Why Trade Union Freedom Matters

The following article by Barry Camfield former TGWU AGS is being circulated widely for debate and discussion on the Left.

Workers Uniting Group is happy to publish the paper for discussion "Why Trade Union Freedom Matters".

"Why Trade Union Freedom Matters"
By Barry Camfield, LCDTU National Organiser


The Liason Committee For The Defence Of Trade Unions is a campaigning organisation, dedicated to the struggle for trade union freedom in the UK. We organise to help defend unions in dispute at local and national level and, critically, we organise to promote and prioritise the case for the removal from the statute book of all anti-union laws established by the viciously anti-union Conservative Party and its Government’s of the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Those anti-union laws included:-

• The Employment Act 1980
• The Employment Act 1982
• The Trade Union Act 1984
• The Employment Act 1988
• The Employment Act 1989
• The Employment Act 1990
• The Trade Union Reform & Employment Rights Act 1993

The effect of those laws upon workers and unions was enormous. Its fundamental aim was not to prevent trade union organisation, but rather to prevent effective trade union organisation. They wanted the appearance of union freedom, but not the reality!

What did the Conservative Party achieve? A whole raft of anti-trade union laws which rendered UK workers and their trade unions much less powerful, much less effective. Take a deep breath and consider the following:-

The repeal of statutory recognition of unions, the attack upon the ‘closed shop’ and its eventual outlawing, the ending of union organised ballots and their replacement with state arrangements (but not for business ), restrictions on picketing, the repeal of the ‘going rate’ law, severe limitation of trade union immunity in trade disputes, union liability for members actions, statutory damages against unions for ‘unlawful’ action, ‘union labour only’ contracts rendered void, unions banned at GCHQ, NUM assets sequestered during the miners strike, state interference with union rule books by prescribing internal election arrangements, further restrictions upon industrial action ballots, the attempt to break the union link with the Labour Party by means of Political Fund ballots, the imposition of a so-called ‘Commissioner for the Rights of Trade Union Members’ (to encourage complaints against the union, not the employer), weaker rights of union reps to time off, weaker employment protection rights for workers, reductions in H&S protection for women and young people, allowing fascists and racists to join any union and severely restricting union rights to expel members.

Of course, the Conservative Party and its Governments did much more damage to UK workers, including the introduction of the Poll Tax, massive redistribution of income and wealth to the rich, the ending of Wages Councils, selling off council housing, the destruction of manufacturing industry, abolishing exchange controls, creating and sustaining mass unemployment, driving up prescription charges, abolishing the GLC in London (a Labour stronghold), allowing the Stock Market crash, benefits withdrawn from 16/17 year olds, pushing VAT up to 17.5%, massive pit closures, etc, etc.

But critical to the philosophy of the Conservative Party was the ending and prevention of effective trade organisation and action. Nicholas Ridley masterminded this for the Tories during the 1970’s in his setting out of action against the NUM, the NUS and the TGWU in road haulage, amongst others. This was known as the “Ridley Plan”.

It was put into effect by Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph with absolute ruthlessness. Today’s trade union members are much weaker, but not because their causes are any less just or their commitment to trade union organisation any weaker, but because of the anti-union laws enacted by a Conservative Party whose vested interest was big business and the wealthy.

Surely it will be the equivalent of a Shakespearean tragedy that, if David Cameron and his Conservative Party were to win the 2010 General Election, Margaret Thatcher, Keith Joseph and the late Nicholas Ridley will have achieved the unimaginable task of having handed their brutal anti-union attacks of the 1980’s virtually intact directly to another Conservative Government after 13 years of an intervening Labour Government.

The task is clear for committed trade unionists and Labour Party socialists. However long it takes, we must fight for trade union Freedom in Britain and never give up.

With trade union Freedom, we can negotiate union membership agreements, where the workforce are required through an Agreement to join the recognised union/s (or pay an equivalent sum to charity). We can use solidarity action across employers, where the strong help the weak. We can take industrial action quickly and effectively, and decide locally how to arrange a vote on industrial action. We can decide upon our own Rule Books, who to admit or expel, how to elect our leaders, how to authorise official action.

But repeal on its own is not enough. We also need ACAS to be renewed as a major force empowered to help resolve disputes, properly funded to work with unions and employers of all sizes, with the legal obligation returned to it to promote the extension of collective bargaining. We need trade unions to be embedded in economic institutions across the UK, not merely attached to the occasional quango as an afterthought. New Social Dialogue arrangements should be enacted requiring every Local Authority in the land to set up a Social Dialogue Forum, consisting of local trade union Reps, local employers, the local authority, local education institutions etc, to develop the economy, education and sustainability of the local area, and more. We should see the ILO Conventions on the Freedom of Association, the Right to Organise and the Right to Collective Bargaining set out in primary law.

Shop Stewards and workplace Reps must be given much greater protection from dismissal and victimisation in return for the selfless work they undertake, day in, day out. Employers should be required to enter into collective bargaining arrangements with a union that has more than a single member at the workplace. The Minimum Wage must be enforceable by trade unions acting on their members behalf. Employment Tribunals must be made less legalistic and more informal in their proceedings, with re-instatement the very clear goal if unfair dismissal is proved.

We need a new start in the battle for trade union Freedom. With a twin track approach. On the one hand, the full and total repeal of Britain’s anti-union laws, and on the other, the establishment of arrangements designed to reduce the need for disputes and industrial action, along with substantial new opportunities for employers and unions to work together for the benefit of all, with Shop Stewards finally recognised for their important work.

Trade Unions are a crucial health check for any decent society. In Hitler’s Germany, trade unions were targeted at a very early stage. Across the world, rotten regimes attack trade unionists and trade unions. Britain could lead the world in tolerance and fairness by demonstrating its full acceptance of trade union freedom. We owe that freedom to those who follow us. But more than anything, we have to organise to win our freedom!