RIGHT TO WORK CONFERENCE – 30 January, Manchester – report back
Several weeks ago Mark sent out leaflets about the Right to Work conference on 30 January and I went to it.
The conference was an extension of the post worker support groups which sprang up during our own industrial action and which were backed by CWU HQ and listed on the CWU website.
Whilst we were taking our industrial action the bin men were out in Leeds; the firemen, rail workers and tube workers were getting ready for industrial action; as were BA workers, Superdrug workers and many others. Fujitsu employees were taking action and still are.
I made as many notes as I could. I know that I will have missed things but I think I have captured the overall theme of the conference.
Background
The Right to Work conference was about bringing together all workers who are fighting pay freezes, pay cuts and job losses and how we organise ourselves and work together to fight these attacks. This means people from different industries coming together; it means the employed and the unemployed coming together; students and pensioners; all the different left wing groups setting aside their differences and organising and fighting together the current attacks and the more vicious attacks that we know will come, regardless of who is in power.
Many people have already lost their jobs and their homes. It has now been announced that Britain is in fact heading for a double dip recession, so rather than coming out of the recession we are still in it and worse is yet to come.
The Conference
The conference was held in Central Hall, Manchester. All of the 1000 seats were occupied and people spilled into the aisles, the staircases, and the street. People also sat on the stage behind the speakers.
Speakers
Fujitsu employees, who are taking part in the first national strike in the IT sector, spoke first. They have picket lines in Warrington, Manchester, Birmingham, London and Belfast and they believe that the fight back over pay, jobs and pensions is worth it. 4,000 workers are affected by the company's plan to close the main final salary pension scheme. Fujitsu's plans include forcing through changes by dismissing employees and offering them employment on new contracts which involves different pension arrangements. Fujitsu imposed a pay freeze on staff in 2009 and the union is fighting plans to cut 1,200 jobs. Fujitsu paid out £150m to shareholders last year and £1.6m to two directors as compensation for loss of office.
The next speaker spoke of the increase in working class suicides which parallels the trajectory of the recession from 2008 onwards. (My personal thoughts were of the recent spate of mothers/fathers who have killed themselves and their children: I have never heard of so many instances within such a short space of time.)
Stress was cited as the main health issue affecting workers today; with jobs, pensions and pay being attacked across all workers.
Tony Kearns
Tony was the next speaker and he was brilliant. He noted the lack of usual suspects and spoke of the growing awareness, within the working class, about how much we are being expected to pay for the recession compared to the corporate elite such as Archie Norman, Adam Crozier, and Alan Leighton who operate their own ‘old boys network.' Tony's speech was important because it linked the recession and the attacks on workers pay, jobs and pensions with global warming and third world poverty – all caused by big business and corporate greed.
Tony emphasised the need for pensioners, trade unions, Stop the War, students, and the unemployed to fight and support each others causes, side by side.
Tony also emphasised the vicious and massive attacks that the working class is yet to face and we have to be prepared to fight - together.
Tony stressed the need for green jobs; jobs that are needed, such as building green homes for people to live in and providing green energy.
Vestas Workers
You will remember these workers being in the news when they took over the wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight. 450 workers lost their jobs and many still can't find work. The speaker (Mark Smith) described how they have families and mortgages to pay but they didn't regret taking over the plant and publicising to the world what was happening. The Vestas workers cannot understand why, when the British government is supposed to be looking for green energy and creating jobs, they did not take over the factory and keep up production. The Vestas workers cannot understand why there is no market for wind turbines in Britain.
Vestas is against trade unions, which is why it put its factory on the Isle of Wight, but it was brilliant to hear this person say that, having started out as a non-unionised workforce, all are now members of a trade union and they understand the need for it. The speaker said that they did everything that the employer asked of them: they worked harder; they worked longer; they took pay cuts.
Vestas is now building a new factory, ¾ of a mile down the road, with government funding, but these ex employees are unlikely to be taken on. This speaker's final words were, “The only way things will change is if people start standing together and standing up for one another.”
