of opportunityfor their kids who will literally be working untilthey drop – if they can get a job at all.Through these arguments it became political

action. But it is not just about resistance toTory-led policy. Our movement has policies which, if

implemented, would begin to eat into thepower and wealth of the ruling class and laythe basis for further advance for our class. InScotland we have the alternative economic andpolitical strategy of the STUC’s ‘Better Way’campaign allied to the six demands of thePeople's Charter which is both TUC and STUCpolicyThe need of the hour is to broaden out the

pensions dispute and build for the Octoberdemo by politicising the fight and making thecase for getting rid of the ConDems andreplacing them with a government that will beheld to account by the organised working classand their communities.H

Tom Morrison is chair of West Dunbartonshirebranch

Beware ofregional pay!by Liz Payne

The Coalition has made no secret

over recent months of its intention to

introduce regional pay in the public

sector whenever it can get away with

it.

The idea is to con everyone thatthere’s already huge regional variationin the cost of living and that pay in theprivate sector is based on local marketconditions. Yet, research shows this tobe a complete fabrication. There’s little regional variation outside

London and the majority of largerprivate firms pay national not regionalrates. The truth is this is a thinly disguised

attempt to impose further massive wagecuts on the public sector, enhancing itsattractiveness to profit-seekers, as jobsand services are privatised. The wholething is designed to cause maximumdivision and conflict between groups ofworkers and break trade union power innational pay bargaining.It won’t be only public sector workers

who suffer. Wage cuts in so-called ‘low-cost’ areas (for which read ‘alreadypoor’) will increase skills shortages andhit services to the most vulnerable. Slashing spending-power will in turn

further depress struggling economies.Private sector businesses will close withfurther job losses and misery in a spiralof decline.It’s all part of the age-old ruling class

strategy of ‘divide and rule’.Stand together against regional pay!

Always say ‘Never’! H

Liz Payne is a Unison activist in the SouthWest and the Communist Party’s nationalwomen’s organiser

A weekend of rallies,meetings, debate,food, music andMarxism

by Anita Halpin

As the capitalist crisis deepens the

myth of the ‘social’ chapter, the reason

so many trades unionists loyally backed

the EU, lies shattered. Britain’s

withdrawal from the EU is the only

way to recover democratic control

over the economy, save manufacturing,

restore employment rights and rescue

our welfare state. 

The EU serves the interests of big businessand the banks. No wonder Cameron, Cleggand Cable support the Single Market as itenables the City of London to continue todominate EU finance and banking. The anti-democratic and pro-big business

character of the EU is now fully exposed as itreplaces elected governments and theEuropean Central Bank – with its partners incrime the International Monetary Fund and theWorld Central Bank – impose drasticdeflationary policies. In the USA, even Obama’s economic

stimulus package creates some new jobs butsuch investment programmes are outlawed in

the EU. So it is highly unlikely that the ECBwould be able or willing to replicate this forFrance or any other member state.The peoples of France and Greece have

expressed their clear opposition to EUausterity and privatisation policies in theirvotes for socialist, Communist and other leftcandidates. Yet both François Hollande andthe Greek Euro-leftist Syrzia coalition remaincommitted to the EU and the single currency.It is impossible to separate rejection of the

austerity programme from the institutions thatcrafted it or to discard policies created solelyto sustain those same institutions.The Communist Party believes that a

commitment by left and progressive forces inthis country to withdraw from the EU willstrengthen the position of all those in Europefighting to preserve and defend theirdemocracies and halt a race to the bottom.That is why trades unionists have a duty to sayenough is enough: we want to get out.The message is getting across. In March

the ETUC unequivocally condemned theTreaty on Stability, Coordination andGovernance, which imposes even more

deflationary budget controls and directlyabrogates the democracy of debtor states. In April the STUC annual conference

accepted a motion condemning the anti-democratic and deflationary character of theEU and calling for national powers to again beable to invest in the productive economy andprovide public services.Most significant was the call to negotiate a

new relationship with the EU based on a mostfavoured nation trade agreement on the samebasis as Norway but outside the provisions ofthe Single Market. While the STUC executivedid not endorse the call for withdrawal itstressed the critical threat the EU now posedto democracy and trade union rights. A threat that is all too evident. At the end of

last month the EU Commission report on theUK economy called for reinforced austerity. Aweek later, and following the ECB’s line, theBank of England monetary policy committeeplayed it safe (in banker’s terms) and keptinterest rates at 0.5 per cent. H

