“The working class is back”. These are the words of Mick Lynch, general secretary of the rail workers’ union, RMT. And they could hardly be more apt. December 2022 saw the most days of work lost to strike action of any month since 1989. National strikes by rail workers brought transport to a standstill once again. Postal workers struck during the busy run up to Christmas. In truly historic action, workers in the NHS — including nurses and ambulance staff — walked out in protest at paltry pay and to defend patient safety. Elsewhere, bus drivers, bin workers, border guards, baggage handlers, and driving examiners all took action during the month of December. This is far from an exhaustive list.
These strikes have categorically disproven any notion that the workers’ movement might be a spent force. Britain’s news cycle is currently dominated by updates on strikes and the government’s response to trade union action. The prime minister Rishi Sunak has attempted to unite his warring Conservative Party — for whom 2022 was one long perma-crisis — around a hardline approach to trade unions and attacks on workers’ rights. Yet, at the same time, there are signs that he and his government are on the back foot.
The momentum and initiative are currently with the trade union movement. Inflation and the cost of living crisis is hammering workers from all sides. Working-class people instinctively see the need for a fight back. In the last month, the entry of new groups of workers onto the battlefield — especially those in the NHS — has boosted the morale and confidence of those involved in the most embittered and long-running national disputes — particularly those in rail and mail. The call for a general strike gains a wide echo. Workers understand that coordination is key, and that unity is strength.
The critical importance of generalising and escalating the action is made even more plain by the announcement of fresh attacks on the right to strike. The government has raised the stakes once again. Our movement must respond by rallying its full strength.
Sunak announced his intention to bring in new draconian laws targeting key groups of workers who have participated in the action on 9 February. ‘Minimum Service Levels’ are set to be proposed for rail workers, for NHS staff, for those in education, and for border guards. Such deeply undemocratic measures are aimed at limiting the effectiveness of potential future strikes by many of the workers most at the forefront of this current wave of action.
But these fresh attacks come alongside a wavering approach to pay negotiations. Public support for the strikes remains strong. The support for NHS workers in particular is overwhelming — more than two thirds of the public back the nurses’ action in polls. Sunak’s gamble was that, as time went on, disruption would lead to a souring of the public mood and increasing hostility towards the strikers. But, so far, this has not been borne out. Among Tory MPs and government ministers there is increasing tension over how they might put this genie back in its bottle. Indeed, for Sunak, rather than being the question around which his party can be rallied and united as he had hoped, the issue of how to deal with the strikes is a growing headache.
Perhaps because of this, despite having steadfastly refused to negotiate on the issue of pay up until this point, the threat of more strike action has forced ministers to come to the negotiating table for the first time. Alongside its announcement of draconian new laws, on 9 January, the government met with unions representing NHS workers, teachers and rail workers for the first time in this series of disputes. Despite having said that the question of pay was ‘off the table’, they are reported to have offered a single ‘lump sum’ payment for NHS workers as part of an attempt to end the dispute. This is not a genuine pay offer — instead it is a poor attempt to regain control of the narrative by making a paltry one-off cash payment which no union worth its salt would seriously consider. Indeed, in a move that very quickly backfired, the health minister suggested that any such payment could be possible only in exchange for a ‘productivity increase’ on the part of NHS workers. This is a scandalous position which will enrage the already vastly overstretched NHS workers who, it goes without saying, do not consider the work of human care a matter of ‘productivity’. Nevertheless, the fact that the government has been forced to the table and to offer more money — however inadequate — does give a small signal that the action is working. It’s a reminder that workers can win.
The enormous weakness of the Tory government means there is a possibility that workers’ action could force out this dying regime. Teachers are set to be next to join the action, and rumours are circulating that a day of coordinated action may be called in February. But so far, while a certain level of coordination has been achieved among the unions currently in dispute, it has not yet gone anywhere near far enough. Indeed, they have not taken adequate steps to expand the action — especially to use this opportunity to organise the huge swathes of workers currently not in trade unions, particularly in the private sector.
The launch of the campaign group Enough is Enough, which was initiated by the leadership of the Communication Workers’ Union representing postal workers, has offered a potential opportunity to begin to show what might be possible. Huge numbers of working-class people were enthused by the launch. But at the time of writing, the campaign has not made a clear call for action in 2023 and lacks a focus. Socialist Alternative has launched a petition for Enough is Enough to name a day for coordinated strikes and protests in February. In local groups where our members are playing a leading role, we are fighting to initiate and support actions focused around the strikes on 1 February, which are set to include civil servants, teachers, and possibly many more groups of workers.
The strike wave that has broken out has put class politics firmly on the agenda. Trade union leaders are interviewed on the television and radio daily. This is a big change in Britain, where industrial relations has had minimal press coverage for two to three decades. Of course, as you would expect the narrative pushed in the majority of this coverage is aimed at undermining workers’ action. Yet despite a barrage of wall-to-wall anti-union propaganda across the mainstream media — the real issues workers are raising resonate with the majority of working-class people, who continue to support the action.
Despite this, the new right-wing leadership of the ‘opposition’ Labour Party has steadfastly refused to give so much as a hint of support for the strikes. It has also refused to make even the minimal pledge of offering pay rises which keep up with inflation. With a change of government on the cards at the next election, this emphasises the importance of developing rank-and-file organisation and broad lefts within the unions — this fight will need to go on. It also makes the issue of fighting for political representation for workers even more pertinent.
The outcome of this strike wave is yet to be determined. This working class is feeling its own collective strength for the first time in many years. A victory (even a qualified one) for any of the key groups of workers involved in the action could electrify the situation and pave the way for a further escalation. Equally a defeat or sell out by a right wing union leadership could create a set back. But whatever the contours of the struggle as it develops over the next weeks, things cannot simply go back to how they were before. The overall global crisis of capitalism combined with the system’s ‘special decline’ in Britain will continue to drive workers to the picket lines and to the streets. This is the music of a new and tumultuous future.
