Lessons for NZ left in UK wildcat strike wave

Workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery (LOR) in Britain

take strike action to protect their jobs.

by Grant Morgan RAM chair 31 January 2009 Below is a link to a Guardian story about the fast-moving wildcat illegal strike wave among many thousands of construction workers on different sites across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are taking independent action to protect jobs in an industry where the unemployment rate is already high and climbing fast as the Combo Crisis buffets the British economy.

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See recent Guardian articles:

Thousands may strike over 'British jobs' dispute (2 Feb)

Mediators called in over construction strikes (31 Jan)

British left debates whether wildcat strikes are "racist"

The left in Britain has been debating whether the wildcat strike action by construction workers in Britain (see Lessons for NZ left in UK wildcat strike wave) is "racist". The crux of the debate is the attitude that left organisations shoud take to the struggle of these workers, particularly as it's workers' own self activity (not union officials or anyone else) that's driving the strikes. Compare the articles posted on Socialist Unity blog, British socialist Jerry Hicks on refinery disputes and George Galloway backs wildcat strikes, with the statement issued by the British Socialist Workers Party British SWP statement: Why British jobs for British workers is not the solution to the crisis. See also What’s really behind the Lindsey Oil Refinery strike, a statement by a socialist elected onto a strike committee.

George Galloway backs wildcat strikes

from Socialist Unity [UK blog] 30 January 2009 Galloway: ‘It’s about decent jobs, available to all’ Reacting to news of wildcat walkouts from construction sites across Britain, Respect MP George Galloway says: “Despite attempts to confuse and misreport, the fundamental issue that’s led thousands of construction workers to defy the anti-union laws and walk off the job is simple: decent jobs, open for all to apply for. “These walkouts come after years of the construction conglomerates trying to weaken union organisation, divide up workforces and introduce super-exploitation across the industry. “Union activists have told me of unofficial blacklists operating, made all the more widespread by a culture of subcontracting to cut-throat companies. “We used to have a nationally-owned energy sector, which provided secure and relatively good jobs as well directly employing building workers and entering long term contracts with construction companies. “Now we’ve got privatisation, chaos and a race to the bottom where employers across Europe are attempting to drive down pay and conditions. “That’s why the defence of national agreements is so important. It is the only way whereby working people can raise up conditions in the worst companies to those where unions are better organised and have won a fairer share. “So those little Englanders or downright racists who claim they are supporting the construction workers’ walkouts are doing no such thing, because they oppose the very trade union strength that makes a national rate for the job possible. “The Unite union – including the TGWU, which I’ve been a member of for over 30 years – has always stood against scapegoating and discrimination. And it’s stood against the exploitation of foreign workers as a means to lowering pay and conditions here. “The union has been calling for national agreements to prevent undercutting, and for jobs to be open to all construction workers, without blacklisting or discrimination. “That’s got my support. If Gordon Brown really wanted to help construction workers he would rigorously enforce the highest employment standards instead of playing to the right wing gallery with slogans about British jobs, for British workers.”