Care Workers were represented by a speaker from Glasgow. They are fighting cuts which are being forced through. Not only are these cuts directly affecting their pay and pensions, but cuts to jobs and resources are impacting on the level of care they can provide to those who need it.
Education
Kevin Courtney, a teacher, spoke of the education budget being cut by a third. Again we heard of attacks on pay, pensions and jobs and all this leading to bigger classes and lower education standards for working class children. This speaker also referred to the BNP and how they can, and do, organise out of what is happening; stressing also the need for us to stand together and not allow any group to be scape -goated.
Stop the War was represented by Nahellah Ashraf from Manchester. Nahrellah spoke of the hypocrisy of Tony Blair and how our money has been used to invade Iraq and Afghanistan and given to banks and private businesses.
R.M.T
. A branch secretary from South Wales spoke about the plight of the signallers who have been on strike since before Christmas. The signallers want some kind of work/life balance but management is opposed to it and are expecting employees to work long hours with the minimum of time in between shifts. The speaker was angry that the Labour government had not lifted the anti-union laws but continued to seek donations from trade unions.
Other speakers included Sally Hunt (UCU) Pete Murray (NUJ NEC) Paul Brandon (Unite bus worker) Estelle Cooch (LSE student) Clara Osagiede (RMT Cleaners' Rep) and speaker from Tower Hamlets College (UCU) Brighton bins dispute and Superdrug.
13:00 – 14:30 Workshops The speakers were followed by everyone splitting off into eleven work-shops. These covered:-
• How can we stop the jobs massacre? Speaker: Jerry Hicks – Unite
• After BA, defying the anti trade union laws. Speakers: Linda Bartle (former Visteon occupier) and Charlie Kimber – SWP
• Organising the unemployed. Speaker: Alec McFadden - North West TUC. (Unfortunately, Alec didn't turn up but he was replaced at the last minute by someone from Manchester who works with the unemployed. This person spoke excellently about how they endeavour to link the unemployed with trade union activists and involve them in various campaigns. In Manchester, meetings have been held with union reps about educating those in work not to disrespect the unemployed. Many unemployed are demoralised, but being disrespected by people in work on top of that is just too much for them. Working together with traded unionists has helped to make the unemployed feel useful while they are out of work.)
• Don't let them rob our pensions. Speakers: Jackie Cook – Fujitsu Manchester and National Pensioners Convention.
• After Copenhagen, the fight against climate change. Speakers: Jonathon Neale – Campaign Against Climate Change and Ian Terry (Vestas occupier)
• Jobs not Bombs. Speakers: Nahella Ashraf – Greater Manchester Stop the War Coalition and Sue Glenton (mother of Joe Glenton, the soldier who faced a court martial and up to 10 years in jail for refusing to fight in Afghanistan - Joe had all the charges dropped against him because of the huge support he had).
• The lost generation? Students and young workers fighting back. Speakers: a Glasgow call centre worker and Jamil Keating (Manchester school student)
• Against racism and the scapegoating of migrant workers. Speakers: Unite against Fascism and The London Cleaners Campaign
• How can workers get a real political voice? Speakers: Labour Representation Committee and Michael Lavalette – Independent Socialist Councillor
• The welfare reform agenda, fighting for our rights. Speaker: John Bradley – Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre
• Cuts in education. Speakers: Sean Vernell – UCU NEC and Simon Englert – Sussex University
I went to the workshop given by Gerry Hicks, i.e. ‘How can we stop the jobs massacre?' Gerry is standing for election as general secretary of UNITE. Unfortunately, Gerry seemed more interested in electioneering and telling people what he would do if elected, rather than discussing how we organise ourselves to fight back. Many of the people at the workshop were UNITE members and appeared to support Gerry.
There were various contributions from the floor. Someone from the London underground described what they had done and how they had organised their industrial action. A building worker spoke of the black lists that construction companies have and how businesses work together to keep activists off building sites; he went on to talk of the many deaths every year in the construction industry and said that we need to organise the ordinary workers. A Lloyds bank worker spoke of the unpaid overtime they are forced to work; their pay has gone down and they are facing 20,000 job losses. Someone else spoke about us all standing up against the anti-union laws.
