Leaving the Shire - The Role of Trade Unions in a Post-Covid Society
“In the end, it’s only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer”
-J R. R. Tolkien Leo Varadkar
This article was featured in the Autumn 2020 edition of Rupture. Purchase the latest edition of Rupture here
With the government lining up for another round of attacks on the public sector, the trade union movement faces more struggles and strikes. This will be a challenge, but also a major opportunity for those who want to see reinvigorated, democratic and militant trade unions. Here, RISE member and trade union activist Samantha argues that socialists should embark on this difficult journey, taking on the union bureaucracy, building networks of union activists and developing a new political culture in the union movement.
While Leo Varadkar is making pop culture references to Lord of the Rings, Terminator and Mean Girls, there is a deep apprehension amongst workers that they are going to pick up the tab for this crisis. Despite the 30-billion-euro debt, both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have tried to downplay plans for austerity in the wake of Covid-19. The government’s rhetoric of “we are all in this together”, and platitudes about the heroism of essential workers are going to be short lived. The same rhetoric of “we are all in this together” will be used to push for sacrificing workers’ pay and conditions to foot the bill.
The past decade has seen many political struggles in Ireland, from the water charges movement to Repeal, to the school climate strikes and now Black Lives Matter gaining international momentum. However, unions have been unable to galvanize these new energies into the trade union movement.
With the government lining up for another round of attacks on the public sector, the trade union movement faces more struggles and strikes. This will be a challenge, but also a major opportunity for those who want to see reinvigorated, democratic and militant trade unions. This article argues that workers should embark on this difficult journey, taking on the union bureaucracy, building networks of union activists and developing a new political culture in the union movement.
A bureaucratic layer at the top of the unions
Trade unions are a way for workers to collectively stand up to their employer. They can raise workers’ consciousness and play a role in class struggle. Going on strike and winning can act as a catalyst in workers realising their own power and questioning the power relations that exist in society. Grassroots organising where workers are the agents of change strengthens the collective power of workers.
However, trade unions can be a hostile environment for activists who want to see change and challenge undemocratic structures. Even at a local level, branches can sometimes discourage members’ participation and careerism can take precedence over collective workers’ interests. Part of understanding how to transform it, is understanding the contradictory nature of unions and preparing workers for the challenges they face.
Trade unions exist within capitalism and the role of the bureaucratic layer is to work within the system, not to transform it. The bureaucracy negotiates with employers and governments, favouring stability, concessions and the path of least resistance over any class conflict between capital and labour. However, we must avoid the temptation to simply decry this bureaucratic layer and understand that there are different interests at play, structural issues as well as Trade Unions existing within capitalism and understanding their relationship to that.
The bureaucracy can be defined as paid officials, usually not elected by members, but operating more in a corporate capacity, negotiating from the top down on members' behalf. In effect, they are not directly accountable to members. The root of the problem with the union bureaucracy isn’t down to a few bad apples, it’s a structural issue. However, depending on the context, the internal culture and structures can vary from different degrees from one union to the next.
Further, if there isn't a deep organisational strategy, and democratic structures where workers take ownership over their activity and decisions, then workers are left with a negative experience when going on strike because they aren’t prepared to win. Workers feel powerless, especially if they prepare to strike and then the bureaucracy decides to go in the next day and negotiate minimal concessions.
The wages of the general secretaries and top officials are closer to that of a politician than they are to the workers they are representing. If you are disconnected from the material conditions your members face, it’s easier to settle for breadcrumbs rather than fighting to build workers' confidence and organising the collective power of your workers to win. It’s also easier to get caught up in the bureaucratic machinery of the union when your job is dependent on the interests of the bureaucratic layer and not the workers you are supposed to represent.
The particular ‘common interest’ of the bureaucracy
While the common interest of members is building our own collective power, the bureaucracy’s particular role pushes them in a different direction. The common interest of the bureaucracy lies in these sorts of deals, which reinforce the ‘service model’ approach in unions.
For example, during the past decade of austerity, the public sector faced an embargo on hiring, underfunded public services and worsening pay and conditions. After ten years of defeats, a breaking point came in 2019 when nurses went on strike for pay and staff resources. This action was taken before the end of the Public Service Stability Agreement which is due to expire in December 2020.
While the majority of workers supported the nurses, the bureaucracy in SIPTU and Fórsa actually criticised the strike for jeopardising the agreement with the government. It exposes how far removed the bureaucracy was from the membership when the PSSA did not have a meaningful impact on workers' lives. Workers often accept these deals in ballots when the bureaucratic layer clearly expresses a message they are unwilling to fight, when National Executives Committees vote to recommend them and because of previous negative experiences going on strike.
