Unite

20,000 London bus workers win a clear-cut victory in the first London-wide bus strike since 1982. Unite’s demand was for a £500 bonus payment to compensate for the increased workload caused by the Olympics and they finally won £577. What is the response published in Solidarity ? Not to celebrate the victory — oh no! That would be too simple and waste the opportunity to attack the London leadership of Unite. So the unnamed author of the piece that Solidarity published belittles the result as “a very minor and limited victory” and even dismisses the campaign for the bonus as a “diversion.” (...

The latest circular to Unite bus workers tells us the fact that, “on 22 June thousands of Unite bus workers came together in a historic act of unity”. It says that “every bus operator in London was forced to negotiate in one room with Unite for the first time” and “over two thousand new members joining since the start of the campaign” and “how can anyone say this isn’t a total victory?” It is true that from zero offered at the beginning this represents a victory, but a very minor and limited victory. It was achieved by strike action and can be built upon. But this is only a small part of the...

The Sun and the Daily Telegraph have continued their hysterical anti-union scaremongering with a couple of delightful pieces picking up on an interview that Dave Quayle, chair of the National Political Committee of the Unite union, gave to Solidarity in our last issue. In the interview , Dave explained the union’s recently ratified political strategy, an attempt to increase democracy and accountability within the Labour Party by giving members of Unite, and other trade union affiliates, more control over the political direction of the party and its work. From Workers’ Liberty’s point of view...

Oil workers at the Coryton refinery in Essex are continuing their campaign of demonstrations and pickets against the closure of their workplace. Coryton is one of eight refineries in the UK, and supplied 20% of all the fuel used in London and south east England. It closure is estimated to represent a potential £250 million loss the economy of south Essex, as well as 800 jobs at the refinery itself. The workers, who are members of the Unite union, have been demonstrating at the plant, and have been involved in a number of clashes with the police. The focus of demonstrations has now shifted to...

I was on the picket line at the Remploy factory at Trentham Lakes, Stoke-on-Trent on Thursday 19 July. About 50 people braved the rain to show their solidarity, with banners from the striking unions Unite and GMB, as well as UNISON, CWU, PCS, North Staffordshire Trades Union Council and North Staffordshire Against Cuts. Representatives of several other unions were also there to show their solidarity - including NUT, Musicians' Union, and the ceramic workers' union Unity [sic]. Local Labour MPs Joan Walley (Stoke North) and Rob Flello (Stoke South) came along to show their support, as well as...

More 500 members of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) on Virgin Trains’ West Coast line are balloting for strikes to win the reinstatement of sacked colleague Martin Hodges. Martin was summarily dismissed by management, who allege a “poor timekeeping record” dating back to 2010. But TSSA officer Tom Condon said the sacking “was the first we had heard about [the timekeeping problem] — he has been our rep for five years.” Activists believe Martin was sacked because of his union work. TSSA leader Manuel Cortes said: “Our rep, Martin Hodges, was fired for simply carrying out his...

At its 2012 policy conference, the Unite union ratified a strategy from its Executive for changing the basis on which the union relates to the Labour Party. Dave Quayle, Chair of Unite’s National Political Committee, spoke to Solidarity about what that strategy means for working-class political representation. The consensus in the union was very much that if we were going to remain part of the Labour Party, the relationship had to change. We give millions of pounds to a party we have little control over, and we get nothing back. The Labour Party in government did absolutely nothing for the...

The GMB union has launched a landmark legal challenge against contractor Carillion, after evidence emerged that it had been involved in large-scale blacklisting of trade union activists in the construction industry. The case is part of a wider labour movement campaign on the issue, blown open by the revelation in January 2012 that the shadowy “Consulting Association”, a data collection company used by numerous construction industry contractors, was holding files on over 3,000 workers containing information that could only have come from the police or other security services. Meanwhile, GMB...

On 22 June hardly any students made it into the college I work at because of the strike. I went down to my local picket line during my lunch break; it was the best picket line I’ve ever been to. There were at least 40 there when I went, and apparently it was much bigger earlier. There was a very lively atmosphere and people were willing to try and stop the scab-driven buses that were coming out. There were some attempts to block them, people shouted "traitors" at the drivers and they opened the bus doors to properly argue with them. People I spoke to were positive about how the day had gone...

This strike is about much more than the Olympics. The Olympics bonus is the immediate issue, but people voted yes to this strike because we’re simply fed up with the attacks we’ve faced over the past few years. We’ve had our Sunday working payments reduced, and we’ve had attacks on our working time. It used to be the case that you were entitled to a ninety-minute paid meal break, and if you came back late you could still take it. That’s gone now; if you come back late, your meal break gets knocked off. Finishes are getting later and later. It’s not like working in an office or a factory, where...