Several others spoke in support of Gerry Hicks. I said that we should be organising with the ordinary union members to decide how we fight for ourselves if our union leaders let us down by not representing us in the way that we want them to; and that it takes only one person to speak up at a meeting and he / she would find that others agree with them.
In his wind up talk, Gerry said that UNITE had supported CWU picket lines. I waited for him to finish before attempting to come in but the chair didn't seem to know what to do when I indicated and people started leaving the room. Two women in front of me asked what I was going to say, so I told them about the CMA doing our work and crossing picket lines. The women were from London and they responded with,
“Yeah, the CMA we always tell them what we think of them when we see them!” However, I still wish I'd been able to come back on what Gerry Hicks had said.
In fairness to Gerry, he must be aware of the unrest amongst the working class and the volatile situation that is simmering, which is why, I believe, he chose to speak at this conference. He is patently unhappy with the way things have been done up to now anyway.
At the end of the workshops everyone congregated in Central Hall again where we heard from Dot Gibson -National Pensioners Convention, Dave Chapple – National Shop Stewards Network Chair, Richard McEwan – Tower Hamlets College UCU, Lydia Besong – Anti Deportation Campaign, Dietmar Meister – Vienna university (Dietmar spoke about the cuts being imposed on education in Vienna but he could easily have been talking about Britain).
This last session included the election of a 25 strong steering committee; due to the large number of people attending the conference, it was impossible to count the votes and announce the successful candidates before the end of the conference.
Policy Statement This was on every seat before the start of conference.
1) Conference Notes:
• Unemployment is set to rise throughout 2010 according to even the most optimistic economic forecasts. Working people pay the costs of a crisis they did not cause while bankers enjoy bailouts and bonuses.
• Joblessness blights peoples' lives but it adversely hits young people – one million 16-24 year olds are out of work (in the same age group the figure for Afro-Caribbeans is 48%). Ethnic minorities and male workers over 55 are adversely hit joblessness.
• Whoever wins this spring's election the new government is committed to austerity measures and cuts to reduce public spending, with shadow chancellor George Osborne promising cuts immediately if elected. Such cuts will hit working people hardest and increase unemployment.
• The fear of unemployment affects those in work with employers using it to enforce pay freezes and cuts, attacks on pensions rights, forcing employers to work unpaid overtime, casualisation, a drive to a two tier workforce and the erosion of rights at work. The number of part time workers has increased by one million in the last 12 months to 6.6 million, while official figures show that between August and October last year 75,000 more people of pensionable age were still working.
• Higher education is threatened with up to £2.5 billion cuts (making up 33% of all HE funding) plus £420million cuts in adult education. With more cuts in the pipeline, whoever wins the election, and with universities proposing to increase fees, students from working class backgrounds will increasingly be excluded from getting a university education.
• Since the onset of this recession we have seen working people resist job losses and these attacks both globally and here in Britain. We applaud workers who occupied at Waterford Glass, Prisme, Visteon and Vestas, and strikers like those at Tower Hamlets College, Superdrug, Leeds and Brighton bins, those currently taking action at Fujitsu and students and lecturers fighting cuts in higher and further education.
2) Conference believes:
• We urgently need to build resistance to unemployment, cuts and austerity among unemployed and employed workers, students and pensioners and all those who depend on the welfare state.
• The Right to Work campaign has already established itself as an effective campaigning body, rooted in the aforementioned struggles, with its successful conference last June and the demonstration outside the Labour party conference in Brighton.
• Right to Work supporters have established themselves at a local level, urging resistance to closures such as Johnny Walker in Kilmarnock, Corus steel in Redcar and Bosch in Cardiff, organising a demonstration outside a Royal Mail scab centre in Dartford during last autumn's postal dispute and occupying the Scottish CBI HQ in Glasgow in opposition to their call for public sector cuts.
• At this conference we are in a position to launch a national Right to Work Campaign with an elected nationwide Steering Committee and local organisation.
• This campaign can launch its own initiatives against unemployment, cuts and austerity and help initiate wider campaigns and support ongoing battles and campaigns.