Anita Halpin is the Communist Party’s tradeunion coordinator

Stop the European Union, we want to get off

Pensions: a strategyfor winning“The new pensions will be substantially more affordable to

alternative providers… we are no longer requiring private,

voluntary and social enterprise providers to take on the

risks of defined benefit that deter many bidding for

contracts in the first place”

So said Danny Alexander, Treasury Secretary, explaining thegovernment’s public sector pensions policy.How much clearer do we want them to be? It’s not about

“affordability” or “deficit reduction”… it’s about privatisation! The recent accord between the teachers’ unions NASUWT and NUT

indicates the way forward for the pensions fight. There is a recognitionthat to win on pensions, we have to identify the true motivation of thegovernment – their privatisation strategy – and confront them on all theattacks that come from that. To to make public services attractive to private sector bidders, the

government has ton Reduce the cost of pensionsn Abolish national pay rates and promote workplace pay bargaining,with regional pay as a starting point. n Undermine public service workers’ conditions, to encourage“flexibility” in work patterns, hiring and firing etc.n Undermine public sector trade unionism. All these are underway. So we have to be clear that this is a struggle

against the central plank of the government’s political platform – thewholesale sell off of public services.Further industrial action can be sustainable and ultimately successful

if it is built into a high profile political campaign against privatisation.Such a campaign would bring us into alliance with sister trades

unions; it would put us at the heart of communities already strugglingagainst spending cuts and shoddy private providers; it would lead tofertile ground for us to promote an alternative economic strategy as

agreed at TUC Congress; it would enable the unions to work moreeffectively with the People’s Charter to build a real movement at localand national levels for that alternative.We need

n To issue a hard hitting joint union statement identifying privatisationas the political context of the pensions struggle. n To openly challenge the legitimacy of the ConDem Coalition – anunelected millionaires’ government of two parties that each lost thegeneral electionn To dentify the alternative economic strategy, and promote thePeople’s Charter – demanding that it form the basis of the manifesto ofany party that claims to represent workers and wants their votesn To launch a sustained high profile campaign for public services atlocal level involving Regional TUCs, trades union councils, People’sCharter groups etc against cuts and privatisation – explaining this asthe context to the pensions and pay strugglesn To get the TUC Public Sector Liaison Group to approach the privatesector unions and the National Pensioners Convention for co-ordinatedcampaigning on the issues of public sector, private sector and StateRetirement pensions.n Organised further industrial action as part of a strategy of building

the wider, broader movement againstprivatisation and the government. Our response cannot be to roll over,

and has to be much more thancontinued sporadic industrial action.This is a matter for the whole workingclass – and the unions’ strategy needsto be firmly based on mobilising thatimmense force.H

Broadening the Battlelines:

the pensions struggle

by Bill Greenshields £1.50 fromwww.communist-party.org.ukISBN 978-1-908315-07-6

by John Foster

The public sector cuts being imposed

by George Osborne are doing

irreparable damage.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says that the2012 budget cuts were ‘twice as big’ as thoseinflicted on the public sector between 1975and 1982 and their extension to 2017 wouldmean ‘the longest sustained cuts in publicspending since the Second World War’.Since present government took office and

December 2011, 232,000 jobs were lost inlocal government alone. And this is only thebeginning. Osborne’s cuts are scheduled tocontinue at a real rate of 3.7 per cent annuallyfor five more years. For the economy as a whole these cuts are

crazy. The only gainers are Osborne’s pals inthe City who want spare state to cash to bailthem out. The cuts are killing the productiveeconomy and increasing long-term debt. Britain’s economy is now over 4 per cent

smaller than it was in 2007 – the only majoreconomy to have contracted to such an extentapart from Spain. It is still contracting. This iswhy alternative economic policies, based onactive state intervention, are needed.The last couple of years have seen a

transformation in attitudes to suchintervention. In 2010 the TUC backed thePeople’s Charter. In 2011 it additionally calledfor alternative economic policies based onexpanding the public sector. What we need now are specific demands that

can unite trade unions and communities tocampaign politically and add up to a coherentstrategy that can rescue our economy.The first demand is obvious: stop the cuts.

