BY NATASHA IZATT
LONDON On July 17, 750,000 local government workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland went on strike in support of a pay increase. Between 70% and 80% of union members participated.
Teachers aides, caretakers, family service workers, library staff, classroom assistants, carers, social workers, street cleaners, planning officers, garbage collectors, care assistants, child care workers, youth workers, housing workers and many others joined the strike.
Schools, leisure facilities, council offices, colleges, museums, art galleries, libraries, car parks, toilet blocks and child-care centres were closed. Even the Bournemouth deck chairs remained packed up for the day.
Local government and nursing union UNISON initiated the pay claim along with the "Britain's General Union" GMB and the Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU). Between them, these unions cover all 1.3 million local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The unions are demanding a pay increase of £1750 (A$5057) per year or 6%, whichever is greater. This targets the gap between high- and low-paid workers. It aims to bring the minimum wage in the industry to £11,017, which is still far below the national average. Local government workers now earn less as a proportion of average earnings than they did in 1979, according to new research commissioned by GMB.
Gender pay gap
The pay claim will also address the gender pay gap which has worsened in the last twenty years. Women local government workers earn 34% less than their male co-workers. They earn just over 90% of average female earnings compared to 98% in 1979. Male local government workers have seen their wages fall from 86% of national average male earnings to 83% today.
In 1979, male local government workers earned £45.40 per week less than average earnings. Now they earn £82.50 less. For women, the gap has grown even more. From earning £3.78 per week less than the average women worker, they now earn £35.80 less.
Three quarters of local government workers are women and they are concentrated in the lowest paid areas. More than 250,000 women work part-time and are paid less than £5 an hour. Low pay has led to a recruitment and retention crisis in local government.
This was the first time in 23 years that members of all of the unions representing local government workers have taken strike action over pay. Many of the strikers had never taken industrial action before. Slogans included "Mum's Army: for us to stay you need to pay" and "More pay: we're worth it".
In London workers held up giant cardboard pennies to highlight how meagre the employers' pay offer was.
In the conservative south-east English city of Brighton and Hove, 2000 workers went on strike. A lunchtime rally, chaired by chair of the UNISON local government branch and Socialist Alliance member Andy Richards, drew 800 high-spirited people to the city's town hall.
The cost of living in Brighton and Hove is a major issue. While in London, workers receive extra pay to offset this, in Brighton and Hove where accommodation is the most expensive in Britain, workers do not. At the meeting, worker after worker described the inconvenience of living in a satellite town because they couldn't afford to live in the city. A unionist from Oxford, where there is a campaign for a £2000 a year cost-of-living weighting, pledged support for a similar campaign in Brighton.
Richards told Green Left Weekly that, "Many speakers at today's rally had never spoken publicly before. I am confident that today's events will inspire even more people to come out for future action".
The employers, mostly local councils, have offered just a flat 3% pay rise with no lump-sum increase for the low paid, and refused to budge, claiming that jobs will be at risk if more is given. Council leaders recently awarded themselves pay rises of 8% and an average allowances increase of 64%.
Two rounds of negotiations have been held since the strike through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service. After the first meeting on July 24, UNISON national secretary for local government Heather Wakefield explained: "On the basis of the talks so far we are not convinced that the employers are serious about reaching a settlement. In the light of progress so far, we are pressing full steam ahead with our plans for industrial action."
Before the second meeting on July 26, employers sent out a press release saying they were going to make an offer of a minimum wage of £5 an hour. No such offer was made.
Afterwards Wakefield, GMB national secretary Mick Graham and TGWU national organiser Jack Dromey issued a joint press release saying: "The employers have behaved disgracefully. Their much publicised £5 proved to be spin not substance. It is now imperative that the government intervenes to sort out this mess as it is clear that the employers are in complete disarray."
Another day of strike action is planned for August 14, and there may be a third day of action in September.
Summer strike wave
The council workers' action is just one part of a predicted "summer of discontent". Railway workers recently went on strike for 24 hours over safety concerns arising out of the proposed "Public Private Partnership" of the tube service. Workers at Gatwick Airport have also voted for industrial action over the summer and the Trades Union Congress has announced 33 proposals for progressive industrial change, including the right to strike (workers can currently be sacked after eight weeks of strike action), the rights of small business workers to industrial representation, and the right to protection from unfair dismissal from the commencement of fulltime employment.
The Labour Party is feeling the heat, as more unions challenge its industrial relations policy and threaten to withdraw funding from it.
A bitter election struggle has finally come to an end in Britain's second largest union, the manufacturing and scientific professionals' Amicus-AEEU. The outgoing general secretary, Prime Minister Tony Blair's strongest union ally Sir Ken "first knight of the right" Jackson, has finally conceded defeat to Derek "lieutenant of the left" Simpson.
The bitterly contested election was won by just 406 votes. Simpson ran on a platform of campaigning for stronger pro-union legislation, "putting members interests first" and cutting donations to the Labour Party. A Labour Party member for 10 years, Simpson was previously a member of the Communist Party.
This result comes on top of the June TGWU elections, in which Tony Woodley, who also campaigned on a platform of independence from Labour, won the deputy secretary position over Blairite Tony Booth. The left now hold the top posts in the main rail, fire, civil service, public service and journalist unions. The left has further opportunities in the unions, through upcoming elections in the TGWU and the GMB.
Labour under pressure
Union officials from all sectors have been vocal in attacking Labour's industrial relations and "single currency" policy. The GMB is spearheading attacks with an advertising campaign inspired, ironically, by the Tories' "Labour isn't working" posters of 1979. They have taken out newspaper adverts, back cover magazine space, and mobile billboards with the slogan "Labour isn't listening".
Trade unions including the GMB, the Communication Workers Union and the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union have cut funding to Labour by £1.7 million already this year, in protest at government policies. In many unions, individuals now have the option of diverting the political component of their dues away from Labour.
This comes as the Labour Party is in deep financial crisis. It has just had emergency talks with the Cooperative Bank to extend its £6 million overdraft. Its membership dues will increase, staff cuts are possible and a list of properties for potential sale is being drawn up.
GMB general secretary John Edmonds told the July 19 Guardian, "People in Downing Street have got to engage seriously with the unions, or they face complete catastrophe. Downing Street's entire strategy has collapsed with the loss of Sir Ken." The Guardian also quoted a centre-right MP and former union official as stating: "This is a very serious threat to the Labour Party. There will be a rise in strikes off the back of full employment and job security. Ultimately, this is about a breakdown of trust between Downing Street and the union leaderships."
From Green Left Weekly, August 7, 2002.
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