November 30th public sector strikes – Biggest movement since 1926

On November 30^th 2011,
three million public sector workers will strike over the
government’s attacks on their pensions. This coordinated strike action
represents the biggest strike movement since the general strike in 1926.
To all intents and purposes it will be a 24-hour public sector general
strike.  Unison have already announced a large majority vote for action.

As
we move closer to the mass strike, the government have become
increasingly restless at the consequences. They are worried that this
could mean a new Winter of Discontent as they struggle to implement
their austerity measures. They realise this will be no ordinary strike,
which will involve millions of radicalised and angry workers. 

The Coalition have therefore came forward with a “compromise” deal on
pensions, which does not fundamentally change the original package. Under
pressure from below, the trade union leaders (despite a willingness to
compromise) have been forced to reject the offer and stick to the proposed
strike.(see pensions offer article here)

Of course, the bosses were as belligerent as ever. The Institute of
Directors warned that “the public sector unions cannot be allowed to
hold a gun to the government’s head in this way.”  

So the lines are drawn

The same world capitalist crisis that is affecting the Eurozone and
particularly Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain is having huge
repercussion not only internationally but in Britain as well. Every part
of the UK will be affected, including the North of Ireland, where on
October 5^th UNISON called a huge education and health service strike. 

In the past, cinema advertisements for the next big release would
shout in bold letters “Coming soon to a cinema near you!” This strike
will be coming to a school, college, university, hospital, Job Centre,
library, swimming pool, art gallery, depot, clinic and civic centre near
you. It will affect every city, every town and even rural villages. The
impact of the dispute on the public and on the government will be
dramatic. There will be hundreds if not thousands of picket lines up and
down the country and demonstrations and rallies in all major towns and
cities. 

The list of unions taking action is long and even includes a number
of organisations not affiliated to the TUC: AEP (Association of
Educational Psychologists) and ASPECT(The Association of Professionals
in Education and Children’s Trusts) are “balloting members on options
for dignified and lawful protest action on 30 November to stand up for
fair pensions”. ATL’s 30 June ballot mandate is still valid). BDA TU
(The British Dietetic Association Trade Union) is conducting a postal
consultative ballot. The British Medical Association (BMA) which is not
affiliated to the TUC is supporting the day through campaigning and
lobbying activities. The BMA Council has said a ballot of its members on
industrial action remains a firm option for a later date if the
government continues to refuse to engage in genuine negotiations on the
future of the NHS scheme. The Ballot of the Chartered Society of
Physiotherapists(CSP) is to be completed by 14^th November. 

FDA (formerly the First Division Association) is balloting for
action. The GMB ballot ends on the16th November. The National
Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) ballot will close on Wednesday 9
November. If its members vote yes, it will be the first time in the
union’s 114-year history that its members will have chosen to strike.
The ballot of Probation Officers (NAPO) and CAFCASS workers ends on
November 17^th. NASUWT (National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers)Balloting ends on 17^th November. The NUT (National Union of Teachers) ballot for June 30^th
is still valid. The PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) ballot
is also valid and there will be a one month overtime ban after November
30^th.POA (Prison Officers Association) are balloting for what
will be an illegal strike, as prison officers are banned from
striking.Prospect’s ballot finishes on November 14^th. (Prospect represents engineers, managers, scientists and other specialists in both the public and private sectors).

Public sector workers vote to strike on November 30thThe
RCN (Royal College of Nurses)which is not affiliated to the TUC have
said that industrial action is inevitable, and although they are not
balloting for action on 30^th they have stated that they are
ready to ballot when needed. The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists
(SCP) ballot closes on 14^th November. The Society of Radiographers (SOR) ballot closes on 14th November. The UCU (University and College Union) ballot for the 30^thJune
is still valid. Unison (public service union) has also balloted.Unite
(a general union, including among others engineering workers) too are
also balloting.Also EIS (Educational Institute of Scotland), NIPSA
(Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance and UCAC (Welsh Teachers
Union).

Of the major public sector unions, only the Fire Brigades Union is not balloting for action on the 30^th November. 

Some of the unions have “live” ballots; in other words they already
have a mandate for strike action from the June 30th action. It is quite
likely that all the current ballots will deliver big majorities in
favour of strike action. Inside UNISON the campaign for a yes vote has
been waged on a much higher level than anything in the recent past. The
stakes are high and the leadership has mobilised for the maximum vote.
The result of the UNISON ballot that has just recently come out was a
massive 245,358 to 70,253, more than 3 to 1 in favour of strike action.
Among the workers in healthcare the percentage voting yes was even
higher, at 82%.