This is the quickest way of restoring consumerdemand: end the insecurity of imminent jobloss, halt the new pensions levy, reverse the

benefit cuts and end a wage freeze that iscurrently cutting real incomes by up to 3 percent a year. The second is for the governmentto create real, well-paid jobs and hence boosttax income as well as demand for goods.Council housing is one obvious area. There isdesperate need and the private sector hasfailed – house building has collapsed from180,000 in 2006 to 120,000 last year, thelowest since the 1920s.Building houses under local democratic

control also makes it possible to introducecomprehensive energy saving with greentechnology – another key area for investment.Equally essential is the demand to take

water, energy and transport back into publicownership, end extortionate pricing and stopthe state subsidies to monopolist owners.There must be action to stop closures in the

productive economy, to take over failingmanufacturing enterprises and to penalisecompanies that shift production overseas –even if this means defying the EU directives.Can this be paid for? Yes, easily – by

imposing a tax on the City’s financialtransactions, reclaiming the £100 billion lostthrough tax evasion, closing down Britain’smany tax havens and reversing Osborne’s taxcuts for the rich and on company profits. What we can’t afford is austerity. This is

actively destroying national wealth byshrinking the economy – with between £50billion to £100 billion lost every yearcompared to 2007. What’s needed is a mass movement that can

remove this government of financialspeculators and ensure the Labour Partyadopts the alternative policies needed save ourproductive economy – in the interests of thevast majority of the population.HJohn Foster is a member of the CommunistParty’s economic commission

Why we need an alternativeeconomic strategy

It’s a mystery! The Charter puts

forward a detailed, coherent and

costed alternative economic

programme.

It was endorsed by the TUC in 2009. It has16 individual union affiliates. It is supportedby the Scottish and Wales TUCs and wasenthusiastically endorsed (again) by theTrades Council Conference in May. It hasmany trades councils affiliated, and isincluded in the TUC ‘Plan of Work’ for 2012. So why is Unison not affiliated? Apparently

Unison leaders have told the Charter that ithas ‘limited funds’ and so can’t quite run tothe affiliation fees. The Political Funds standat only £6.4million, two thirds being spent onthe Labour Link – which backed Ed Milibandfor Labour leader. The People’s Charteraffiliation for a union of Unison ’s size is ahefty 500 quid – unaffordable really…Anyway, says Unison leadership, we have

our ‘own campaigns’ such as ‘A MillionVoices’ – and very good it is too. But keypurpose of the Charter is to bring togethervarious unions’ ‘own campaigns’ and those ofother progressive organisations – as good asthey all are – into an integrated over allalternative – as proposed by the last TUCCongress. It’s not rocket science.There are those who point out that the

Charter policies, which would lead to an‘irreversible shift in wealth and power infavour of ordinary working people’ (the statedambition of the 1974 Labour Manifesto), arenot popular with today’s Labour Party. That’s true – and the 2009 TUC Resolution

(supported by Unison) agreed’to build supportfor the principles outlined in the Charter inworkplaces and communities to help promoteprogressive policies in the Labour Party .…’Those bad ultra-leftists who go on to

mischievously suggest that the future LordPrentis does not want to rock the Labour Partyboat for some reason should be ashamed ofthemselves – and I, Groucho, and my fellowGrouchists, reject such simplistic, puerilesmears out of hand. So … why is Unison notaffiliated to The People’s Charter? H

WHY IS UNISONNOT AFFILIATEDTO THE PEOPLE’S

CHARTER?

GROUCHO ASKS

Campaign for tradeunion rights in Iran

Abuse of human and democratic rights in

Iran continues to be of major concern. The

regime is clamping down on organisations

that mobilise working people and defend

jobs, better conditions, peace and security.

Trade union leaders are harassed,

intimidated and arrested to prevent them

from speaking out against atrocious

working conditions, poverty wages and

exploitation.

