Wage-Slaves Unite

Unite (1.4 million members) and Unison (1.3 million members) have agreed in principle to a 24 hour walk-out in protest to government austerity cuts. Between them the two unions make up more than 40 per cent of the TUC’s membership. Proposals will be discussed at next month’s TUC general council meeting. Last years TUC conference voted in favour of examining the feasibility of a general strike.
There are legal obstacles have to be overcome before any general strike can be called. Although many argue a political general strike against the ConDem Coalition would be legal under European human rights legislation, under UK employment law, strikes have to relate to specific disputes and therefore co-ordinated industrial action echoing 1926 could be deemed illegal. One way round that problem would be for separate unions to call parallel disputes with employers over pay and conditions.
The tide may seem to be turning in favour of workers, nevertheless, King Canute is forever remembered for sitting in his throne on a beach and commanding the waves to recede to demonstrate “How empty and worthless is the power of kings” A fact that we must also acknowledge on the limitations of trade unions to the capitalists and their state power. We must go beyond trade unionism and change society. As James Connolly, the trade unionist, is supposed to have once said about strikes, workers with empty bellies go up against employers with full wallets .