• We need to fight for a workers' solution to the capitalist crisis under the slogan ‘We won't pay for the bosses' crisis!'. We say: nationalise the banks and businesses that are making redundancies with no compensation and run them under democratic control for the need of the many not the greed of the few; share out the work; for a 35 hour maximum week with no loss of pay; jobs not bombs; cut military spending and end Britain's wars and occupations to fund welfare, health and education; increase pensions and benefits to provide a decent living for all; end poverty; raise the minimum wage to the European decency threshold, currently £9 an hour; tax big business and the rich to fund public service jobs, build schools, hospitals, homes and green transport systems and energy production – jobs for all; in addition we endorse the Peoples' Charter.
• We need to work with other organisations to co-ordinate effective resistance to the bosses and the government. In particular, while retaining our independence, we should seek to unite in action with the groups that have backed and sponsored this conference – the National Shop Stewards Network, the Labour Representation Committee, the National Pensioners Convention and the Stop the War Coalition. We should also publicise their campaigns
3) Conference agrees:
• To unite the different struggles into a massive counter attack against the bosses and the government.
• To urgently publicise and build solidarity for all workers in struggle, particularly those currently taking strike action at Fujitsu and those balloting for strike action such as BA cabin crew.
• We support all those taking action in defence of working people, whether officially or unofficially. We will act with union officials when they represent and defend their members' interests but are prepared to act independently when they do not. Our aim is to help bring into existence rank and file organisation.
• To support, build and publicise the demonstration called by Unite and GMB against the job cuts at Corus steel on 13 February.
• To support and build the 10 April march and rally in Central London called by the National Pensioners' Convention, trade unions and other organisations under the slogan ‘Defending the Welfare State and Public Services' together with other initiatives like the protest outside the Tory spring conference initiated by Right to Work supporters in Brighton.
• To fight, locally and nationally, against every job loss and every closure and to urge and publicise occupations, all out strikes, unofficial action and other effective forms of action as the way to fight for the right to work, drawing on the experiences of workers at Visteon, Vestas and elsewhere. Accordingly, we applaud the decision of the PCS to ballot for national strike action against job losses and urge all Unite cabin crew to vote for strike action in the current ballot.
• To help co-ordinate and develop the growing numbers of colleges where students and lecturers are resisting job losses, course cuts and other attacks on the right to education.
• To ensure that unemployment and resistance to cuts and austerity is a central part of the general election, with protests wherever Gordon Brown, David Cameron and other front benchers appear.
• To initiate a demonstration outside the autumn conference of whichever party wins the forthcoming general election – with the Tories meeting in Birmingham and Labour in Manchester.
• To join and expand the fight against climate change and to join the growing campaign for the creation of one million climate jobs to combat climate change.
• To support the Stop the War Coalition and education and students' unions in resisting the attempts by the military to exploit rising unemployment by encouraging military recruitment in schools, colleges and generally among jobless young people.
• To support the fight by migrant workers for a living wage, union organisation and rights at work and to vigorously oppose those like the Nazi BNP who want to blame migrant workers for unemployment and low wages rather than successive governments, the bosses and the bankers. We oppose racist immigration controls and Gordon Brown's slogan of “British Jobs for British Workers” and reject the scapegoating of anyone on the basis of gender, race, sexuality, disability or immigration status.
• In the wake of a judge banning a strike after an overwhelming vote for action among BA cabin crew we demand the repeal of all anti-union laws and will back all those campaigning to that end.
4) Conference concludes:
• Accordingly, we agree to widen support, sponsorship and membership of the Right to Work campaign at national and local level.
• To encourage the setting up of local Right to Work groups. These can bring together networks of supporters to strengthen Right to Work's national campaign and launch their own solidarity activities and campaigning initiatives. Such organisations should be centred on rank and file workers but should also seek to win official trade union support. They must be open on an equal basis to trade unionists, the unemployed, unorganised workers, students and pensioners.
The following amendments were made to the above statement by those attending the conference:-
• To pledge support for public health services
• To pledge support for disabled people and to fight cutbacks
• To fight for the scrapping of Trident
• To fight against any worsening of the gender pay gap and pay for part time workers – women would bear the brunt of these cuts.
