Unions talk tough in New Year messages – 2011 will be the year of reckoning‏

“There are many elements to a campaign. Leadership is number one. Everything else is number two” Bertolt Brecht: The New Year’s message by GMB, UNISON and Unite is a welcome statement of intent and unity by the leadership of the UK’s ‘big 3' unions. It sets out a clear alternative programme to the ruinous policies of the Con Dem coalition government: http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=2105

In recent days much media attention (particularly in Murdoch’s press) has focused on the prospect of industrial action. Yesterday PCS General Secretary was quoted in The Times "Strikes are inevitable. We are looking at the spring. The more of us that stand together against the cuts, the more problems we can create. Unless you look like you want a fight, they won't negotiate. The government has to see we are serious."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/30/union-leaders-surge-strike-action-next-year

Yet Jim Pickard writing in the Financial Times is right to caution against "loose language" on the crucial, make or break issue of industrial action: http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2010/12/unions-should-be-careful-of-crying-wolf-over-strikes

A recent example of the disconnect between theory and practice was a recent Morning Star article by Gregor Gall in which the leading left academic examined the prospects for unlawful industrial action in opposition to cuts and job losses: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/content/view/full/98934

Gall assesses if/when any union would be in a position to sensibly call such unlawful action? "The first thing a national leadership has to be sure of before calling a walkout is unanimous agreement among its members to walk out for long enough, to withstand financial and other pressures as well as to be active picketers and occupiers.

The second thing a leadership has to be sure of is sufficient support from other unions and their members. These third parties would need to be willing to finance the union and ensure that both organisations remained allied if the original strike was to be of any significant duration. In essence these other unions must be prepared to be active defenders of the union in question".

However Gall tellingly points out that none of the unions "have a recent tradition of taking unofficial action" (even those which Gall classifies as ‘left led’).

In 2011, rhetoric and speculation about industrial action will be tested as the government presses on with its policies of privatisation, pay and pension cuts. it is inevitable that further attacks on public sector pension entitlements will present a real test of whether the 'big 3' and other public sector unions are willing and able to mount co ordinated national industrial action in their defence.

And local UNISON disputes such as those in Southampton, Buckinghamshire and Kirklees should be seen as priorities for the whole union – meticulous organisation, high profile publicity and large-scale solidarity should ensure that whenever our members use the strike weapon the union settles only for acceptable outcomes: http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=6479

Bob Oram