Britain: Unions warn of massive wave of strikes (& vow to work with students to fight Tory cuts)

[Turborama]

Source: The Guardian

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey vows to work with students to fight government's austerity agenda

Matthew Taylor
Sunday December 19 2010 21.00 GMT

The UK faces the prospect of widespread and co-ordinated industrial action in the new year, with the leader of the largest trade union today warning that it is "preparing for battle" with the government over its "unprecedented assault" on the welfare state.

Len McCluskey, the newly elected leader of Unite, says union leaders will be holding a special meeting in January to discuss a "broad strike movement" to stop what he described as the coalition's "explicitly ideological" programme of cuts. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/19/unions-students-strike-fight-cuts">Writing in the Guardian, McCluskey praises the "magnificent student movement" that has seen tens of thousands of young people take to the streets to protest at the government's plans for post-16 education, saying it has put trade unions "on the spot".

"Their mass protests against the tuition fees increase have refreshed the political parts a hundred debates, conferences and resolutions could not reach," he said.

McCluskey, elected Unite general secretary last month, said trade unions had to work with students to build a wider anti-cuts campaign: "The magnificent students' movement needs urgently to find a wider echo if the government is to be stopped. While it is easy to dismiss 'general strike now' rhetoric from the usual quarters, we have to be preparing for battle," he said. "It is our responsibility not just to our members but to the wider society that we defend our welfare state and our industrial future against this unprecedented assault."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/19/unions-warn-massive-wave-strikes

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Interesting piece well worth reading in full, plus 116 comments beneath the article and growing.

His Op-Ed...

Unions, get set for battle
We must join students in a broad strike movement to combat attempts to strangle the welfare state
Len McCluskey | Sunday December 19 2010 21.00 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/19/unions-students-strike-fight-cuts

In a hard-hitting intervention that puts Unite and its members at the forefront of the anti-cuts campaign McCluskey:

• Praised Ed Miliband for drawing a line under the party's Blairite past but called for a clearer alternative to the coalition's "austerity frenzy".

• Said student protesters have been treated as the "enemy within" in a similar way to trade union activists on picket lines in the 1970s and 1980s.

• Criticised police tactics of "kettling, batoning and mounted charges" on recent demonstrations.

• Said the trade union movement must not be paralysed by "anti-union laws" introduced in the 1980s.

• Called for a rebuilding of confidence in working-class communities that are likely to be the hardest hit by the government's plans.

• Accused the Tories of whipping up "austerity frenzy" in an attempt to complete "Thatcherism's unfinished business".

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[elfin]

2. Going to be ugly

Will lead to inflammatory (Fox) reporting here about the despicable effect of unionized workers protesting. Brit citizens should stock their pantries now for the major disruptions sure to come if the strikes are coordinated as hinted at in the article. Major shut downs can spread to all sorts of functions and can have desparate, even if unintended consequences

[Prophet 451]

11. Already done

Have about a month's food already stocked up, enough cat food to last the same time and tobacco for two months. Roll on the revolution!

[Rosa Luxemburg]

21. reminds me of the old days

[sabrina 1]

28. It is worth it and I hope it spreads to this country.

The Europeans are showing us how it is done. These cuts are uniform across the globe. This is an orchestrated attempt by a small group of Multi-Nationals, to force the people of every country whose economies THEY destroyed, to pay for their gambling debts.

Europeans know this and will not take it. I hope we see the same thing happen here if they dare to touch SS or Medicare.

It is not difficult to see how Globalists were working behind each government while we the people of the world, thought we lived in sovereign states. THEY joined forces, now it's time for the people to act globally against them. They are evil, corrupt, totalitarians with allegiance to no one.

I am so glad to see this movement againt them growing, and to see that countries in Europe are uniting to increase the numbers they will have to deal with.

The Wikileaks documents have shown how these criminals have infiltrated almost every government in the world, making it easy to influence them, since they bought their elections, to go against the wishes of their own people.

In Spain, Italy, Britain, Ireland, Iceland, France, Australia, the U.S., they have OWNED politicians. Now the people are aware of what has been going on, at least some of it.

They have destroyed countries, started wars, collapsed economies. They got away with it when it was only third world countries, but now they are messing with first world countries and it will be a whole lot more difficult. Their goal is to destroy Social Programs everywhere.

We better be ready here when the Catfood Commission, many of whom are members of puppets of this Global Cartel, try to do the same thing in the U.S.

[Prophet 451]

35. It helps that the Tories were of like mind

The Tories are, were and always will be, the party of the rich. They started out as the aristocracy's political arm and still act the same way, believing that the underclass should be low-paid, desperate, non-unionised and in full employment or dead. It's only recently they've startyed disguising that.

[mrfrapp]

3. I voted Yes

I got my ballot paper for this action late last week and I voted "Yes".

[bbgrunt]

4. watch and learn.

[PSPS]

5. Sadly, this couldn't work in the US

The UK has about 30% of its workforce unionized, compared to about 10% in the US.

By the way, I've always wondered why union workers on US shipping docks agree to handle containers of goods imported from non-union shops in China and elsewhere.

[mwooldri]

7. If there's enough organization outside unions then yes it could work.

No need to go on strike, but there needs to be organization.

Simple: A sick-out. Plan the day off. If the company gives you sick time and you won't get fired for it (especially if you get medical proof of illness) then if there was the organization in place it can be done.

