Strikes will divide more than unite

MORE than a million public sector workers will strike today primarily over pay and pensions disputes.

Six of the United Kingdom's largest unions will be represented in the strikes which are likely to cause public services to grind to a halt and lead to trouble for millions more private sector employees.

There is still a culture among many union members in Britain that anyone who does not support action of this scale is a bourgeois class traitor. This view, however, fails to take into account the changing structure of the British working classes, with public sector workers rapidly becoming a class of their own.

Figures used by the Labour Party's largest backer, Unite, from a Survation poll claim to show mass public support for the strike action. On closer examination, however, the data is not so clear cut. As with any poll leading questions and limited selection criteria for respondents can lead to skewed results.

In defence of the action TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Across the public sector workers are on strike today to say enough is enough.

"Year after year pay has failed to keep up with the cost of living."

What many have not looked at, however, is the practical impossibility of creating a fair wage which meets the living wage. As wages increase then so to must prices to allow for the increased costs. Thereby an inflationary spiral is created forcing the living wage ever higher. For public sector workers this may not be an overwhelming concern. Their feeling is that they can always strike again if they need to pressure the government into paying them more.

Millions of private sector workers on the minimum wage, zero hour contracts and uncertain employment futures don't have the luxury of blackmail to raise their pay though. It is these people who have been forgotten and yet will be most affected if the strikers achieve their aims.

Obviously not all public sector workers support strike action, however, their voices have a tendency to be drowned out by the drum beating of the leadership.

Prime Minister David Cameron has proposed new legislation to ensure that all union members have a say in future strike action.

Speaking to reporters Mr Cameron highlighted teacher's union NUT and its use of a two year old ballot to justify current action: "I think the time has come for setting a threshold," he told the House of Commons at prime minister's questions. "I mentioned the NUT strike earlier, the strike ballot took place in 2012. It's based on a 27% turnout. How can it possibly be right for our children's education to be disrupted by trade unions acting in that way? It is time to legislate and it will be in the Conservative manifesto."

Knowing that legislation requiring the majority of members, rather than just those who turn up, to vote in favour would severely damage the ability to take unilateral action has scared the union leaderships.

Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, in a demonstration if his lack of knowledge of a multi-party electoral system, attacked Mr Cameron's proposal to rework strike laws. 

"The whiff of hypocrisy coming from Cameron as he harps on about voting thresholds is overwhelming," he said. "Not a single member of his cabinet won over 50% of the vote in the 2010 election, with Cameron himself getting just 43% of the potential vote."

Despite all their claims of worker solidarity the powerful unions have shown that they only care for a small proportion of the British public. Rather than uniting workers if this latest action succeeds then it is likely to widen the gap within society and lead many in the private sector to long lasting economic decline.

  

Not so united on EU

DAVID Cameron's humiliating defeat in Europe last week may have failed to cement Britain's position in the bloc but it has reinvigorated the calls for a referendum.

Conservative MP Bob Neill has confirmed that he will be reintroducing the European Union Parliament Referendum Bill in the next parliamentary session, which could see the UK leave the Union by 2017.

Mr Neill has stated that while personally he would prefer that Britain stays within the EU the final decision should be placed in the hands of the electorate.

“I would prefer a successful outcome, but you never go into a negotiation showing your hand or ruling out any course of action.”

He added: “I’d like to vote to stay but I could vote to leave. But I hope we do not come to that situation.”

Meanwhile, having pledged support for the Labour Party at the General Election, Unite leader Len McClusky has added his voice to the debate. Mr McClusky has called on Labour officials to throw their support behind a referendum.

Stating the union's position Mr McClusky said: "It calls on Labour not to box itself in on the referendum question. This issue has bedevilled British politics for decades. For much of that time it has been the Tories who have had to deal with divisions in their ranks over Europe. But the next general election will be different. Both Ukip and the Tories will be offering a referendum on the issue of Britain's membership."

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls has dismissed the idea as "silly".

Mr Balls told BBC2's Newsnight: "That would be a silly thing for us to say.

"We made a very clear commitment: if there is any proposal in the next parliament for a transfer of powers to Brussels we will have an in/out referendum.

"We are not proposing a referendum now because we think to spend two or three years blighting investment and undermining our economy on the prospect of a referendum which David Cameron says he is going to have after he gets an unknown package of reforms would be bad for jobs and investment.

"If Len McCluskey is supporting the David Cameron position, I disagree with Len McCluskey."

Earlier this week Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg fended off moves by senior members of his party to join with other parties on taking a stance on the referendum.

Speaking in defence of the Deputy Prime Minister's position A senior Lib Dem was reported as telling journalists: "Our views are clear. When the rules of the European Union change there will be a referendum as we have enshrined in law. Some people may think it would be seductive to change our position on Europe but we are not going to spend the next ten months banging on about the referendum bill. We will leave that to others."

While the debate is sure to intensify as the General Election draws closer for now the decision hinges on whether Mr Cameron will continue his campaign in Europe.

Answering MP's questions the Prime Minister said: "I think it is in the national interest to renegotiate our position in Europe, to secure the changes I have set out. I don’t start the negotiations believing we won’t achieve those things, I set out wanting to achieve them… but I will always do what is in the national interest."