While last year Unison celebrated the

release of Mansour Osanlou, the bus

workers’ union leader, this year his union

colleagues have been arrested and

sentenced to long prison terms. Reza

Shahabi, the bus workers’ union treasurer,

got six and a half years. Another trade

unionist, a teacher, Abdolreza Ghanbari, is on

the death row. Scores of others are

incarcerated.

On May Day the TUC, Unison, NUT, RMT,

UCU, the International Centre for Trade

Union Rights (ICTUR), the Canadian

Teachers’ Union and the main Cyprus trade

union federation joined in calling for

respect for human and union rights and the

release of all trade unionists from prison.

Unison has affiliated to the solidarity

organisation in Britain CODIR and resolved

to prioritise the campaign for workers’

rights in Iran.

We call on all Unison branches and

regions to support CODIR’s campaigns and

affiliate to it. H http:/www.codir.net

by Robert Griffiths

Last month, millions of people voted

against the austerity and privatisation

policies of Britain’s unelected,

illegitimate government.

They rejected the idea that high publicexpenditure was the main cause of theeconomic and financial crisis. They refused to accept that massive public

spending cuts and a savage assault on wagesand pensions of public sector workers arenecessary to reduce the financial deficit. Every time it aligns itself with these policies,

Labour leaders betray the millions who shouldbe able to look to them for support andsolidarity. Speaking in favour of savage cuts inpublic sector wages and pension entitlements,welfare benefits and local social servicesrepresents a shameful capitulation to thebanks, the Con-Dem regime and the right-wing mass media. The support of the labour movement,

contrasts sharply with the refusal of theLabour Party leadership to advocate policiesthat would generate economic growth such asdefending public services, jobs, wages andpensions. This further highlights the extent towhich the interests of the labour movementand ordinary working people across Britain

continue to be largely unrepresented in theHouse of Commons. The trouncing of the Tories and Lib Dems in

the local elections is very welcome, andillustrates a growing spirit of resistance. Thedanger is though that the current Labourleadership will interpret this support as anendorsement of their current policies – to beused against those in and outside the LabourParty demanding change. Working people, in both affiliated and non-

affiliated unions, need a Labour Party thatdefends their interests. The duty of affiliatedunions to fight for progressive, left andsocialist values in the Labour Party could notbe clearer. They must campaign in a moredetermined, planned and coordinated way tochange the policies and, if necessary, theLabour leadershipThis is an important part of an even bigger

question: how can the labour movement bestensure that its collective views and interestsare represented in parliament? This challenge must be faced by the whole

movement. The trade union movement, and itsmembers locally, have a duty to intervene toreclaim the party as political representativesof the interests of working people. Affiliated unions should respond

immediately to demands from their members

and cease paying financial donations to theLabour Party centrally until such time as itsleaders and MPs oppose cuts in public sectorwages and pledge solidarity with all thosefighting to defend their pensions. Affiliation fees should be maintained in

order to step up the challenge to the Labourleadership's current policies from inside theparty as well as from outside. Affiliated unions should convene an all-

Britain conference at the earliest opportunityto discuss the current crisis of politicalrepresentation for workers and their families. Should the Labour Party continue on a right-

wing course, its future will be at risk and thetrade union movement will have a duty to re-establish a mass party of labour capable ofwinning elections, forming a government andenacting policies in the interests of the peoplenot the bankers. Affiliated unions should consider demanding

that a special emergency conference of theLabour Party be held to decide a fundamentalchange in its economic and financial policyand its response to the capitalist crisis. At some point, either at the initiative of the

TUC or some other body, a special conferenceof all labour movement organisations shouldbe convened to discuss the politicalrepresentation of the labour movement in theHouse of Commons. In the face of the current ruling class

offensive, the labour movement needs todevelop the maximum clarity and unity.Communists believe these actions are the mostrealistic and effective way of ensuring that theinterests of working people are represented inthe Westminster parliament. For its part, the Communist Party will

continue to develop its Marxist analysis,project an alternative economic and politicalstrategy for the working class and its alliesand strengthen non-sectarian left unity. H

Robert Griffiths is general secretary of theCommunist Party. He has written an open letteron the crisis of political representation.Go to http://tinyurl.com/d93mynv

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