Unions provide the best method of organizing I know of. Churches are another but problem with churches around here is that not many of them talk to each other. Not much ecumenical activity that I am aware of. I know there are people on DU who don't care much for organized religion but in some parts of the country churches can organize as well as a union could, if they really wanted to.

[Imajika]

8. The US is not a very class conscious society...

A large bulk of the masses here tend to believe they can be rich one day. Try to explain to them how unlikely this is and they tend to just stick their heads in the sand.

It has always been harder for workers to organize here than in Europe. Additionally, our business elite have been very successful at breaking unions and getting anti-union candidates into high office.

So no, this type of broad nationwide strike is not likely to happen here.

And quite frankly, all the strikes in Europe have so far done absolutely nothing to slow down "austerity" and governments taking the EU/IMF bailout money. Mass action has failed in Greece, will fail in Ireland, failed to stop raising the retirement age in France (and the unions went all out in that fight and lost), etc, etc. I think even in Europe union clout is beginning to wane.

[coalition_unwilling]

13. The U.S. is a very class conscious society, just not the right kind of

class and not the right kind of consciousness. Hence jokes about 'trailer trash' (from the liberal urban working class directed towards the Southern and mid-Western working class).

You ignore Lenin's distinction between a class in itself and a class for itself. We have a huge working class that has only an imperfect consciousness of its existence as a class vis-a-vis the ruling propertied elite. If and when that changes, all the gated security compounds and Escalades in the world will not be enough to protect the parasites.

[Hardrada]

16. That's the talk I want to hear. And it is true.

[madrchsod]

15. churches were the foundation of the civil rights movement.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

20. The US could learn something

[defendandprotect]

27. Highest unionization here was 39% ... think we're under 8% now?

And the methods they used involved every kind of corruption power and influence

you could imagine -- even Mafia.

Who knows what's actually left to protest non-unionshipments from China, etal????

[Creative]

38. The handle those "containers of goods" because that's their job.

[bemildred]

6. Good, it's time. nt

[DeSwiss]

9. K&R

We need to do this all over the world.

[Prophet 451]

10. "Accused the Tories of whipping up "austerity frenzy" in an attempt to complete "Thatcherism"

Yes, of course they are. The Tories current measures are absolutely sociopathic. They will force wages down, bugger up the economy (which has started picking up because the measures Labour introduced were working) and, oh yeah, kill people. As far as the Tories are concerned, there should be only four kinds of citizen:
1) Children.
2) Idle rich.
3) Fully employed at low wages and non-unionised.
4) Dead.

And they're not too choosy about which one you end up in. In fact, their measures on benefits are clearly designed to herd as many into 4 as possible. They must be fought hard on every single measure, no matter how small. They must be fought on the beaches and the shores and we must never surrender. The country voted in sociopathic mass murderers. If I didn't know it would get removed (rightly), I'd be advocating various illegal measures to get rid of them.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

22. the rich 'Shires' voted Tory mostly in England

how many working class people voted for them?

[Prophet 451]

34. Difficult to say

Labour was so unpopular (and the education received by the "lower classes" so lacking) that a fair few may have voted Tory.

[Lord Magus]

24. The question is, why the hell are the Lib Dems going along with this crap?

Oh, that's right. They sold out to the Tory scum in order to get a small share of power.

[Prophet 451]

33. Pretty much

I voted LibDem in the election and bitterly regret it. I've torn up my membership card and asked them to remove me from the membership rolls. The party leadership (always to teh right to the rank-and-file) sold their souls for proximity to power. And it's only proximity as it's painfully obvious they're having zero effect on policy.

[Vidar]

12. I'm glad the oppressed Brits still know how to put up a good fight.

Sadly, we've forgotten how.

[madrchsod]

14. our fight is their fight and it`s our future

the time is right for the students and trade / service unions to work together.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

23. yes

[madriver]

17. Wow! Unions with gonads...

...what a concept...

[pinto]

18. Kick

:kick:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

19. Why don't we do the same in sympathy

what we need here is the working class to stand up to the rich bosses

[mckara]

25. We Need a Little Blood in the Streets

[mudplanet]

26. Yea, but the right people's blood

I think you'll find that there is no limit to the human suffering and injustice that can be endured as long as it's other people's suffering.

[mckara]

37. You're Implying that Human Suffering and Injustice Only Comes with Violence?

These demonstrations are opposing human suffering and injustice imposed by government authorities, which are equally as onerous as violent rebellion.

[PavePusher]

31. Advocating "Second Amendment solutions"? Seriously? n/t

[mckara]

36. Freedom and Justice are Precious Rights

We should be willing to do whatever is necessary to end oppression of ordinary citizens! Do you have a problem with protecting Liberty?

[PavePusher]

32. Self-delete, double-post. n/t

[Matilda]

29. My heart is with them,

but I remember the miners' strikes in Thatcher's day. They were prepared to suffer to make their point, and they did, but it was for nothing.

The privileged classes just don't care if the poor can't get a decent education, and they're the ones running the show.

[myrna minx]

30. K&R n/t

[davidthegnome]

39. Good

Whether they succeed or not is beside the point - they are taking action. They are doing the right thing. I wish we could. I just don't know what, if any effect taking to the streets or a prolonged strike would have. I'm certainly not leadership material and my organizational skills are sadly lacking, but if there was someone with the ability and desire to step up and organize - to lead, I'd be ready to follow. I think there are millions who would be ready to follow, if word could be spread.

It's time to do something before the oligarchy destroys us all.