Les Bayliss Sets Out Vision His For the Left In Unite

Published this week in the Morning Star.

"What Unite needs to do is to provide activists with strong, disciplined leadership to protect workers' terms and conditions no matter which party is in power, insists assistant general secretary Les Bayliss.

As the Labour Party opens its last conference before an election that it is thought highly likely to lose, the former east London precision engineer insists that "whatever happens next year, our union members have to be protected - and we will need strong solidarity within the labour movement to face the challenges that are coming.

"Obviously, we would like Labour - a different kind of Labour - to remain in power, but we need to have a reality check and consider where we are and where we want to be," he cautions.

Bayliss asserts that "the '97 Labour government was never about socialism, but about accepting the free market and neoliberalism promoted by Thatcher and Reagan.

"So, if anyone was under the illusion, particularly after Labour dumped clause four, that this was going to be a socialist government, then they were kidding themselves.

"But the reason that they got away with it was because, as far as left progressives are concerned, we were far too busy being thankful that Labour had got elected that we didn't even try to set an agenda that was favourable to workers."

Despite the late hour, Bayliss is still not prepared to write the government off.

"Even if you take a minimal view, what the unions have got from Labour is far more than we could have ever expected under the Tories," he argues.

"And even with the short time remaining, I don't believe that a Tory government is a given.

"I tend to gauge a lot of public opinion by listening to cab drivers, and recently they have been changing their views - they may not be voting Labour, but I think it's clear that they will not be voting Tory either."

Bayliss insists that "if Labour can show that it is prepared to listen - and, more importantly, convince the electorate that they've listened, learnt and that they are going to change - then the party can still reconnect to working people.

"Because recently, what we've seen is many union members move to the right, particularly over immigration and housing issues, but at the same time come closer to the union because they can relate to our campaigning. So it's not rocket science to realise that what workers want, and what the unions want, is what will win votes."

But Bayliss suggests that should the election be lost, the unions should take it as an opportunity to "reshape Labour."

"The Tories won't come at us head on - they don't need to because there are a lot of anti-union laws still on the books. It'll be more like death by a thousand cuts with attacks on union facility time and recognition agreements, but whether people like it or not, the Labour Party will still be the only show in town, and that's where our union members will need to be to oppose the Tories' agenda."

Bayliss contends that whatever happens, workers will need "strong leadership that doesn't lead people up a blind alley because you are agreeing with them all the time. Unions need leaders who can be upfront and say things that people don't want to hear.

"I'm not interested in fighting back, because fighting back makes us sound as though we are waiting to be hit. I prefer to choose the ground that we fight on."

The unofficial construction workers' strikes that have swept Britain "shows what organised labour can do," points out Bayliss, who acted as Unite's lead negotiator in the recent talks over the industry's national agreement.

"They didn't happen overnight, they took time to organise, but the point is those strikes were about the future, about workers fighting for their industry, and they led to successful negotiations and a good deal that the shop stewards are now recommending to the members."

But Bayliss reckons that the construction workers are likely to keep on fighting.

"Although the union has succeeded in turning the argument in that dispute from 'British jobs for British workers' to enforcing union agreements, what I'm concerned about is the fact that huge construction projects are coming up and there are thousands of apprenticeships that should be getting that work but can't, because others are taking those jobs.

"The problem is that the workers don't trust the employers, so I would expect workers to respond - officially or unofficially - to employers who will inevitably break agreements.

"That means that more strikes are certain," he makes clear.

Bayliss argues that Unite's leadership of such fights proves that the union's future lies in "attracting workers in economically important industries - the skilled, professional and technical workers who historically stick with us.

"I'm not saying that we don't organise other workers, but the bosses need to know that we are serious when we take them on - that when this union fights, it is going to seriously affect the economy.

"To do that the union needs to be in the best position - we need to organise where we are strongest, consolidate that strength and achieve majority membership in the most significant industries," he insists.

"Because I don't want to get into fights that I can't win."