The trade unions founded the Labour Party – are they now overseeing its destruction?
One hundred years ago in 1900 the Labour Representative Committee was formed. The TUC played a major part before and after this to give birth to what is now the Labour Party. lts purpose was in the name – to represent labour- the working classes, the ideals in its first manifesto drawn up by its leaders including Kier Hardy – a socialist agenda for a socialist party. This was the bargain struck.
After three years in power with the largest ever majority and a favourable economy, what has the New Labour Government made of the bargain?
Public spending at its lowest in a decade. Even at the end of the comprehensive spending review in 2oo4 we will only be spending the same proportion of GDP as the Tories in the mid-9os. Meanwhile health, education, social and welfare services have experienced serious cutbacks causing hardship to users especially the most vulnerable.
Tax breaks for the rich while increasing indirect taxes that hurt the poorest. The super-rich are getting richer while the government figures show the numbers in poverty, especially children, have increased. The treatment of our pensioners is shameful – they are amongst the poorest in the European Union.
ln Europe New Labour are opposing putting the proposed Charter of Fundamental Human Rights into legislation, their main ally – the conservative government of Spain.
ln foreign and defence policy we are the lap dogs to American imperialism. Our ethical foreign policy appears to depend on opportunities for British investment and contracts.
Labour Party Democracy
It is now obvious that the New Labour Project planned behind John Smith’s back was to turn the Party from a membership-lead activist organisation to cheer leading supporters at American style party conventions. This has been done with duplicity, lack of principles and a ruthlessness that cannot be forgiven.
Policy forums were introduced as a more considered intelligent way of making policy. This was a sham –
the real intention was to neutralise the policy-making National Conference, which would have rebelled against New Labour’s programme. The rules for minority reports from policy forums appearing on conference agendas mean that it is almost impossible for constituency representatives getting anything radical on the agenda.
The subterfuge has worked, and the National Conference now resembles a convention. Last year over 200 constituency labour parties didn’t bother to send delegates. Now local policy forums are being used as an excuse to abolish constituency general meetings.
The imposed centralised system of selection of candidates for the Scottish, Welsh and European elections resulted in blatant political cleansing. There is much more to come out about the Scottish Parliament elections. The absence of any real membership involvement in the European selections meant that few activists campaigned contributing to our worst showing since joining.
Since its creation there has always been a right and left in Labour living together in an uneasy consensus –
New Labour has deliberately set out to destroy the coalition that was Labour.
Do they appreciate the consequences?
I don’t think they care !! Few of them have any loyalties or principles (witness the U turns from opposition to government) other than their careers.
The reality is that New Labour is a fraud. Its not New – it’s right wing, it doesn’t represent labour and it’s certainly not socialist i.e. it has broken the bargain made with the trade unions when they helped to found the Labour Party.
New Labour has demoralised and demotivated its rank and file membership with 20-30% leaving in the last 2 years.
Trade Union Representation
Public spending and social security cuts, privatisation of public services, pensioners and children deeper in poverty! – this is the opposite of the democratically decided policies of the great majority of trade unions. What have the trade union leaders and representatives on Labour National Executive Committee done about it? The answer is that they have been collaborators in these anti-working class policies.
The trade union section has a majority on the NEC. The Party Treasurer, one of the office bearers, is from the trade unions. However they voted for the 1997 Manifesto which included sticking to the Tory public spending cuts, no tax increases and the continuance of privatisation – never approved by Labour’s
National Conference and against their own trade unions’ policies.
They have acquiesced in the centralised undemocratic selection systems for the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament. They approved the appalling and disastrous closed list system for the European Parliament. Worse, they have participated in the actual selections that deliberately excluded left and trade union candidates. They rubberstamped the gerrymandered election systems for Leader in Wales and Mayoral candidate in London that cost us majority control in both.
ln the policy forums where they comprise the biggest vote, they have not challenged New Labour policies that are contrary to their trade unions’ policy. They could have determined the outcome of the forums’ recommendations, or at the very least submitted minority reports, which would have had to be put to National Conference.
Why this subservience?
So why this subservience to New Labour? Was there – is there a deal? lf there is it has been pretty bad value for the trade unions.
True, we have the National Minimum Wage, and the Employment Relations Act 1998 that establishes ballots for trade union recognition at work. However these were longstanding policies which New Labour could not have ditched. What they have in fact produced is far less than that promised by John Smith in the 1993 General Election Manifesto. The minimum wage was to have been £4.00 per hour without the indefensible lower rate for young workers doing the same job. The actual rates now, seven years later, are £3.50 and £3.20.
On trade union recognition the imposition of a threshold that a majority of voters and more than 4oolo of the workforce must support is a disgrace and totally unjustifiable – only a handful of MPs would have been elected if similar rules had applied to Westminster elections.
The reality is that on employment rights, British workers are the worst off within the European Union – witness BMW deciding to close Rover without consulting their workers, something that would have been illegal in Germany.
Privatisation continues at a furious pace in our hospitals, schools, public housing, air traffic control, prisons and the jobs of the public employees within these services. At the 1999 STUC Congress in Glasgow a few weeks prior to the Scottish Parliament elections, it appeared that the trade unions would throw down the gauntlet and outright oppose New Labour’s privatisation policies. This, in the view of many experienced observers, could have forced a re-think at that crucial election period. Instead Gordon Brown had breakfast with the trade union leadership, and a deal was stitched up. Some deal! Scotland has now a higher proportion of private finance initiative (PFI) schemes than anywhere else in Britain.
Anything else from the “deal”? Some cynics may point out that Blair has created 8 new trade union barons and a substantial number of paid quango appointments have been handed out.
The reason given most often in private conversation is that “they” don’t want to rock the boat and that they must ensure New Labour wins a second term of office.
More harm than good
This reason, whilst understandable, is short-sighted and will do the Labour Party more harm than good. The absence of opposition within the Party to New Labour’s right-wing, pro-market policies is already costing votes amongst traditional supporters and threaten Labour’s continuation as the major political party in the United Kingdom.
On any analysis the Tories will not prove a credible force at the next general election. The failure of many of our core voters to turn out in England and worse, many turning to the nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales, poses an immediate and long-term threat to future Labour success at the polls.
An examination of last year’s Scottish, Welsh, European and English council elections do not show an endorsement of New Labour. There was an underlying trend of decline within areas of traditional support. ln Scotland the Labour vote was down 13% from the general election figure. ln south Wales, seats in former mining areas were lost as were council seats in the north of England and the Midlands.
ln Scotland New Labour policies are driving traditional Labour supporters to the Scottish National Party (SNP) whilst the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is becoming a credible political force.
The loss of party activists, many of them trade unionists, will adversely affect Labour’s ability to campaign on the doorstep.
Negotiating for Real labour
There is almost certainly going to be a general election next year. New Labour is expecting to obtain £8million plus from affiliated trade unions for the election campaign. The trade unions effectively have a majority on the party NEC and at National Conference. This is a prime opportunity for them to powerfully influence the content of the election manifesto. They must do this if they are to ensure their activists’
involvement and the rank and file’s support for Labour. The Manifesto must not be New Labour’s “Third Way” policies but “Real Labour” progressive policies based on economic and social equality, social and common ownership, and Justice at work.
Failure to do this will see an ever-growing number of trade union members ceasing to vote for Labour and challenging the distribution of their political levy monies to Labour for little or no return.
The trade unions have it within their power to save or destroy the “real” Labour Party.
Bob Thomson was Associate Scottish Secretary of UNISON and Treasurer of the Scottish Labour Party 1993 -1999.