Published by Free Our Unions
A discussion article by Janine Booth, Free Our Unions supporter.
Tory leader Rishi Sunak’s line of attack on the Labour government’s unpopular decision to scrap winter fuel payments for most pensioners is to accuse Prime Minister Keir Starmer of “putting union bosses before pensioners”.
Leaving aside the typical but irritating use of the term “union bosses” especially as he was referring to union members receiving pay rises), Sunak can get away with this because of the Labour government’s terrible decision, and because of Britain’s anti-union laws.
The General Secretaries of Unite, PCS and the TUC have all publicly stated their opposition to the government’s decision. But Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves seem to be in no mood to be moved by words alone.
Industrial action could very well persuade them, but that would be unlawful. UK industrial relations law insists that unions only take action in pursuit of a “bona fide trade dispute” with their employer, and government policy on financial support for pensioners falls outside that.
But this is very much a trade union issue, which is why the General Secretaries spoke out about it. Pensioners are retired workers, many of them retired trade union members.
Moreover, while each individual union organises a particular section of workers, together they make up the trade union movement, the only mass movement of the working class. The big majority of pensioners are working class, and issues impacting our class are the business of our unions, whether it is a “bona fide trade dispute” with a specific employer or not.
Similarly, unions have spoken out about the Labour government’s refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap, the National Education Union pointing out how child poverty hampers education. But taking industrial action over the issue would be unlawful.
Without that industrial action, union leaders’ words are not heard by many, who may then fall for multi-millionaire Sunak’s line that greedy trade unionists are taking money from pensioners.
The lesson from this? To win on crucial working-class issues, we need to win the repeal of anti-union laws.
Free Our Unions campaigns for the Labour government to scrap anti-union laws.
