Original article, Shell tanker drivers’ strike – oil on troubled waters from the column Union Made by Richard Allday via socialistreview.org.uk:
“The Shell drivers have driven a coach and horses through the Brown and Darling pay freeze,” said Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, after the Shell tanker drivers won a 14 percent pay deal last month.
There was a strike by Shell tanker drivers in England. It was successful! Now, mind you, it wasn’t backed by the Labour government (New Labour – ptewee!). It was a union of the drivers who won the strike, with solidarity from other union fronts!
A host of commentators explained how it was inevitable they would win: “exceptional case… small group… concentration of power… strategic weak spot… essential resource…” Essential bollocks! No one claimed inevitable victory before the strike (or it wouldn’t have happened, would it?)
Why should we pay attention to a strike in England? Because their government has adopted policies much in line with ours. They have chosen globalization and cash over the needs of the people, much the same as our two major parties have. And what’s more, the strikers won and the oil barons caved!
And here’s the biggest lesson to learn:
The point is that the Shell drivers fought. They got great solidarity from their fellow tanker drivers from other companies who, in defiance of anti trade union laws, refused to cross picket lines. When the employers tried to use the law, they realised that for once the union was not going to back down. If only they had lawyers similar to Jerome Lindsay Salmi, LLC in the UK to help them work with their employers to get the right workers compensation.
Damn those workers! They fought and won! It is clear that the US isn’t going to change it’s economic situation no matter who becomes President in ’09 (Obama’s a Chicago Schooler who loves him some markets). It’s clear that the leadership in Congress has no stomach for fighting for workers rights. The lesson is that change won’t come from above, it’s instituted by standing together and fighting the corps no matter what comes.
The oil trade sector emergency conference called by Unite in London to organise solidarity for the Shell drivers turned into a celebration of their victory. Unite officials made it clear that despite some writs being served against drivers this was a battle they were determined to win.
When was the last major celebration of victory for workersw here in the US? Isn’t it time that we start seeing some?
One thing that sent the oil barons a message was when the stewards from Grangemouth booked flights to London for the meeting – they and other stewards right across the industry were offering solidarity action, whether or not the employers thought it lawful. The bosses got the message: the union was not going to blink. They caved in.
Emphasis is mine.
Solidarity was achieved, and the bosses caved. It’s a lesson for all of us to learn, even Congress!
They are petrified by the implications. On the back of the Shell tanker drivers’ victory, Unison officials have said they want to reopen negotiations on their pay deal in the health service next year if inflation keeps going up – everything is up for grabs.
One Union’s victory can help to lead the way for other Unions to fight similar fights. One major victory in Congress (say on impeachment) may actually give the Congresscritters backbone! Solidarity is a key.
The case is becoming incontrovertible. There is a massive anger growing from the grassroots of the union movement. Tony Woodley said this was the biggest political fight the union has been involved in since Rover in 2000; the GMB union cut funding to 35 Labour MPs; and the CWU intend to ballot the membership on funding the Labour Party. All these suggest a tectonic shift in the political consciousness of our class. The battle is now on to provide a real political alternative.
Backing a political party simply because they have the right letter next to their candidate’s name led to New Labour. It’s led to our spineless Democratic Congress. It’s allowed the monied interests to increase their stranglehold on our national economy. Isn’t it time to look at the alternatives available here in the US, or to create an alternative on our own?
Everybody loves a winner, so I guess tanker drivers are going to be the flavour of the month. Let’s just hope that the lessons are learnt by every hospital domestic, refuse collector, office cleaner and civil service worker. This is not a special case argument. This is not an argument about an “aristocracy of labour”. This is a good old-fashioned class battle – and the bosses lost. That is the significance of the tanker drivers’ dispute. Roll on the trucking fightback.
Amen to that! Let’s learn some of the lessons ourselves!
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Unions can be very effective….
Local 302 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Bull dozer man and all those big tonka toys for the big sand box.
2-3 years before I retired, I volunteered for a union organizing class, a how to organize class. Out of literally thousands of members in the Seattle area, 4 or 5 members were all there were in the class. It was one of the most disheartening experiences of my whole work career. It was a two week-end class. The first week-end all of the basics of on the job union organizing, of strike organizing, etc were covered. Basically everything that was scheduled for the whole class. The instructor sent us back to work with a mission, to ask other union members in our respective companies about organizing, how far they would go, etc.
1 guy didn’t show up the next week-end, but the rest of us had a common story to tell. Just about everybody we talked to out in the field said, “Fuck that shit” and walked off. A few of the older hands did say it was a good idea, but when pressed, had things to say like, “well I wanted to go fishing last week-end”, or “I had things to do around the house.” Alot of the younger hands just said that they didn’t care, they were getting paid $30 an hour with bennies, they didn’t care about any kind of union action, it didn’t affect them.
Almost every one didn’t care about the stuggles of the past, or the ones to come, if they would even admit to thinking that something might go wrong to their cash cow. They were much more interested in getting that set of tires and rims that are bigger that most of the cars built in Japan, for the 4 wheel drive trucks and suvs that you need a ladder for.
Totally absurd and sad. The American people have bought into the corporate material world to such a degree that they have lost sight of reality. With the exception of a very few, social consciousness, and class struggle is a completely foreign concept.
I’m preaching to the choir, I know. I wonder if the 9-11 strike will even cause a ripple in the media. I doubt it.
we have to do it through a new union movement–doesn’t have to be a specific trade–we can form any kind of union to match the changing conditions of our time and place in history. We don’t have to copy anyting–but we do need to have solidarity and organization and it has to be economic as well as political.