To put the day into context of “official figures” there were
6,918,000 strike days lost in the UK in the ten years between 2000 and
2009. These involved 4,021,000 workers. “Official figures” will
inevitably underestimate the true figures and many disputes involve
“industrial action short of strike action”. But if as expected some 3
million workers are involved in the action it will be equivalent to 75%
of the total number of workers who were involved in strike action
between 2000 and 2009. Also, taken together with the June 30^th
strike by the UCU, PCS and the teachers, the two major Public Sector
strike days in 2011 will have resulted in a figure for days lost which
is equivalent to over 50% of the total number of strike days lost across
the whole of the British Economy between 2000 and 2009 and more strike
days are likely to take place in the future. At the end of this article
are the “Official Strike Figures” for the years 2000 to 2009 and the
details for the strikes on June 30^th and November 30^th
for comparison. Marx made the point that sometimes the events of twenty
years can seem like a day, whereas there can be days into which 20
years are compressed:

"How soon the English workers will throw off what seems to be a
bourgeois contagion remains to be seen. So far as the main theses in
your book [Condition of the Working Class in England] are concerned, by
the by, they have been corroborated down to the very last detail by
developments subsequent to 1844. For I have again been comparing the
book with the notes I made on the ensuing period. Only your small-minded
German philistine who measures world history by the ell and by what he
happens to think are ‘interesting news items’, could regard 20 years as
more than a day where major developments of this kind are concerned,
though these may be again succeeded by days into which 20 years are
compressed." (Marx to Engels, 9th April 1863)

The strike figures tell their own story, but much more important than
that are the political repercussions. The strike represents a sharp
turn in the battle against austerity. The reason is obvious. Instead of
local disputes with councils and battles over job losses and budget cuts
in the Civil Service or in individual schools and hospitals, this
dispute is a struggle with the national government about one thing that
unites all public sector workers. Also, by virtue of the way that the
various schemes are organised, the campaign to defend pensions has to be
waged at a national level. This in and of itself raises the stakes in
this battle. 

The crisis in the public sector has generated huge opposition from
workers. At the same time it has also meant enormous pressure from below
on the active layers in the movement and indirectly on the leadership.
What does that really mean though? In the first place it means that
branch officers, shop stewards and active trade unionists are dealing
with more and more concerns, questions and worries from the members.
Managers are presenting lists of cuts or so-called “efficiencies.” There
are countless restructures, reviews and redeployments. Human resources
departments are turning the screws on sickness, and raising “capability”
and disciplinary issues. The net effect has been a sharp change in the
outlook of the most active layers. 

But there is also another side to the equation. The Tories and Lib
Dems sought to deal out “shock and awe” in the public sector by “Front
Loading” the cuts. Unlike the Thatcher government, Cameron and Osborne
have moved quickly to impose big cuts. They have been forced to do so by
the global capitalist crisis; however the Tories and Lib Dems will also
be aware of the strength of the public sector trade unions and the
battles that have taken place internationally. But they are also,
perhaps most significantly, aware of the role of the leadership of the
unions. During the New Labour Government UNISON’s leaders in particular
had taken great pains to “hold the line”, resting on “partnership” with
the government while policing left activists who argued for opposition
to so-called reforms in the public sector. However, the Tories have
underestimated the response from members and the pressure from below.

Here is what our supporters in UNISON explained immediately after the
General Election in June 2010: 

“Cameron may attempt to face down the trade union leaders. They might
attempt to attack pensions, cut wages and slash conditions. Generalised
assaults require a coordinated national response by the unions. Key to
any perspective as to the way things are likely to develop will be the
attitude of the trade union leaders who will be forced to respond to the
new situation. Their response will vary. The PCS and CWU have been on
strike recently while UNISON has maintained close relations with New
Labour. The Tory threats to pensions and services are already having an
effect in the branches. There is a grim realisation that there are
choppy waters ahead. The mood is different from a couple of years ago,
when the economic crash put workers onto the back foot. The Con Dems are
a big enough threat to focus the minds of the active trade unionists.
We have no choice other than to fight back." (Unison Conference: No Cuts, No job Losses! 11/6/10)

