IN perhaps the most successful political attack ad ever, Margaret Thatcher’s Tory party once declared: “Labour Isn’t working.”
If you turned up at any railway station yesterday you would think Britain isn’t working.
Trains were cancelled. Ticket offices shuttered. Where you would usually find busy crowds of commuters you were faced with picket lines and placards.
Our rail service had ground to a halt because the rail unions, including the militant RMT, led tens of thousands of train workers out on strike to demand giant, inflation-matching pay rises.
Touring picket lines and telly studios with gusto, RMT chief Mick Lynch says his workers deserve double-digit wage rises given the massive cost of living squeeze. Strikes will “keep going” until the bosses cave, he warned. He even threatened an (illegal) general strike.
Impressive as Mick Lynch has become as a media performer, the issue is not who wins the public relations game, but can we avoid a throwback to the past.
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A winter of discontent lies ahead. Not just for the public — but for the Labour Party, too. Sir Keir Starmer must maintain his stand against inflation-busting wage rises if he wants to keep any economic credibility.
He has ordered his MPs to stay away from picket lines. This was the right thing to do.
But reports he has secretly scrapped this policy and apologised to trade union leaders are deeply worrying if true. He has nothing to apologise for in standing up for the passenger and consumer. That is the role of the modern Labour Party.
Crucially, the Labour leadership should spell out precisely why they are not prepared to automatically back each and every industrial dispute. Sir Keir should not apologise for understanding that anyone who wants to be Prime Minister must represent the whole nation, not just a few unions, many of which, like the RMT, are not affiliated to the Labour Party and do not offer support in return.
Some on the British Left believe it is always: “Workers — right or wrong.”
But every train cancelled could be a pensioner’s hospital appointment missed, a shop worker’s commute made more hellish or a long-awaited family meet-up cancelled.
I sympathise, as most people do, with workers wanting to maintain their standard of living. Making ends meet now is daunting, and the prospect of heating the family home this winter is overwhelming for many.
But the danger is that strike action, far from hitting “the bosses”, hits the most vulnerable.
Who needs public transport most? Not the rich and powerful, who can hop in their car or a taxi. Or better still, stay home, put their feet up and log in to a few Zoom meetings with a nice warm cup of tea.
It’s those struggling who rely on public transport who are clobbered.
Other strike threats by teachers and nurses pose the same dilemma. Children and patients are not the “capitalist enemy”.
It will be poor kids living in cramped housing, without books on their shelves, who suffer most if schools are shut down again. The impact on vulnerable patients if nurses down tools does not bear thinking about. Trade unions should remember this. And so must we as the Labour Party if we hope to move into No10. Government ministers should shape up too.
It’s all very well for them to use the row to bash the unions and clip their wings with new laws, but the great British public deserve trains that run and employees who feel valued. They won’t forgive a government if it lets the conflict drag on avoidably.
I am a lifelong trade unionist and still belong to a trade union. I have seen at first hand the conflicts of the past, including the 1984 Miners’ Strike.
I was leader of Sheffield City Council when Arthur Scargill led nearly 200,000 men out on strike. His union, the NUM, was headquartered in my city.
I experienced the emotions of that unforgettable time.
But I also saw the enormous damage and heartache dealt out, as for 12 months the families in the historic South Yorkshire coalfields relied on handouts, while the trade union leadership postured on the megaphones and failed to outwit the Thatcher government.
Where is Arthur Scargill now? A very good question! Living in a millionaire penthouse flat in London’s trendy Barbican. And where are the brave miners he led out on strike?
Britain isn’t working. It’s not down to Sir Keir and Labour to solve the current outbreak of industrial disputes.
But it is crucial that they avoid being painted into a corner, allowing this Government to place the blame on anyone except themselves.
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If Keir Starmer wants to demonstrate that voters are in safe and capable hands he must face down union militancy.
In the 21st century the consumer and the worker are one and the same. We in the Labour Party must recognise this indisputable truth.
