Unite trade union calls for general strike

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

Britain's biggest trade union, Unite, is calling for a 24-hour general strike against austerity measures.
In a document submitted to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the union, which has 1.4 million members, says "such action is desirable".
The proposal will be discussed at a meeting of the TUC's general council on 24 April.
No strike date has yet been suggested, and Unite accepts that the move could be vulnerable to a legal challenge.
But Unite believes a general strike "would be a landmark in our movement's recovery of its morale, strength and capacity to play a leading part in a society crying out for credible and honourable leadership".
BBC political correspondent Tom Barton says that if a strike were called, the union would make it "explicitly political", targeting the coalition's austerity programme.
Legal advice received by Unite suggests a general strike could be legal under human rights legislation if it were called as part of a political - rather than a trade - dispute.
But the union warns that "it would be rash to assume" that the British courts would take the same view.
The country's second-biggest union, Unison, which has 1.3 million members, says it supports the idea of a general strike "in principle".
But sources say Unison could only join the action if it were part of a "legitimate trade dispute", and point out that it would need to notify more than 20,000 employers.
They say they have concerns about the legality of holding a general strike, which would need to be overcome before they could support it.
The TUC voted to examine the feasibility of holding a general strike last year. It has received submissions on the subject from all the major unions.
A number of unions, including Prospect, ATL and Usdaw, are understood to oppose the idea of holding a general strike.

(BBC News)

[Blake's Baby]

Funny, as there was a date suggested for the General Strike (which TUC Conference authorised as a tactic in September) - it was November 14th, when the European General Strike was called. The TUC (Treacherous Unreliable Collaborators) did nothing, when 10 million workers came out in the first continental general strike in history.

[brigadista]

for 24 hours in these times of austerity? what is the point?

[TheEmancipator]

Don't think it will help. Unions get bad press in Britain (sometimes its justified, most of the time its to suit the agenda of Fleet Street's newspaper owners), and it will only help in Cameron's quest to try and divide and conquer. The notion that the private sector will let their employees go on strike is ludicrous, as is the notion that employees who look at neo-liberalism through rose tinted glasses and wish to serve only their short term financial interests (i.e. a day's pay basically).

I wish them the best of luck getting out of austerity, and trying to have their voices heard but I truly think that striking in Western Europe seems to do diddly squat to the elite, so it seems the workers here have even less power than before.

[Brutus]

24 hours is not long enough. We need to bring the cogs in the system to a complete stop. Let's see Cameron sweep the streets, or Osborne stack the shelves.

[GiantMonkeyMan]

About bloody time. I understand the feeling that a general strike won't do much (Greece has had, what, 24 general strikes since the recession?) but I think it's also a hugely powerful statement for British trade unionism and on the grander scale, Britain is a G8 member whilst Greece isn't. The last time there was a general strike was in 1926, remember. There's been plenty of strike action and plenty of militancy but not on the broad scale that's being proposed. I think this is definitely an opportunity for communists to agitate amongst fellow workers that such a minimal offensive as a 24 hour general strike would not be enough and to take matters into our own hands where the TUC would be hesitant to advance.

As long as we can keep up momentum and the spirit of militancy then we can build the movement. With benefit and NHS cuts there's no doubt that there would be wider public support as well.

[Delenda Carthago]

24 hours is not long enough. We need to bring the cogs in the system to a complete stop. Let's see Cameron sweep the streets, or Osborne stack the shelves.
Nice idea. If only someone would call for it, and it would definitely happen.

[Blake's Baby]

I assume that's sarcasm, Delenda? It's justified I think. Union membership in the UK is low compared to some places (about 20% of the workforce I think) so even if every unionised worker came out it would only be a fraction of the workforce; and as has been pointed out these one-day general strikes are a fairly regular feature in Greece (also in Portugal and Spain) without major results as far as I can see. But I would have been happier, were a general strike to be called, had it been on the day that workers in many other European countries were going on strike. The thing about the 14th November strike that impressed me most was that some union federations were forced to move strikes that they'd already called - I think one of the Portuguese federations moved a strike from the 16th (when originally the federation said it wasn't going to take part) due to pressure from members. 14th November, if tactically no more significant than any other day, would have at least hold the possibility of workers feeling that they were involved in a larger struggle - which has been a feature of strikes and demos in Southern Europe but is very lacking in Britain (and I suspect some other Northern European countries).

[Delenda Carthago]

Of course its sarcasm. Of course 24hour general strikes are not gonna bring the answer people! Are you serious?!

So what? They are the tool of the working class movement to reconstruct itself from ashes. It takes time you know, godamn microwave generation. Life and revolution is not about getting what you want, the minute you want it. Its about constructing day by day, step by step the tools to take the power. 30 years of class identity destruction is not gonna be reversed within a day. Not a week, not a month, not a year. It takes work, after work, after work. Look at Greece for example.

So stop being lazy asses and stop the petit bourgeois impatience. Nothing is gonna be given to you for free. You have to earn it.


Now STFU and go out there and convince people to strike. To fight for the minimum, to understand the maximum. Revlefting wont do you any good.