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The ongoing public-sector pensions struggle
BRITAIN IS not immune to the increased tempo of
developments that have broken out this year internationally. Events seem
to spin into each other, without the relative ‘normal’ quiet of the
summer months. Almost without precedent, outside of wars, MPs were
delayed in parliament because of Murdochgate and called back early
because of the riots. The Con-Dem coalition will be hoping that in the
tumult the memory of the 30 June strike of up to 750,000 workers against
its attacks on public-sector pensions will recede. They are likely to be
mistaken in this hope.
The 30 June strikes were a turning point in the
struggle against this government, giving a huge boost of confidence. The
decision to organise lunchtime rallies and demonstrations was a big
success, with thousands of workers marching through city centres around
the country. The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) raised this idea
in our leaflet on the giant TUC demonstration on 26 March for the very
reason that it could join together those taking action in the PCS civil
servants union, the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of
Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and University and College Union (UCU) with
those who have not yet balloted. The mobilisations were also a visible
confirmation of the success of the strikes and helped to nip in the bud
the usual attempt by the Tories and the right-wing media to denigrate
the turnout.
The Socialist Party and the NSSN have argued
consistently that co-ordinated strike action involving all public-sector
unions is necessary to defeat the government’s attacks on public-sector
pensions. We support the strategy of PCS in looking to build on the
success of 30 June and involve more unions in future strike action. The
likely time for the next national strike is early November and the signs
are that the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) among others could be involved.
However, the big three unions, Unison, Unite and GMB, are still not
committed to this, arguing that they will only act should the attacks on
pensions be implemented. In fact, Unison’s general secretary, Dave
Prentis, along with TUC leader, Brendan Barber, were the main driving
force in the talks with the government to give them every encouragement
that a positive outcome is possible.
In reality, their strategy is to prolong
negotiations to try and dissipate the mood of members. However, in the
national talks, despite attempts by the right-wing union leaders and
government minister Danny Alexander to prettify the outcome, the ConDem
proposals are still on the table. Their intention still is to make
public-sector workers pay more into their pensions, to get worse
benefits, and wait longer for them. It has been estimated that the net
effect will be to take a day’s wages a month out of their pockets at a
time of pay freezes.
Following the national talks, there will now be
separate negotiations for each pension scheme. But these still need to
be co-ordinated and reported back to the whole trade union side to
ensure unity is maintained. Moreover, this does not mean that strike
action has to be put off until negotiations have been ‘exhausted’, which
is Prentis and Barber’s position. The huge pressure of Unison members
has forced preparations for a ballot but this has to be serious rather
than sabre rattling, merely hoping that the threat of action can force
the government to cave in.
Prentis is also hoping that by separating the local
government pension scheme (which is a funded scheme) from the talks, the
prospect of members leaving that scheme because of higher contributions,
with knock-on effects on the stock market, will force the government to
do a deal. But, even if this happened, they would still look to inflict
worse terms and later retirement on Unison members working in local
councils. (In a funded pension scheme, pensions are paid from an
investment fund built up from employers’ and employees’ contributions;
in an unfunded scheme, pensions are paid from employees’ current
contributions and government spending.)
Unison is also playing up the fact that Alexander is
open to no increased contributions for lower-paid workers below £15,000
a year and only 1.5% for those on up to £21,000 per annum. But this
approach is a serious threat to the unity required to defeat the
attacks. The government is vulnerable now and, in any case, how can it
be trusted? Workers in the private and public sector have become used to
employers pushing for worse terms and conditions and then returning for
more. With its position in local government and the health service,
Unison clearly plays a pivotal role in the public sector. The issue is
how to put its leadership under pressure to join the struggle.
Left Unison members, with Socialist Party members
playing a leading role, are organising to force a recall local
government conference on the pensions issue. The NSSN has organised a
lobby of the TUC in London on 11 September to increase the pressure on
all remaining public-sector unions to ballot. This would only commit the
TUC to carry out its policy from last year’s conference: to co-ordinate
action!
Forcing Unison to ballot would only be the
beginning. Prentis has a record of trying to cut across a unified
approach. In 2005, for instance, he forced separate negotiations over
the local government scheme. This actually meant that this section was
the last to settle and, unlike the PCS, NUT and others, that these
Unison members along with the GMB and the forerunners of Unite accepted
worse terms for existing staff. In contrast, the Economist later
complained, the concessions won by the PCS and others "added, by some
calculations, about £1 billion a month to the government’s unfunded
pension liabilities". (10 February, 2007) The lesson must be hammered
home. It is necessary to co-ordinate the strike action on a national
scale. We raise the idea of a 24-hour public-sector general strike as
the next stage in this battle. With the big unions on board, this would
then be posed.
Before Unison’s conference in June, Prentis warned:
"Be in no doubt that this union is on the road to industrial action in
the autumn. This will not be a one-day action as we know that will not
change anything". This was accompanied in news reports with archive film
reel of the 1926 general strike. Such was the publicity accorded to it
that Unison members thought that they were joining the 30 June strike a
week later! However, the contradiction of this union was shown during
this time – the members were desperate for action while Prentis was
looking to dupe them while he spent the week backtracking, as he has
done many times in the past. This episode shows how the pressure will
have to be maintained along with a clear programme of action, united
with the other unions.
The Unison leadership has counterposed ‘selective’
to national strike action. This is different to the strategy of the PCS,
whose strike mandate allows them to take group action to supplement the
national action.
Marxists are not dogmatic about tactics and
carefully weigh up when to take action of any kind. However, there are
dangers with posing selective action almost as a principle. It creates
the illusion that just one section of workers in a union or workplace
can fight on everyone’s behalf, sometimes on strike pay which is paid by
the rest of the membership. This approach risks prolonging disputes and
dissipating the mood while the majority of members are passive
onlookers. In the tremendous battle of the Southampton council workers
against their Tory employers, within the participating unions, Unite and
Unison, there is a serious debate whether the next stage of the battle
should be a continuation of selective action or (as Socialist Party
members believe) escalating co-ordinated strikes across the council
workforce.
The Southampton struggle, along with many others
that Unison are engaged in at the moment as councils look to change
their members’ contracts, shows what the real mood is on the ground.
Many other branches have had ballots denied them by full-time officials.
But this time it will not be so easy for the Unison leadership to
isolate its members from the moves to unite the struggle on pensions as
it is not happening in a vacuum but at a time of widespread attacks.
This is the potential that faces Unison activists, who have a crucial
role to play in the coming weeks.
Rob Williams
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