Len McCluskey, the newly elected leader of the trade union, Unite, has taken a strong step towards co-ordinated union strike action with the existing online campaigns against cuts and student protestors. In an article reminiscent of 1970s rhetoric, McCluskey wishes to draw battlelines and render the United Kingdom ungovernable. Ignore the existing laws on union activity, bring back flying pickets and mobilise the working classes.
Yet, this is not the 1970s, and most unionised activity is in the public sector. Let them go on strike and most people would not notice. After all, what does our town hall do for us these days? Not a lot! To get more bang for their buck, unions and protestors have to come out onto the streets and disrupt normal life. Most people do not like disruptions or violence. They are likely to support measures that prevent that, especially when those protesting do not have public support. Welfare is not popular.
Unite has signed up to the Coalition of Resistance campaign group which brings together unions with local anti-cuts campaigns across the country, he said, adding that the challenge was now to persuade people that there is an alternative to the cuts.
"Unless people are convinced not just that they are hurting – not hard to do – but also that there is a coherent alternative to the Cameron-Clegg class-war austerity, then getting millions into action will remain a pipe dream."
McCluskey nor Labour does not offer an alternative and the avenues for action have narrowed with the implosion of the bond market and the Eurozone. Unions have rediscovered class war rather late in the day, when their final bastion is threatened.
As the reduction in state expenditure is miserably small compared to the haircut that could be imposed in a real financial crisis, we can ask whether the union leadership is using dominance of the Labour party, weak leadership and a climate of austerity to make a power grab and regain influence lost since the 1970s. These reactionary dinosaurs would like nothing more than the power to call strikes and direct workers without the inconvenience of one man one vote.