The comment by Government Minister Francis Maude that “no-one is talking about a general strike – that would be illegal' reflects a complacent assumption of the Tories that the current represive anti union laws are the natural order of things.
It need not be so and has not always been so.
Many of the older generation of UNISON members will have taken part in the last national strike called by the TUC as a political protest by its then 12m+ affiliated membership - on 14 May 1980. It was called as a day of action in response to the newly elected Thatcher Government's economic policies and rising unemployment.
The consternation caused in establishment circles is evident from the House of Lords debate one week before the national strike took place: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1980/may/07/tuc-protest-strike
What followed on very quickly was a ruthless series of anti union laws which remain intact until this day - sadly despite 13 years of Labour government in the intervening period: http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/1960_2000_Narr_Display.php?Where=NarTitle+contains+'Anti-Union+Legislation%3A+1980-2000'
Back in 1980 the British trade union had the capacity through the TUC to mount the type of action we have witnessed on the continent in the past year. Some left commentators at the time claimed that the day of action was only a partial success - suggesting that even with a more liberal legal framework there would still be much work to be done to build up strong and unionised workplace organisation in order to mount national strike action across the economy:
http://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/mt/pdf/81_09_20.pdf
A challenge much compounded by the subsequent halving of union membership in Britain over the past 30 years.
Nonetheless we should never accept that a legal framework which prevents workers exercising a democratic right to withdraw their labour is the natural order of things in Britain.
Bob Oram
