TUC Congress: limbering up for another betrayal
Labour Briefing1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
This year's TUC Congress takes place in the wake of the scabbing role of the General Council at Wapping and the generalised shift to the right which has taken place aross the labour movement since the general election in June.
The TUC leadership want to formalise this shift to the right as well as formalising Norman Willis's new (sic) concept of a trade union movement based on gimmicks, welfare benefits and public relations, rather than struggle against the employers.
They want to prepare the ground for the same shift to the right to be formalised at the Labour Party conference as well.
To clear the way for this, the General Council have been struggling all this week to make the agenda safe and protect Eric Hammond's business union, the EETPU. They moved first against a resolution tabled by the TGWU which would prevent them from signing no-strike deals with the employers.
Proposal
There was only one vote (Arthur Scargill) against a proposal by Willis to remove any debate on this from the agenda for a year and to table a meaningless statement instead — a decision which was afterwards condemned by Arthur Scargill as an attempt to cover up the issue.
The TGWU fell into line and did not push their resolution.
True to form, and true to the way such right wing unions now call the tune in the TUC, Hammond made no concessions at all, refusing even to say he would not sign any such deals before next year's Congress.
The EETPU have apparently threatened to leave the TUC if a resolution condemning such deals was passed — which would be a very good thing if it happened. They should have been kicked out of the TUC a long time ago for their role at Wapping.
Hammond knows, however, that his scab union would have everything to lose by being outside the TUC and the protection of the Bridlington agreement and the General Council.
Undermining
Hammond needs that protection because he has not the slightest hesitation in undermining or breaking unions in any industry he choses. He is challenging for members on non-electrical work from Aberdeen to the Docklands Railway.
On the Friday before Congress, however, the General Council were caught again with the same issue when they failed to stop a resolution from the CPSA which not only calls for the banning of no strike deals, but for industrial action if the government proceeds with fresh legislation against the unions. Unless more manoeuvres are pulled out of the hat, these issues will now have to be discussed.
Also in advance of this Congress the TUC's General Purposes Committee have ruled out of order a motion from SOGAT '82 which calls for a debate on the Wapping dispute. SOGAT intend to challenge this decision — but would need a two thirds majority to be successful.
The SOGAT motion would require the EETPU to hand over to the print unions the membership it has at Waping — doing printers' jobs.
Out of Order
The General Purposes Committee has ruled two motions out of order on the basis that the TUC does not have the power to intervene into inter-union membership disputes — something they regularly do!
Nor has the issue of workers' representation in the trade unions fared any better. A debate on whether the TUC should have a women's department is to be avoided by a statement from Willis which will talk piously about the need for more women to become involved without discussing how it can be achieved.
After Thatcher's third election victory, the TUC Congress of 1987 should realise that there is no Labour government waiting on the horizon to undo the Tory attacks. Unless we stand and fight now, no one else will stop the onslaught.
The TUC could have chosen this year to lead that fight — once more, it will miss the opportunity and betray its millions of members.