“Things will get worse before they get better.”
“The Tories left an even bigger mess than we realised.”
“There’s a £22 billion black hole” – or is that £40 billion now?
How many more ways are there of telling us the same thing: this Starmer-led Labour government is preparing further privatisation and austerity, forcing the working class to continue to pay for successive capitalist crises, while riches continue to flow into the pockets of the bosses.
Workers had to wait 97 days for Labour’s Employment Rights Bill – only to learn that we’re expected to wait another year or two as its already watered down content goes through a process of ‘consultation’ before an even more watered down version is implemented.
We’ve had to wait almost four months for Labour’s budget. But whatever Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves say about ‘no austerity’, one thing we do know about the 30 October budget is that it will be austerity by any other name. Once again we will be told we have to wait for things to get better.
Now we’re told there’s a big plan for the NHS – a ten-year plan!
But it seems it’s only the working class that has to wait. Starmer didn’t wait to slash the winter fuel payments. Enfield Labour council isn’t waiting to shut down half its libraries. Leeds Labour council isn’t waiting to sell-off its nurseries. Wiltshire NHS bosses haven’t waited before handing over all their community health services to a private subsidiary of Virgin.
Repeal anti-union laws immediately
Many trade union leaders greeted the Employment Rights Bill with gushing enthusiasm. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said, “This is the most significant set of reforms in workers’ rights that we’ve seen in decades,” in a tweet that “strongly welcomed the Labour government’s pledge to rapidly introduce legislation aimed at restoring workers’ rights”.
But the plan is very far from “rapid”!
Repeal of the 2016 trade union legislation is the most significant element in the bill, as it would remove the undemocratic 50% turnout threshold. The 2023 Strikes (Minimum Services Levels) Act, also to be repealed, has already been made unworkable by the action of train drivers union Aslef.
The bill goes nowhere near the demand agreed at this year’s TUC, in a motion moved by the Fire Brigades Union, to repeal all Tory anti-union legislation. There were six anti-union laws introduced by the Tories in the 1980s and 1990s, all of which were left in place by Tony Blair’s Labour government, which he approvingly declared were among the most restrictive in Europe. The bill also leaves in place the ban on strikes by prison officers.
And most outrageously, all the restrictions remain in place while this bill is consulted on.
But there is no reason the 2016 Act cannot be repealed straight away – and could have been on 5 July.
Emergency legislation can be passed very quickly. The Tory government in 1971 famously nationalised Rolls Royce in just a few days. In fact, there have been 211 ‘expedited’ bills since 1979 – bills that have had their second and third reading in parliament in just one day – ranging from single issues such as dangerous dogs and badgers, to major legislation such as on Brexit and coronavirus.
With a big parliamentary majority, the government would have nothing to fear. What stops them is not whether or not it is possible, but their fear that workers would gain in confidence from such a measure.
And the price paid by workers is huge. Unison members in local government have just been balloted over action against their measly pay offer but, as last year, they have only managed to exceed the thresholds in a small number of places. Those members are told by their general secretary not to worry – the repeal of trade union legislation is planned to be quicker than the implementation of the rest of the bill, so it may be done by next year’s pay round!
The worst thing trade union leaders can do is to prettify, and provide a left cover for, the actions of Starmer’s government. His Labour Party is a pro-capitalist party that has ruthlessly purged Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity policies from its programme and the MPs who argued for them from its ranks.
Pressure
It is the fear of mass action, experienced in the 2022-23 strike wave, that has forced them to make above-inflation pay offers and to propose a modest step forward in workers’ rights down the road. It is a big mistake for trade union leaders to collude with what Starmer, Reeves and the rest are aiming for: to allow those meagre measures to be used to hoodwink and hold back members.
Instead of praise, the trade union leaders should demand immediate repeal, and at the same time warn workers of the need to get ready to fight the further austerity measures that are coming.
And they should use every lever open to them to apply pressure. Trade union executives should call on the Independent group of MPs, headed by Jeremy Corbyn, and the seven Labour MPs suspended for voting against the two-child benefit cap, to move a private members bill for immediate repeal.
The same approach could be taken to anti-austerity amendments to the budget on behalf of workers – to expose the reality of Starmer’s policies and demand funding for public services instead of increased privatisation, for example.
The best pressure being applied to Starmer right now comes from the strike action announced on London Underground by the RMT and Aslef unions, and the vote to reject the 5.5% pay offer by members of the Royal College of Nursing.
That pressure would be all the greater if it was allied with building a bloc of MPs in parliament to champion policies in the interests of workers. That would be an important step in building the mass action and workers’ party that are needed to win socialist policies in the interests of working-class people.
Fight the far right by fighting for the working class
And that task is vital. The Socialist Party has consistently warned of the danger of far-right, racist forces stepping into the vacuum as anger with the Labour government grows.
On 26 October, a counter-protest has been organised against the far-right Tommy Robinson, who has called a rally in central London. Several trade unions and their general secretaries have put out the call for the counter-demo.
The Socialist Party has called for the trade unions to take a serious approach to leading the fight against the far right, including mobilising numbers and providing democratically controlled stewarding.
But we have been clear that that is not separate from preparing a serious fight for the pay, jobs, homes and services we all need.
Calling on members to attend the counter-protest is, at best, only a partial job, if calls like that are accompanied by minimising or even covering over the austerity being prepared by this Labour government.
Leading a strong fight on those issues would both enable the mobilisation of bigger numbers when needed, and help to undercut potential support for far-right ideas.
