Patrick Collinson on the strange death of strikes.
Some fascinating figures this week from the Office for National Statisticschart the near total death of the British strike. In 2016, working days lost to strikes was just 322,000, a tiny fraction of the 29m in 1979 and the all-time high of 162m in 1926, the year of the General Strike. Even during the second world war, when emergency legislation in effect banned strikes, the number of days lost to industrial disputes stood at about 2m a year.
I can recall their death knell. 1984, when Margaret Thatcher faced up to Arthur Scargill. That was really the beginning of the end. There was a time when they had their place; when labour needed to organise for better working conditions. But that time is largely past. Working conditions do, indeed, have their nadirs as I discovered when I took up some temporary work. However, walkouts would have merely resulted in a termination of the contract, so a waste of time. And, indeed, there is a place for a union in a safety critical industry such as mine where a mistake at work can lead to criminal prosecution – so that legal backing is useful. And it is here that unions should be concentrating their efforts – as advocates, not as political armies waging war against the government of the day.
But strikes? Nah, they’ve had their place. Their time is done. Depending on the industry and the direct effect on the public at large, the reaction will vary from outright hostility to the cause, or a shrug of indifference.
But in a sign of just how much industrial action has collapsed in the UK, the single biggest strike last year, accounting for 40% of days lost, was by junior doctors.
Indeed. And how did that pan out? Did they get what they wanted? Nope, they had a contract forced on them. They then had a choice – take it or leave it. I can’t say that I am overwhelmed with sympathy for NHS employees who are complaining about how their incomes have been eroded. A bit like the woman on Question Time last night who was whining to Theresa May. Well, join the club, sweetheart. My real income has declined over the past few years and I either suck it up or seek out clients who are inclined to pay me a better rate (a bit of both, actually). What I don’t do is blame the evil Tories like a whiny teenager. Well, I do blame them, but not for this – this one is down to Brown and his bunch of morons.
Yet there persists a mindset among some that unions are too powerful. At the end of 2016, an Express headline read: “Swaggering union bully boys must be brought to heel”, claiming that “a mood of reckless militancy is spreading across Britain”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There may be a point here, but if that cretin Corbyn gets into power, then this will be an alarming reality. Len McCluskey is licking his lips at the prospect, no doubt. While he was alive, Bob Crow tried desperately to bring Network Rail to its knees with a national signaller strike. It must have galled him when they repeatedly refused to back such a notion. These people desire power and the ballot box is not their preferred modus operandi, which is why Thatcher was right to stand up to them.
The reality is that Thatcherite legal changes, such as the end of secondary picketing, the collapse of union membership to just over 6 million – down 4% last year alone – and the rise of globalisation has massively weakened the prospects for industrial action.
Yup. This is a good thing (especially the end of secondary picketing), not a bad one. If you don’t like your job, then no one is forcing you to stay. Yes, yes, I know, it isn’t always easy, as I’ve discovered for myself – but ultimately, I got myself out of the hole I was in through my own efforts. Striking would have done me no good whatsoever. Indeed, the one time I did take part in a strike, the whole thing was an utter waste of time.
Many, of course, will welcome this – no one wants a return to the “winter of discontent” – but the result is that labour’s share of the national cake has shrunk significantly, while the proportion going to profits and into the hands of the 1%, – has risen.
Yes, I do welcome it and I do not want to see anyone – 1% or otherwise – bullied or held to ransom by the unions. Either way, if the strike has died, I’ll not be mourning for it.
And that last quote is bollocks as well. While the share to labour has fallen, it’s largely gone to the government, given the increases in various taxes.
That’s a whole new essay – how much government steals from us in various taxes.
When it comes to that evil bogey “Profits” do these people not realise that nowadays ordinary folk have money invested, even though it may be in relatively modest amounts, and that they actually benefit from the activities profitable enterprises too?
These days there lots of people doing non jobs in the public sector and if they went on strike the only effect would be to save the government money.
And when they do, no one notices.