British socialist Jerry Hicks on refinery disputes

from Socialist Unity [UK blog] 30 January 2009 STRIKE ACTION ESCULATES AS WORKERS FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO WORK, But it should come as no surprise! I spoke to Jerry Hicks a few minutes ago. Jerry is the left candidate in the forthcoming election for General Secretary of the Amicus section of Unite. Jerry tells me he has been in touch with the strikers, and this is very far from being a racist or reactionary strike. Indeed, one protester contacted Jerry after reading one of his election leaflets, and had decided to join Unite on the basis of Jerry's socialist arguments - there is no way that a racist would agree with Jerry Hicks explicitly socialist campaign. Jerry points out that socialists, and members of Respect are very welcome at these protests, and we should oppose the attempts by the far-right BNP to hijack these working class protests towards their own racist and anti-working class agenda. Earlier today Jerry Hicks released a statement reminding us that an emergency meeting of the national construction shop stewards forum took place in London as long ago as the 8th January. The meeting discussed the escalating crisis in construction following a series of protests in November and December of last year, over employment rights and also the proposed exclusion of UK workers by foreign companies on power stations and other major UK contracts. The meeting was originally called for at Newark on the 3rd December following a series of protests at the gates of Staythope Power Station. At the meeting shop stewards voted overwhelmingly to organise a programme of demonstrations toward targeted construction projects within the UK power generation sector. Shop stewards and trade union activists find it is hard enough as it is to get a job in the industry because of the black listing by the employers. It is a way of reducing their costs and attempting to break union organisation on the major projects. Rank and file members are preparing for mass disruption on projects throughout the country that refuse to recognise union national agreements. There will be organised demonstrations strikes and mass disruption. We are preparing for a battle to defend our jobs. Jerry Hicks a candidate in the coming election for General Secretary in the UK's biggest union Unite-Amicus is supporting the action. He was present at a recent protest at Staythorpe power station where he sustained a fractured leg, having been assaulted by the police. He said: “This should come as no surprise to anyone. The employers have deliberately and actively been looking for ways to exploit cheap labour while covering their eyes and ears to the growing rage of discontent and ignoring all the warning signs, it's outrageous". Mr Hicks went on to say, "To its shame the union leadership failed miserably to grasp the nettle months ago when the dispute was a crisis in the making. The union needs to confront the employers and organise a national campaign for industrial action." The employers watch and listen to everything we say and do. If the union does little and says even less they drive the boot in harder and our situation gets worse. This is not about race or prejudice it is about the exploitation of labour, playing one worker against another. It is about the employers trying to break nationally agreed arrangements and in doing so it is an attack on the union. Gordon Brown, who at the last Labour party conference said "British jobs for British workers" has created a huge problem all of his own making. He can no longer simply sit on his hands waiting on the sidelines. Meanwhile, other energy companies are observing what happens next as they seek to further exploit the cheap foreign labour market. This issue is as a result of the Employers deliberately exploiting a situation, the union leaderships woeful lack of response and Browns pronouncement, Now they act like the like the three monkeys. Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.

Lessons for NZ left in UK wildcat strike wave

by Grant Morgan RAM chair 31 January 2009 Below is a link to a Guardian story on the fast-moving wildcat illegal strike wave among many thousands of construction workers on different sites across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They are taking independent action to protect jobs in an industry where the unemployment rate is already high and climbing fast as the Combo Crisis buffets the British economy. The flashpoint came when an oil refinery corporation in Lincolnshire awarded a construction contract to an Italian firm using Italian and Portuguese labour at low pay rates while thousands of local construction workers rotted on the dole queue. Notable features of this strike wave include: 1. It has been started and spread by rank-&-file workers, not by their union officials, after many years of dispirited unionism. 2. The speed of its spread across different sites is truly amazing, especially since the driving force is the rank-&-file, not their union officials. 3. Virtually all these wildcat strikes strikes are illegal under laws passed by Britain's original neocon prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and shamefully kept on the statute books during 12 years of Labour government. 4. Because many strikers are carrying banners demanding "British jobs for British workers", a debate about whether or not the strike wave is "racist" has erupted in the media and on the left. 5. A mass meeting elected a socialist to the six-person rank-&-file strike committee, an indicator that this blue-collar strike wave is being driven by the class issue of uniting against corporates which refuse to hire local workers at union-set national pay rates in order to lift profitability and depress all wages. As the Combo Crisis really starts to hit New Zealand, which looks likely to be sooner rather than later, we will probably see rank-&-file eruptions here too. After all, many of the present conditions in New Zealand have some similarity with those operating in Britain a year ago, such as: - Years on end of dispirited unionism and historically low levels of strikes. - Harsh anti-strike laws kept on the statute books by both Labour and conservative governments. - A mostly timid and often conservative official leadership of the union movement which generally lined up behind a market-supporting Labour Party. - A massive erosion of traditional class and socialist traditions inside the union movement and among the grassroots in general. - Capitalism's generally successful promotion of nationalism, lifestyle, competition and other divisive alternatives to a united working class. The speed, the seriousness and the contest of ideas in the rank-&-file strike wave now sweeping Britain's construction sites should be a wake up call to RAM and others on the left in New Zealand. The coming economic meltdown in New Zealand will be an historic test for the left. What we do right now is important in preparing workers and others at the grassroots for the mass mobilisations that will be needed to protect people from the devastating crisis of the market. And when the brown stuff hits the fan in this country, as it almost certainly will, the independent left must be ready to immediately work together to win the contest of ideas and to spread the fightbacks as fast and as far as possible. See Guardian article (31 Jan) Mediators called in over construction strikes

