BRITAIN: Union takes on New Labour

July 4, 2001
Issue 

It is only three weeks since Tony Blair led New Labour to a landslide victory in the British elections. But the future looks grim for the government, with members of the largest union in the country openly questioning their allegiance to the Labour party and pledging a full-blown fight against Blair's privatisation plans.

UNISON has more than 1.3 million members working in public and local government, including the schools and hospitals. It's New Labour's single largest contributor: it pays more than 1 million a year (around $2.73 million) to the Labour party and contributed 750,000 from its coffers toward the recent election fund.

At the union's national conference on June 21, attended by more than 2000 delegates, a card vote of 478,088 to 386,226 endorsed a major rethink of UNISON's long-standing political and financial support for Labour.

The members called on the UNISON national executive to conduct widespread consultation throughout union committees and the membership in order to prepare a report and recommendations on the future of political donations.

The motion noted that "despite four years of a New Labour government UNISON members continue to face cuts in jobs and conditions, that the privatisation of public services has continued apace and that hundreds of thousands of our members earn less that 5 per hour".

The secretary of the Bromley branch of UNISON, Glen Kelly, a member of the Socialist Party, reflected the sentiment of members when putting the motion.

"We've handed over 750,000 to Labour's election fund at the same time as New Labour have handed Dudley Hospital workers over to the private sector. Tories introduced PFI [Private Finance Initiative] in one hospital; New Labour has introduced it into 38. Today a New Labour council in Hackney has sent sacking notices to our members for refusing to take wage cuts. This party does not represent our interests."

UNISON officials were less enthusiastic about the motion. General secretary Dave Prentis told the Independent newspaper on June 22 that, while they were happy to conduct the review, "The vote does not change in any way whatsoever our arrangements with the Labour party or our general political campaigning work".

The UNISON conference also endorsed a series of nationally coordinated strikes and rallies against Blair's rapacious privatisation plans.

A survey conducted for UNISON showed that 80% of people believe that the government should run public services and only 27% agree that the recent election gave Blair a mandate to use private companies for public services.

Up to a third of public sector workers have indicated that they would consider leaving their jobs because there are simply not enough resources anymore.

Local government and transport minister Stephen Byers attempted to garner support for privatisation at the conference, encouraging UNISON delegates to be "part of the solution". He was jeered and heckled.

Blair responded to UNISON's threats by remarking that it did not change his resolve and offered the justification that his policy was not privatisation but "simply better service".

Nonetheless health secretary Alan Milburn has made an effort to dampen down the heat of UNISON agitation by agreeing to two pilot projects in the National Health Service, in which workers pay and conditions are protected despite being put under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI).

A further slap in the face came for Blair with the release of a report into the benefits of PFI by the Institute for Public Policy Research. The report calls for a rethink on the question of partnerships between the public and private sector.

Institute director Gavin Kelly said "government needs to be willing to rethink when and how partnership is to be used and must avoid sending signals that only the private sector has the answers".

The outcomes create some problems for the government because Blair's new treasurer, Ruth Kelly, sat on the investigation and signed off on the report.

The report offers a warning to New Labour that "there has been a tendency to spray the demand for private sector involvement across most new government initiatives without proper consideration of what different partners have to offer".

The report recommends stricter controls and employment practices for companies working in the public sector, to prevent them making money by slashing workers' pay and conditions.

Staff should not receive reduced pay and conditions when transferred to private sector areas, it says, and private contractors should not be allowed to operate two-tier systems for workers.

The report also concurs with UNISON's view that there is no evidence that PFI is value for money, because the cost of borrowing is adding huge amounts to schemes which fail to deliver real innovation.

Business is heavily behind PFI, for obvious reasons. Giant accounting firm KPMG has provided advice to the government advocating the benefits of private funding for 29 hospitals and SERCO, which already runs prisons and detention centres in Britain, is champing at the bit for greater inroads into public services.

But the path to greater privatisation is likely to be a rocky one, as UNISON is not the only union on a political and industrial collision course with Labour.

On May 19 delegates at a conference of the firefighters' union endorsed a break with Labour, against the recommendation of its executive, and agreed to divert funding to candidates who support the policies and practices of the union.

Members of the RMT rail union have demanded the union break off funding to Labour. The June 6 meeting of the communication workers' union saw a third of delegates support a motion to fund candidates opposed to Labour. The Transport and General Workers Union has an agenda item at their July conference to debate alternative ways of using their political funds.

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