At the time of the comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010 we commented:

“The trade union leaders have talked about a mass campaign of civil
disobedience. They have even spoken about the mass movement around the
Poll Tax which involved some 14 million people. What is key however is
not just the size of a movement, but what ideas and methods it’s armed
with. Sections of the trade union leadership, most notably in UNISON
have already indicated that their biggest concern is the threat of the
Tories provoking an all out battle with the public sector. Under these
conditions, it’s most likely that they will try and seek some sort of
compromise with the Tories. Their dilemma is however that weakness
invites aggression. Most of the struggles against the cuts will be
local. Therefore the trade union leaders have to back each and every
local struggle that breaks out.

“But at the same time, there are common issues and battles to be
fought on a national level. One key battleground has to be public sector
pensions. The press are full of lies and distortions about gilt edged
pensions. The debate over the future of public sector pensions is
already under way and the PCS have already taken strike action prior to
the election

The trade union leaders have to fight fire with fire. There has been a
lot of discussion over the last couple of years about coordinated
national action. That is precisely what’s needed to defend pensions, and
other terms and conditions, but more than that the movement needs to
build towards a one day general strike. Only a mass movement of the
working class, a rebellion against the cuts can defeat the Tories.

The immediate response of the trade union leaders, especially UNISON
was to seek agreement with the government. But this has broken down
after the Coalition refused to negotiate on what they have called “red
lines”. In other words raising contributions, lowering benefits and
getting rid of the Final Salary scheme. 

The union leaders have been forced to react to the situation and in
some cases to the pressure from other left-leaning union leaders to
present a united front. They also hugely underestimated the response
from the membership. Even when it became obvious that there were more
than 500,000 workers and their families and youth on the March 26^th
demonstration, the TUC were still saying that they were expecting
100,000 people to turn out. In fact it is likely that some 600-800,000
people were on the march. But now the issue of pensions has taken the
whole struggle against the cuts onto a higher level. From the
government’s point of view as well as the unions this is a key
battleground. 

The anger of the workers is a reflection not only about cuts to
pensions, but the austerity as a whole. Living standards are being
constantly eroded. Prices and costs are rising fast while wages are
either frozen or reduced. 

This strike is therefore about more than the pensions issue. It is a
protest about the general attacks against the working class. General
attacks require a generalised response. The 30^th November is
an important launch pad for such a struggle. A single day of action, in
and of itself, will not make the Coalition government change its mind
about pension cuts. In Greece we have had many 24 and 48 hour general
strikes, and yet the government has moved on inexorably applying
draconian cuts. However, a successful mobilisation of millions of
workers will serve one very important purpose: it will show the workers
themselves that there is the will to struggle. For years the right-wing
trade union leaders have argued that the conditions for such kind of
strike action did not exist, because people are not prepared to
struggle. That idea already started to break down in March and June.
With a huge mobilisation on November 30^th it will become even clearer that the conditions for mass struggle do indeed exist in this country. 

When the Fianna Fail and Green coalition in Ireland imposed a tax on
pensions (the pension levy) in 2009, they generated enormous opposition.
The Tories have sought to apply the same measures by more devious
means. But the principle is the same. Make the workers pay for the
crisis. The reaction of workers in Britain will be equally as militant
as that of the Irish workers. 

November 30^th builds on the March 26^th demonstration and the June 30^th
strikes which brought out 750,000 workers. But the movement is on a far
higher level. Britain has now entered a decisively new period of
heightened class struggle. New student movements are brewing and now
wider and wider layers are being drawn into activity. The scene is set
for the biggest confrontation between capital and labour in Britain for
75 years. Young workers and students can play an important role in
supporting the strikes and in publicising the issues. Many workers in
the public sector will have been on strike before. But there are no
active trade unionists in Britain who will have ever been involved in a
movement of this scale.The implications of this dispute for the movement
as a whole will be dramatic. The new generation will learn from these
events.

They will come to realise that it is not simply an industrial
dispute, but a political struggle against the Coalition and capitalism. 

Increasingly workers will draw different conclusions to the past.
Then, people held their heads down and tried to make ends meet under
capitalism. Now people will see that this is just not possible. The
question of changing society will be put back on the agenda as millions
take strike action and mobilise on the streets. 

Table Adapted from
Labour disputes in 2009 -  Economic & Labour Market Review | Vol 4 | No 6 | June 2010