Mediators called in over construction strikes

from The Guardian 31 January 2009 The government called in mediators from Acas last night in an urgent attempt to end the dispute over the exclusion of British workers from construction contracts which led to a wave of wildcat strikes across the country yesterday. The attempt to halt the protest came as it emerged that hundreds more workers were ready to join the nationwide strike action. Bosses at Sellafield nuclear power plant confirmed that 900 contractors will vote on a walkout on Monday morning in solidarity with oil industry contractors in Lincolnshire which is at the heart of the dispute after around 300 new jobs were taken by Italian and Portuguese workers. The conciliation service was called in after around 3,000 workers at oil and power plants across the UK staged unofficial strikes in support of workers at the Lindsey refinery at North Killingholme. The TUC claimed the refinery owner, Total, had made an "apparent attempt to undercut the wages, conditions and union representation of existing staff". In angry scenes outside plants from Scotland to south Wales, union leaders spoke out against European workers taking construction jobs in the oil and energy industry ahead of British workers. Outside the Lindsey refinery, some protesters called on their colleagues to march on Downing Street. Shop steward Kenny Ward told the crowd they had to stand together and take on the "greedy employer". He said: "I'm a victim, you are a victim, there are thousands in this country that are victims to this discrimination, this victimisation of the British worker." Total had put a contract out to tender for a £200m construction project with five UK firms and two European contractors. The Italian company IREM won the contract and supplied its own permanent workforce. It is understood 100 Italian and Portuguese workers are already on site and 300 more are expected next month. In apparently co-ordinated action, 700 workers at the Grangemouth oil refinery near Falkirk walked out, and 400 more downed tools at the Wilton chemical site in Cleveland. Early morning protests flared at at least eight other facilities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Downing Street and Davos, where Gordon Brown had been speaking against protectionism at the World Economic Forum, the government came under pressure to respond to the crisis. There was criticism that the award of the contract at the Lindsey refinery appeared to cast into doubt the prime minister's pledge in 2007 to deliver "British jobs for British people". "I understand people's worries about their jobs," Brown said. A Downing Street spokesman said the contract taken by the foreign workers had been agreed "some time ago when there was a shortage of skilled labour in the construction sector in the UK". Pat McFadden, minister for employment relations, said he understood the strikers' concern about employment but could not condone their unofficial walkouts. "What is important in a sensitive situation where tempers are running high is to take an independent and dispassionate look at what is going on," he said. Union leaders were furious that with unemployment rates soaring, British workers had been overlooked. The TUC accused employers of attempting to undercut the wages, conditions and union representation of existing staff. Bobby Buirds, a regional officer for the union Unite in Scotland, said: "The argument is not against foreign workers, it's against foreign companies discriminating against British labour. This is a fight for work. It is a fight for the right to work in our own country. It is not a racist argument at all." Nevertheless, there were indications that far right politicians were eager to seize on the dispute. The British National party, which is hoping to make a breakthrough in this year's European parliament elections, said it had sent a team of supporters to join the 800 workers gathered outside the north Lincolnshire plant. Brendan Barber, secretary general of the TUC, said workers were "rightly angry" at employers who have not given British based workers the opportunity to apply for new jobs but added: "The anger should be directed at employers, not the Italian workers."