By Frank Noakes
BLACKPOOL — Tory Sir Robert Peel wrote in the 1820s: "Men (sic) who ... have no property except their manual skill and strength, ought to be allowed to confer together, if they think fit, for the purpose of determining at what rate they will sell their property". This notion is increasingly under attack in Tory Britain in the 1990s.
Under a canopy of gloom, the Trade Union Congress met here from September 7 to 11. Fortunately, nobody was holding their breath in expectation of any radical plan to extricate the movement from its predicament.
On the eve of congress, TUC general secretary "Snorin'" Norman Willis gave a taste of things to come: "The country is in deep economic trouble, and we all need to work more closely together to help pull us through. Union members and the public as a whole appear to share our views on the closer cooperation between management and unions. This will be the message from our congress." And it was.
This was perhaps best symbolised by the invitation to the Confederation of British Industry director-general, Howard Davies, to address the congress — the first time in the TUC's history that such an invitation had been issued.
A small number of delegates walked out in protest. The CBI chief, one in three of whose members are illegally underpaying their staff and who receives £120,000 a year, told delegates that civil servants must have their pay frozen.
Transport and General Workers Union leader Bill Morris said afterwards that any member of the TUC's general council could have written 80% of Davies speech. The sad truth is that some on the general council supported 100% of what he said.
"Social partnership" is the aim proclaimed from on high, a desperate desire to be liked and accepted. Martin Jacques, editor of the late and unlamented magazine Marxism Today, encapsulated this: "I hate living in the ghetto. I like getting on with everyone. I like mixing with the right because they keep you on your toes and you learn things."
So pleased to have gained recognition of its existence from the employers, the TUC leadership now plans to issue an invitation for the Tory employment secretary, Gillian Shephard, who will introduce more anti-union laws later this year, to
attend next year's congress in Brighton.
The union movement here is now so intimidated by anti-union legislation that most large unions won't meet in executive without a lawyer present; the threat of legal action is ever present, backed up with severe financial penalties. Legislation outlaws solidarity actions with other workers and restricts the ability of a union to defend its own membership.
This has steadily weakened the movement to the point where strike action is at the lowest level for over 100 years. Even worse, in the past year more than 800,000 workers went to the Citizens Advice Bureau for help with industrial matters rather than approach a union. Unemployment is not on the political agenda at all, notwithstanding the congress's slogan of "Working for full employment". More than 4 million workers have abandoned unions since 1979.
Therefore, when Arthur Scargill, leader of the National Union of Mineworkers, moved a demand for the total repeal of the anti- union laws, you'd think the TUC would have adopted it by acclamation. Not so. It was defeated in favour of a wordy composite motion that tacitly accepts the laws.
Engineering union leader Bill Jordan congratulated the congress for not backtracking on "our commitment to conduct our business in a lawful manner whether in dispute or taking solidarity action". Scargill advocated the breaking of unjust laws, as the founders of the movement had; millionaire shop owners regularly broke the Sunday trading laws, he reminded delegates.
The weather was bleak in the north-west seaside town of Blackpool, but the congress was bleaker. The chill winds included:
l Confirming a pro-Maastricht Treaty stand.
l Readmitting the renegade, strikebreaking electricians' union, with no guarantees about its future behaviour.
l Scaling back the TUC's own activities; in particular moving away from speaking out on social issues.
A 2000-strong rally, demanding that the TUC stop talking and fight back, wound through Blackpool on September 9 to the Winter Gardens, where the congress had broken for lunch. During the course of the week there were a number of well-attended fringe meetings, many dealing with how to turn the Tory tide.
There has been a recent tradition for the TUC to organise a protest rally outside the Conservative Party conference. This year, in line with the new thinking, the TUC decided to lobby Tory MPs instead.