Socialist Appeal - Look Who's Talking

Look Who's Talking

By Steve Jones

Tuesday, 23 September 2008

Union members will be more than a little alarmed at reports that union officials have been having secret talks with someone called Richard Balfe, who is Tory Leader Cameron’s ‘special envoy’ to the trade unions. Those who lived through the last Tory government and remember all too well their vicious attacks on trade union rights as part of their plan to destroy the union movement will be amazed, to say the least, at the fact that a) the Tories have a trade union envoy and b) that some of our leaders are prepared to talk to him.

Who is Richard Balfe? He was a minor figure in the London Labour movement who served for a time as a committee chair on the Greater London Council, and later on became an MEP. When he fell out with the party hierarchy in 2001, he jumped ship in a hump and joined the Tories – an act which went completely unnoticed by just about everybody. Now he has convinced Cameron who, being a toff would not know any better, that he has ‘the common touch’ and is able to start up a dialogue with the unions – or more to the point its paid officials. So far it appears that Ucatt and Unite have refused all contact, offered in a letter sent to all unions by the Tories. PCS initially assumed the letter was a joke and have not responded either. However, according to a report in the Guardian dated May 29th, around 20 meetings have already taken place with various officials. Balfe was also intending to ‘pay a visit’ to last month’s TUC conference in Brighton.

No doubt some will say that given the strong position of the Tories in the opinion polls, the unions should start some sort of dialogue with the people who may well be in power within a year or so. Other will think that, since the current government is so right wing, what’s the difference anyway?

However, we should be clear – having talks with the Tories is nothing short of madness. The Tories are the party of capital and big business. They hate the union movement and will be looking to take revenge for the humiliation of being out of office for so long. The fact that Cameron and co. are trying to look all nice and cuddly at present should not blind us to the fact of the behind the scenes preparation of a right wing agenda for power which they will implement once they have won any future election. What interests them at present is finding out which union leaders are weak and malleable with no intention of launching any fightback against any coming attack. Alas there are already no shortage of such individuals. You only hope that it is just naivety which has convinced some officials that they will be really listened to in these little chats with Balfe.

Rather than talking to Tories, these officials would be better off looking to get Labour to change course and start defending the interests of working people instead. This would be the best way of stopping the Tories getting back in and would, at a stroke, render Balfe redundant. Labour, armed with a socialist programme and a fighting leadership, could be more than confident of winning the next election with ease – which is not the case at present.

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