See the attached statement doing the rounds within trade union leaderships at present as part of the formulation of a new grouping within the TUC to force a change of direction. Comments welcome:
"The trade union movement in the UK is facing up to the effects of a prolonged slump in membership which began in the early 80’s and has continued since. Many factors outside of our control have contributed to this decline: not least the hostile legal and civic culture of the Thatcher years and the long term decline of manufacturing jobs. But this is not the whole story.
Much of the reasons for our decline lie at our own door. What must not be ignored is the weakness of our responses to these challenges and how this compounded the problems we faced. The attitude of retreat became deeply ingrained as the “dented shield” policy of the 80’s took us well into the 90’s. The systematic shift of power to paid officials and away from workplace Reps during the same period has had a long term effect and created a dependency of many members on their officer in the place of their Rep.
But more than this, our structures and approach to organising workers failed to keep pace with a rapidly changing economy and also contributed to our problems. The lasting effects of rigid spheres of influence agreements policed by the TUC and the state meant that even recently, too often workers were left unorganised while union officials discussed who should approach them. Long term damage was also done to workers’attitudes to unions by the corruption and bullying inherent in many closed shop agreements.
We clung too long to these mechanisms. Long after the post war economic and social consensus broke down in the face of the birth pains of globalised capitalism in the late 70’s. We clung on to them in our cultures and structures long after the world of work for which they may once have been relevant disappeared forever. Concepts such as having a trade or working for the same employer for 40 years became alien in the workplace from the early 80’s. Our desire to recreate this world too often made us alien in the workplace too.
But since much of the causes of our decline are down to us – the future is in our own hands. If we can create a decline in members by our failure to act, it follows we can create a growth in members by a new desire to act. Blaming globalisation and right wing governments for our problems is the preserve of the lazy, the complacent and the beaten.
We are not beaten.
Trade unions are the original direct action campaigns. We need to see ourselves once more as part of the global campaign for economic and social justice, promoting self organisation and solidarity to workers as the best solution to their problems at work.
Paid officials should train, educate and lead our members to do as much as possible themselves: and then let them get on with it. Not so union officers can have a quiet life. But as this is the most effective, democratic and accountable approach to getting results in each workplace.
Our structures and approach to existing and potential members should be utterly flexible, fitting oursleves around working people instead of expecting workers to fit in or go.
We need to take positive steps to identify and bring on new talent in each workplace, in the committees of the union and in the Officer Corps – making sure that postholders take positive steps to ensure their succession and developing activists to become equipped to challenge. In particular we urgently need more representative structures for our fast changing membership profile.
Defensive attitudes need to be brought to an end. Lets have the confidence to celebrate our structures and accept the messiness democrasy brings. And lets ensure that we become accountable to our potential members in each workplace as well as our existing members.
We need a systematic strategy to ensure that in each and every workplace the union stands for something, has credible strategies for improvement, and is in regular contact with potential and existing members. From these principles strong workplace organisation can grow and flourish.
Weve tried everything else by now. We tried to hang onto a lost world of Bridlington and the closed shop agreements. We tried to face down global capitalism by fighting every lost manufacturing job but not organising new industries. We’ve tried putting our destiny in the hands of the financial services industry in the hope workers will buy our products rather than those of the Prudential. We’ve tried to individualise union work by focussing on Tribunals, lifelong learning the law and personal representation. We’ve tried putting our future in the hands of the state by vesting our hopes in a Labour Government to solve our problems. We’ve even tried putting our fate in the hands of the employers by tugging our forelock and asking for partnership agreements or a return to the closed shop.
None have reversed the decline. Re-branding failed policies like the closed shop and selling them to us as new, as some propose, merely demonstrates the vacuum of analysis and ideas which lies at the heart of our leadership. Because the solutions to our crisis don’t lie in the industrial world of the 70’s, or in encouraging individualism over collective action. The answer cannot be found in the hands of the state or, worse, the employers.
If we don’t want to be the generation that outlives the trade union movement we need to put our energies into the sheer hard graft of talking to workers, hearing their issues, creating plans together to tackle them and supporting them to organise collective action in the workplace.
