Union leaders prepare to sell out our futures: what can be done?

Brendan Barber: TUC leader

The overpaid leaders of Britains big unions have made clear that they do not want to take further action in defense of pensions, and are preparing to accept a rotten deal that will ruin the futures of their members, and a future for young people.

Several sources  have reported that leaders such as Len McCluskey (Unite), Dave Prentis (Unison) and of course Brendan Barber (head of the TUC) are willing to accept a raising of the retirement age along with a far worse pension scheme overall for workers. They have now confirmed this by agreeing to a ‘negotiations framework’.

The changes to pensions, particularly to the retirement age will have a huge impact on young people. If the elderly are forced to work, there will be less jobs for youth. In some areas of the country, youth unemployment has almost doubled over the last 18 months. If the union leaders sell out, the prospects for youth poverty will be dire.

Other union leaders also look to be trying to settle, such as the NUT, leaving the civil servants union (PCS) isolated.

Let’s not forgot though, this dispute was never just about pensions. Public sector workers are also facing massive job cuts and pay freezes – just a few weeks ago it was announced that over 700,000 jobs could be lost from public services in the next few years. If a sell-out goes ahead, this will be a massive blow to the anti-cuts movement and to the lives of millions across the country.

Build a rank and file movement

The leaders of unions are far too distanced from what faces the members that they are supposed to represent, and most receive six-figure salaries only to retire with golden handshakes that would make premiership footballers jealous.

That’s why we need to hold meetings all across the country of as many ordinary workers as possible that can make decisions themselves on how to proceed. In the Unite union, Grassroots Left was an organisation set up for exactly this purpose. Now we need to build similar groupings across the public sector.

At a time like this, it is certainly possible. But too many left-wing organisations would rather shack up to the left-sounding union leaders than build the kind of grassroots organisation we need.

Salary Corner

Len McCluskey (Unite leader)…£97,000

Dave Prentis (Unison leader)…£127,000

Brendan Barber (TUC leader)…£117,000 (package)

Average pay of a nurse… £26,000

The Coalition of Resistance (CoR), led by Counterfire, funded to the tune of tens of thousands by Unite, has consistently failed to call for rank and file organisation that might rock their relationship with leader Len McCluskey.

The Socialist Workers Party on the other hand say they agree that we need a rank and file movement, but are keen to remind us that one ‘cannot be formed overnight’ and that it ‘will not fall from the sky’. In practice, they are committed to the same strategy as CoR– in ‘broad left’ union organisations and tightly controlled fronts such as Right to Work and ‘Unite the Resistance.’ The latter recently saw over 1000 attend a national conference, but resolutions were not taken – and the possibility of using the conference to launch a rank and file initiative was wasted by the organisers.

We now need to move past this – if the Coalition of Resistance, the National Shop Stewards Network, and the Socialist Worker Party were willing to put sectarian non-differences aside and work together, starting the building of a rank and file network is absolutely possible. Let’s hope it happens because it’s not just that it’s possible – it’s necessary too.