After Broad Left ballot victory: Where now for the T&G?
Labour Briefing1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
The TGWU Executive election result is not so much a victory for the left as a defeat for the right, who have been organising strongly in the union for some time.
The key left gains were in three trade groups — Power and Engineering, Textiles, and Agriculture.
A further key gain came in in the South East London territorial division where Ford worker Steve Riley defeated right wing national TGWU Chair Brian Nicholson.
In the Automotive trade group, the left candidate, Dave Osbourn, was defeated by just over three hundred votes after a number of ballot boxes had been disqualified in a highly controversial contest in the Midlands Region.
The election, which put ten new members on the 39-strong Executive, has produced a "broad left" majority of about 22-17, although it is a difficult calculation given the extreme diversity of the TGWU "Broad Left", which ranges from hard left activists to Communist Party (CP) members and Kinnock supporters.
The media caused great confusion in the run-up to the ballot by presenting the whole thing as a contest between "soft left" and "hard left", when in reality it was a contest between the "broad left" and the old right wing majority led by Nicholson.
They have been a major factor in the union for some time, systematically using their power on the executive to challenge Ron Todd from the right.
Posi[…]
Nicholson has used his position on the appointments committee to install the hard right personnel into key non-elected positions — something which has led to bitter blow-ups in at least two Regions — London and the Midlands.
In the Midlands (Region 5) Todd was even refused permission to speak at the Regional Committee. Nicholson knows very well that regional secretaries are extremely influential in the union, not least because they administer elections.
Nicholson hoped that the regional secretaries would help consolidate the right wing majority on the executive. Although the T&G has in many respects supported the "new realists", it has not done so consistently — at least not consistently enough for Nicholson. A further shift to the right would have lined the union up alongside the AEU or even the EETPU. Ron Todd would have been destroyed in the process.
These plans of the right wing fell flat — in itself, a major victory for the left and for the labour movement in general. The effects of the TGWU consistently casting their 1.3 million block vote alongside the AEU and the EETPU at Labour Party Conference and at the TUC do not need to be spelt out.
Result
But it is not yet clear how much the union will actually move to the left in the wake of this result — which is essentially a victory for Ron Todd, now released from right wing pressure and able to impose his own direction on the union.
He has already said that the TGWU will give full support to Neil Kinnock, and there is every reason to believe he means what he says.
As for the Executive itself, unless there is a strong force fighting within it to make it influence the union (as Nicholson was from the right) it is likely to return to its usual rather marginal position, with real direction being decided by full-time officials at national and regional level.
Militants
There are now some important militants on the Executive, but they may well find themselves very much in a minority. Kinnock is clearly confident that the election will not change the relationship between the TGWU and his plans for the Labour Party — and he is probably right.
One major problem which needs to be tackled now is the TGWU Broad Left. It has long been a farce, comprised of closed cabals devoted to lining people up for elections. The development of a democratic Broad Left would be a major development for the union and there are signs that opportunities here are opening up.
Another problem which these elections leave unresolved is the general question of democracy in the TGWU, in particular democratic election procedures immune to ballot rigging.
Successive leaderships of the TGWU have refused to take elementary steps to change the situation. They have refused to change the loose union rules on voting procedures — a virtual charter for ballot rigging, which has been rife for decades.
Refused
They have also refused, for the most part, to discipline those caught red-handed fiddling ballots, chosing instead simply to organise re-run elections.
Of course, many of the allegations made in the recent elections are unsubstantiated inventions by individuals or the media. But the union's record gives credibility to these allegations, and a field day to the media.
However, some of the complaints raised were substantiated. In the Midlands Region 5 a decision was taken by the scrutineers not to record any individual branch votes — which makes it impossible for democratic checks to take place.
In the same area, ballot boxes were disqualified under contentious circumstances, which almost certainly cost the left one key seat. Other serious complaints have still not been sorted out.
Seriously
All this needs to be taken very seriously by TGWU members. There is a real danger that the scandal of TGWU balloting will be used by the Tories to legitimise the next round of anti-union legislation, which includes postal balloting for executive committees.