Grasping the independence thistle?

‘Which way will the unions jump?’ asks Chris Bartter in a debate on unions and independence as the clock starts ticking on a referendum in Scotland. Just how difficult will that debate be since most STUC affiliates are UK entities, with few of them reflecting internally anything like the political devolution that exists in reality?

In a contribution to a Communist Party of Scotland debate, published on the Grumping with the Captain blog, Bartter notes that “Even UNISON - with its high levels of Branch organisation, policy, media, campaigning, bargaining, and communications autonomy, still pays its STUC affiliation fees from London, and technically its delegation to Congress is bound by UNISON UK policy”. http://captaingrumping.blogspot.com/2011/11/independence-which-way-will-trades.html

Just one of the issues UNISON’s Scottish Committee will have to wrestle with as it recently flagged up the need for an internal debate on what, if any, position the union adopts in a referendum.

Bartter argues that, while unions are often ‘relaxed’ about some local Scottish policies, they are less likely to back a political settlement that undermines UK national bargaining and employment legislation. And of course, there is affiliation to Labour, opponents of independence.

But on the latter, membership and public views are more complex that merely the party political. It may be that only 30% support independence in Scotland but the chances are they are not all SNP loyalists. Neither is it a ‘given’ that non-affiliated unions will necessarily support independence.

But, as Bartter suggests, “TUs are essentially - much as we might not like it - not think tanks, not policy wonks breaking new ground with blue sky thinking - but essentially pragmatic organisations that have been created to defend and advance the living and working standards of their members. In many ways reactive rather than proactive organisations’.

As such the agenda may well be whether Scottish Independence would be a benefit or a detriment to members. “At the current time it seems unlikely that this question will be answered in the affirmative” he argues.

The main challenges for trade union members are the same across the UK. Pay, conditions, cuts and pensions – all stemming from Westminster austerity measures. “While the Scottish Government is able to (and does) criticise these policies, they find themselves in the position of largely passing on the cuts to their recipients in the public and voluntary sectors”. As such these attacks are rightly being fought on a UK level.

It is widely accepted that there is more popular commitment in Scotland to valuing and defending public services but that, in varying levels, is a commitment that tends to cross party boundaries. As such “any specific advantage of independence still remains to be clearly spelled out”, argues Bartter.

However, UNISONActive warned back in May that the public service ethos may be clouded by other issues. “Since the Thatcher years, Scotland has merged that left-leaning spectrum of views with a national identity that is probably more anti-Westminster than pro anything. If that is the case, with the bogie out of the way, there is no guarantee that an independent Scotland will necessarily bring progressive governments”. http://unisonactive.blogspot.com/2011/05/unisonactive-analysis-unions-and-union.html

Bartter argues that unions in Scotland are not ‘scared’ of independence and have consistently backed more powers over fiscal and social matters. But they remain to be convinced of the ‘relevance of the independence debate’. Perhaps at their peril.