Its time to stop chasing rainbows"
"The trade union movement in the UK is facing up to the effects of a prolonged slump in membership which began in the early 80’s and has continued since. Many factors outside of our control have contributed to this decline: not least the hostile legal and civic culture of the Thatcher years and the long term decline of manufacturing jobs. But this is not the whole story.
Much of the reasons for our decline lie at our own door. What must not be ignored is the weakness of our responses to these challenges and how this compounded the problems we faced. The attitude of retreat became deeply ingrained as the “dented shield” policy of the 80’s took us well into the 90’s. The systematic shift of power to paid officials and away from workplace Reps during the same period has had a long term effect and created a dependency of many members on their officer in the place of their Rep.
But more than this, our structures and approach to organising workers failed to keep pace with a rapidly changing economy and also contributed to our problems. The lasting effects of rigid spheres of influence agreements policed by the TUC and the state meant that even recently, too often workers were left unorganised while union officials discussed who should approach them. Long term damage was also done to workers’attitudes to unions by the corruption and bullying inherent in many closed shop agreements.
We clung too long to these mechanisms. Long after the post war economic and social consensus broke down in the face of the birth pains of globalised capitalism in the late 70’s. We clung on to them in our cultures and structures long after the world of work for which they may once have been relevant disappeared forever. Concepts such as having a trade or working for the same employer for 40 years became alien in the workplace from the early 80’s. Our desire to recreate this world too often made us alien in the workplace too.
But since much of the causes of our decline are down to us – the future is in our own hands. If we can create a decline in members by our failure to act, it follows we can create a growth in members by a new desire to act. Blaming globalisation and right wing governments for our problems is the preserve of the lazy, the complacent and the beaten.
We are not beaten.
Trade unions are the original direct action campaigns. We need to see ourselves once more as part of the global campaign for economic and social justice, promoting self organisation and solidarity to workers as the best solution to their problems at work.
Paid officials should train, educate and lead our members to do as much as possible themselves: and then let them get on with it. Not so union officers can have a quiet life. But as this is the most effective, democratic and accountable approach to getting results in each workplace.
Our structures and approach to existing and potential members should be utterly flexible, fitting oursleves around working people instead of expecting workers to fit in or go.
We need to take positive steps to identify and bring on new talent in each workplace, in the committees of the union and in the Officer Corps – making sure that postholders take positive steps to ensure their succession and developing activists to become equipped to challenge. In particular we urgently need more representative structures for our fast changing membership profile.
Defensive attitudes need to be brought to an end. Lets have the confidence to celebrate our structures and accept the messiness democrasy brings. And lets ensure that we become accountable to our potential members in each workplace as well as our existing members.
We need a systematic strategy to ensure that in each and every workplace the union stands for something, has credible strategies for improvement, and is in regular contact with potential and existing members. From these principles strong workplace organisation can grow and flourish.
Weve tried everything else by now. We tried to hang onto a lost world of Bridlington and the closed shop agreements. We tried to face down global capitalism by fighting every lost manufacturing job but not organising new industries. We’ve tried putting our destiny in the hands of the financial services industry in the hope workers will buy our products rather than those of the Prudential. We’ve tried to individualise union work by focussing on Tribunals, lifelong learning the law and personal representation. We’ve tried putting our future in the hands of the state by vesting our hopes in a Labour Government to solve our problems. We’ve even tried putting our fate in the hands of the employers by tugging our forelock and asking for partnership agreements or a return to the closed shop.
None have reversed the decline. Re-branding failed policies like the closed shop and selling them to us as new, as some propose, merely demonstrates the vacuum of analysis and ideas which lies at the heart of our leadership. Because the solutions to our crisis don’t lie in the industrial world of the 70’s, or in encouraging individualism over collective action. The answer cannot be found in the hands of the state or, worse, the employers.
If we don’t want to be the generation that outlives the trade union movement we need to put our energies into the sheer hard graft of talking to workers, hearing their issues, creating plans together to tackle them and supporting them to organise collective action in the workplace.
Its time to stop chasing rainbows"
