Forward Union
1st March 2010, 12:34
A new political blog aimed at non-sectarian trade union commentary. Has some quite big people backing it!
The trades unions in the United Kingdom are in decline, there’s no denying it. Year on year we see density (the percentage of workers in unions) declining in both the private and public sectors. If we want to avert this trend then trade unionists need to look to see what the root causes of this decline are. Yes, we could blame the management, or the apathy of your average worker, but these have always been forces the trade union movement has had to contend with, and we have been able to deal more effectively with them in the past.
The Syndicalist is a trade union blog which aims to examine the failings of our movement and to advocate constructive solutions to the problems we face. We want to popularise the ideas of Syndicalism, namely industrial unionism and grass-roots democracy within our unions, as we believe these ideas hold the key to a rejuvenation of the unions.
Although over the last century the situation has improved, our trade unions are still fundamentally based on trades lines. Frequently the same workplace will have multiple unions representing different classes of worker. This division, combined with often divisive tactics from higher up in the unions, leads to workers on the ground having their position weakened due to disunity. Combined with a lack of member-led democracy in many of the unions this has led to the weakening of the movement as a whole, as ordinary workers see less of a reason to join a body with seems ineffective and undemocratic.
Syndicalism has a rich history, and syndicalists have been pivotal to major world events such as the Spanish Civil War. However the syndicalist movement in the UK has all but disappeared. On this blog we will publish some of the old Syndicalist text that still bear relevance today, along with more up to date news and analysis on the union movement and the class struggle in general.
http://www.thesyndicalist.org.uk/
The trades unions in the United Kingdom are in decline, there’s no denying it. Year on year we see density (the percentage of workers in unions) declining in both the private and public sectors. If we want to avert this trend then trade unionists need to look to see what the root causes of this decline are. Yes, we could blame the management, or the apathy of your average worker, but these have always been forces the trade union movement has had to contend with, and we have been able to deal more effectively with them in the past.
The Syndicalist is a trade union blog which aims to examine the failings of our movement and to advocate constructive solutions to the problems we face. We want to popularise the ideas of Syndicalism, namely industrial unionism and grass-roots democracy within our unions, as we believe these ideas hold the key to a rejuvenation of the unions.
Although over the last century the situation has improved, our trade unions are still fundamentally based on trades lines. Frequently the same workplace will have multiple unions representing different classes of worker. This division, combined with often divisive tactics from higher up in the unions, leads to workers on the ground having their position weakened due to disunity. Combined with a lack of member-led democracy in many of the unions this has led to the weakening of the movement as a whole, as ordinary workers see less of a reason to join a body with seems ineffective and undemocratic.
Syndicalism has a rich history, and syndicalists have been pivotal to major world events such as the Spanish Civil War. However the syndicalist movement in the UK has all but disappeared. On this blog we will publish some of the old Syndicalist text that still bear relevance today, along with more up to date news and analysis on the union movement and the class struggle in general.
http://www.thesyndicalist.org.uk/