Old loaf, he knows the koo. I’m in Amicus myself and have had the same experience. Tho I got my fees down by opting out of the political levy. Frankly, the prospect of paying cash out to Tony Blair on some vague off-chance that he will listen to the frankly not as radical as they used to be by a country mile TUC is somewhat deadening.
So good news that some unions are disaffiliating from New Labour.
But really, I’m only in a union in case my work try to shaft me (i.e. over and above the, ah, extraction of surplus thingummy which goes with the territory) – it pays to have some kind of legal protection and to put money into a fund which provides that service for others.
Most places I’ve worked haven’t been unionised, although I was instrumental in putting the wind up da management in my first job by getting people to sign up and getting the union to look over the new contracts which were being proposed etc. That only worked because it was a charity where people are supposed to be nice – lots of places get really heavy with people who try to get organised.
On a day to day level, union activity doesn’t seem to count for much unless you are a postal worker, or fireman or whatever. I assume that this is the result of (and intention behind) the fragmentation of workplaces – smaller internationalised units make it harder for mass action.
So it seems to me that discussions about whether or not trade unions are revolutionary is missing the point for most people. The criticism in the 80s was that unions merely manage workers’ discontent to ensure the smooth running of capitalism.
These days they don’t even do that, really. They just try to flog you insurance.
But people still give their bosses a hard time and stand up for each other. And its out of that sort of solidarity which the next world will grow, innit.
ed
we’ve got quite an active unison shop at work – they get in amongst negotiations about job cuts and generally try to be effective, but are undermined at every turn by management – now don’t make the mistake as i did of assuming that all those offers of cheap insurance & credit mean you’re actually a member – my membership lapsed for a few years – which i didn’t realise due to the unceasing junk mail…til i got in a dispute…
another colleague got in a dispute recently & found out that tho he paid up for the last 2 years he wasn’t a member!!!
i was advised by an SWP tutor at me college that being a grumpy colleague & general uncooperative militant i should become a shop steward … but my experience is that non-aligned ninja is more effective and intimidating to the fash of HR
2004/06/29 @ 10:06 am
John
I think it’s a fair point on being “non-aligned” in some circumstances – people might be more predisposed to listening to you if you’re not in the box marked “rabid politico”…
2004/06/29 @ 10:58 am
Merrick
I sent the Class War link out to some riends. One replied:
sadly the class war piece is very misleading – returning that form would not just stop you from giving to the labour party – it would stop you giving to any other campaign, strike fund, whatever – it is a POLITICAL fund, for use in any case deemed not in the immediate concern of the workers (like a strike in a different union, a campaign like no sweat). These very clearly need to be supported, and unions play a massive rle in supporting such campaigns. The campaigns against housing sell-offs and almo’s have been overwhelmmingly funded by unions. I could name many others.
There is a problem with the political fund in that a proportion of it goes to the labour party. In my union (TGWU) the proportion is less then ten percent – and we’re a fucking big donor! There is currently a big campaign of democratising those funds in some ways, first step targetting ‘left’ MPs for money, not the national party – far from enough, but a start. And its been a long-time coming getting that start at all. If you opt out of the political fund you have no say in where that money goes at all.
In Unison, btw, there is a seperate fund specifically for Labour, which you can opt out of seperately. Problem with doing that is then you lose your vote over that fund too, meaning it will almost definitely stay labour.
So, don’t use the class war form if you want to have a union that fights for something beyond its immediate sectional interests.
2004/07/12 @ 01:34 pm
John Eden
glad someone is paying attention 😉
In my experience huge buckets of it go to the labour party and there are always opportunities to donate money to the other causes s/he mentions – strike funds, bust funds, etc…
I think the difficulty is that I just don’t trust the people at the top of the union hierarchy to spend the money wisely, plus my union doesn’t have specified opt out bits for New Labour…
The other problem is that, even when you have campaigns sponsored by unions, there is a distinct possibility that, whilst you might agree with the cause, the actual funds themselves will end up in the coffers of front organisation of a certain lefty party which shall remain nameless.
So for example I’m all for anti-fascism, but initiatives like “unite” I feel are ultimately useless, and that is where union funds are going rather than other stuff.
I think your correspondent is right in highlighting the changes happening in unions, (some have disaffiliated completely from new labour recently) and that’s to be encouraged, tho I think a lot of it boils down to what you think of unions per se, and what you thought of “old labour” (i.e. – I imagine a lot of those demanding changes at the moment would have been ok with Labour under Kinnock or whatever…)
It feels a bit thatcherite all this demanding “choice”, but I stand by my disaffiliation on the grounds that I do give money for other stuff when I can, and when I can’t I don’t want even 10% to go to Tony’s cronies…
2004/07/12 @ 08:06 pm