• Defend the rights of asylum seekers
• Support equal rights to support and benefits
• Defy anti-union laws where necessary
• Support rank and file control of disputes
• Support the right to work in Haiti – show solidarity with workers in Haiti and solidarity with trade unions there, and also other trade unions across the globe.
I noted the above amendments as they were read out; I believe I have captured the basic principle behind each one.
The Right to Work conference was sponsored by:-
Trades Councils
Manchester, Wakefield, Cambridge, Chesterfield, Plymouth, Nottingham, Salford, Dudley, Waltham, Forest, Camden, Brent, Islington
CWU
South Central No 1
Eastern No 4
North/North West London
FBU
London region
GMB
Holborn, S38 GMB Sheffiled
NAPO
Sheffield
NUJ
South Yorkshire, Central London
NUS
Essex University, LSE Students Union, Goldsmiths, SOAS
NUT
National, Lambeth, Waltham Forest, Sheffield, Wakefield, Cambridgeshire Committee, Bolton, South Gloucestershire, Lewisham
PCS
MOJ Greater Manchester, DWP North London, Defra London, Portsdown Vectis, Revenue and Customs, Isle of Wight, South Birmingham, Department of Work and Pensions, HMRC East Midlands, Central London Valuation
RMT
Camden No 3 RMT
UCU
National, North West Region, Yorkshire and Humberside Region, London Region, Scottish Region, Manchester Metropolitan University, Lambeth College (Brixton Hill Sub), Dundee University, University College London, Newcastle University, Leeds University, Stirling University, City and Islington College (Camden Road), Portsmouth University, Goldsmiths University
UNISON
Twelve Unison Branches
UNITE
Scottish Housing Branch, TGWU 1/1120 Car Collection and Delivery, Leicester 0168M, Hillingdon Services, Fujitsu Manchester Reps' Committee, Wembley and Hendon 0640, Hotel and Catering Branch 1/647, Sheffield Voluntary Sector, Amicus Leeds 9507, Edinburgh No 1, Fujitsu UK Combine Committee, Tyneside Engineering, Chesterfield CMA, Burnley (Amicus Section) 0176, Refugee and Migrant Justice Reps Committee.
Other Organisations
National Shop Stewards Network, Labour Representation Committee, Stop the War Coalition, Unite Against Fascism, Manchester Green Party, Camden Green Party, Campaign Against Climate Change TU Group, Unemployed Workers Union, Sheffield Pensioners Action Group, Greater Manchester Unite Against Fascism, Another Education is Possible, Camden Keep Our NHS Public, Refugees Workers Cultural Centre Hackney
My Own Views
It's important to remember that if it were a Tory government making the massive attacks we have already suffered in terms of peoples' living standards, pay, pensions and job cuts then we would have had a mass rebellion by now; and trade unions would have been at the forefront in that rebellion.
We cannot continue to put up with these savage attacks on the basis that it would be worse under the Tories. If we do not fight back then this Labour government will continue to attack us: and worse is yet to come regardless of who is elected.
The current argument, that we need a Labour government to put right the CWU pension deficit -because the Tories won't - is a superficial argument.
The issue is that the government has known about the pension deficit since before they were elected in1997. They have had over 12 years in power and done nothing. Are they likely to put it right over the next couple of months in the run-up to the election? I don't think so - not unless we massively increase the pressure on them.
What happens if Labour gets elected and they still refuse to do anything about the pension situation? Are we going to accept it on the basis that it would have been worse under the Tories?
We actually need to be building our action and our links to other workers now.
I believe that CWU branches should be getting involved and sponsoring Right to Work. Our industry is facing massive job cuts – all our members have a right to work and a right to a roof over their heads.
Local Right to Work groups are springing up. The first meeting of the Liverpool group will be on
Thursday, 25 February 7pm at the Friends Meeting House, School Lane, L1 3BT
This is the first step in building a network of people who can organise and link up with others to
protect jobs and services on Merseyside.
