Defend the Right to Strike
JVL Introduction
Mick Lynch puts the current industrial action in a broader context. In an assault on trade-union rights, the Tories are moving to destroy the very foundations on which the right to organise rests.
It is, as Mick Lynch affirms, an attack on democracy and the future of our society.
It needs to be resisted by all:
“It needs to get the mainstream of the Labour Party onboard. They need to be saying, ‘I identify with this.’ They need to be making calls for the legislation to be stopped or, if needs be, repealed. And they need to support us on the picket lines, which they have not been doing.”
This article was originally published by Tribune on Thu 5 Jan 2023. Read the original here.
Mick Lynch: ‘The Government’s New Anti-Union Laws Are a Form of Conscription’
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch on the government’s latest anti-union laws, why they undermine our democratic rights – and how we fight back.
Loading article text…
“RB – What sort of a campaign will we need to actually win this? Another happy-clappy left-wing affair that unites our own base but doesn’t move the working class isn’t going to cut it, is it? Whilst everything else is to the point that quote above is surely wrong, it was engineered by the right wing Tory government. This happy-clappy stuff was seen by the Left Wing for what it is a diversion by Tory feeling the heat at the time.
“Any campaign to do that has to bring in a wide range of groups. It needs the churches, the mosques, the gurdwaras, it needs all the religious groups. It needs civil society and all the other campaigning groups, from environmentalists to human rights organisations. It needs to be able to make this an issue for more than committed trade unionists.” And the synagogues…! btw, what is the so-called Jewish ‘Labour movement’ doing about this. Mick L:ynchis right to remind us that trades unionists’ ‘freedom’ is merely an exemption from liability to employer litigation. Let’s have no weaselling about focus groups and electoralist fear of Daily Maillery! Back to pre Carr’s Act and pre In Place of Strife. Let cowards flinch and traitors sneer..
I’ve been posting warnings about the Tories being behind the strikes, that they were behind the strikes in the 70s, which led to Thatcher’s Anti Union Laws. A long time before these latest strikes I Wrote this short blog.
The truth about the 70s.
Millions swallowed the propaganda that the Unions Screwed the Country.
If you were around at the time, you should have worked out that the Unions were set up. The 70s were a prosperous time for people, you had well paid jobs, you could afford the rent, many could afford a mortgage, house prices were affordable and package holidays were at their peak. Being United meant we could fight back against inequality, bullying bosses and get our fair share of the huge profits being made.
The strikes were connived by Public Services Managers, it was orchestrated, one strike after the other. They chose those Services that would cause the most inconvenience to the Public, Gas, Electricity, Railways, Transport, Coal, Firemen, Dustmen and even Grave Diggers.
The Press propaganda (what the majority believed) was in full swing against the Workers, Headlines every day, photos of the fed up commuters, mountains of rubbish on the pavement, pictures of rats, families that couldn’t bury their dead relatives etc, etc.
It paved the way for Thatcher to bring in the Laws that took away the ability of our Unions to fight against any injustice.
Just look at where we are today and where we are heading. Wages have collapsed, 2+ million are on zero hour contracts or forced to go self employed, losing sick and holiday pay, plus no Company Pension, the minimum wage is the norm with 4 million people on it, 2 million families using food banks and the worst poverty seen for over half a century and it’s getting worse under these Evil Tories.
Very good to have this clearly spelt-out, in enough depth to give the bigger picture.
A worrying development from the government – and sadly, no surprise. We need to resist this with energy and commitment!