Another notable example of this common interest of the bureaucracy was when the teachers’ union, ASTI, went on strike in 2016 in relation to unequal pay. Rather than supporting or showing solidarity with their fellow teachers, the TUI bureaucracy instead focused efforts on poaching members, to raise their subs income for the union. This illustrates the different interests when a win for the teachers would have benefited all public-sector workers.
Politics & ‘Common sense’ in Trade Unions
The bureaucratic layer isn’t the only challenge we face in the unions. There is also the ‘common sense’ view that Trade Unions should just be about bread and butter demands. Apolitical attitudes can be echoed from some corners of the union from activists who agree with the narrative that unions should just be about pay and conditions. However, part of transforming unions is creating our own ‘common sense’ that unions should be political and that there shouldn't be a dividing line between a community and a workplace. Trade unions are workers’ organisations and need to take on the political issues of the day.
You can’t divorce the politics from your workplace, because your workplace is a community. Your union connects you with workers from different professions and backgrounds. Workers gaining small pay increases but not being able to afford childcare costs or rent, means the Trade Unions need to take these issues on in a meaningful way.
A general strike on housing would be a powerful, direct challenge to capital with the message that society should be run for people’s needs. However, we need to strengthen the grassroots base within unions so when a catalyst presents itself, we can be prepared to take effective action. Calling for a general strike will just exist as a propaganda piece if it isn’t met with a strong, organised grassroots base.
The bureaucracy likes to create a ‘common sense’ idea that power is located from the top down with their negotiating skills. This is a common feature within the larger unions in Ireland. It’s quite notable when you are an activist at a conference and listening to the rhetoric from the bureaucratic layer defending bad union policies. A core tenet to rebuilding our unions is working class people creating our own ‘common sense’, that power is located with rank and file membership and that our interests are the same with other workers from other unions. Ultimately worker’s solidarity is powerful and central to class struggle. Rank and file members need to be prepared for an ideological battle when the government, media and bureaucratic leadership try to divide workers. We need to organise and how we create our own common sense is a part of that.
Tasks ahead
The organised left at present is small and cannot substitute itself for a broader workers’ movement. The other side has a lot more resources and the command of mainstream media to control the ‘common sense’ narrative in wider society. However, with class struggle and strategic organising, we can potentially transform our unions and build a broader left. That’s not saying that this article will encapsulate all the difficulties on how to do that. It’s looking at some of the challenges and different ideas on how that might work as a sort of olive branch to those who want to do the same.
The organised left might be small but there is a wider layer of left leaning people, we all have a central role to play in building workers’ confidence and organising to win. We shouldn’t see our communities and workplace as separate. Taking part in elections, in movements around housing, in workplaces, they all play a role in building a broader workers’ movement.
A starting point is building a network of activists across union lines, organising around our own interests to combat the divide and rule tactics from the government and bureaucratic layers in unions. Part of the purpose of a network is having a wider strategy to intervene in workplaces, conferences and when necessary take seats on National Executive Committees. Having workers in all corners of workplaces, to build workers confidence and create the common-sense view that workers have power.
Jane McAlevey's No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age advocates using a deep organising model, where workers are the agents of change. How to bring these strategies into our own union movement, as well as lessons from international struggles abroad are important issues for workers to take up.
We need new layers of people to come on board with a class instinct and to organise in a sustainable way. We need to find the organic leaders in our workplaces and communities. As McAlevey puts it, “A divided approach to workplaces and communities prevents people and movements from winning more significant victories and building power”. If the same people dominate, those with existing official positions or if different political organisations are competing for speaking time and spots on decision making bodies, this network won’t grow. It must be a bottom up approach and there must be space for politics. The primary purpose of this network should be building new activists skills, who in turn are able to bring a broader layer of people to meetings and activities.
Any new organisation needs a grassroots democratic approach to organising. There needs to be space for political discussions, debates, and different ideas. We need broader goals in what we are trying to build and a coordinated approach.
Sustainable activism can be difficult, not least because of the impact on mental health. It’s an issue for the existing left and for trying to build any new organisation or network of people. Not everyone wants to be permanent activists, people have lives, childcare responsibilities and at the end of the day, time is a valuable resource. Taking part in activism is hard. Even when we do win, like abortion rights in Ireland, many activists found it difficult afterwards because of the years of struggle and the mental toll it takes. How we bring people together in a sustainable way is part of that conversation on building something broader. A network can also build resilience and act as a support when people come together and share experiences.
It’s easy for the government and those with different class interests to divide workers. It’s harder to come together in the face of that, but it is essential. Staring down the barrel of yet another economic crisis, we need a class struggle across communities and workplaces. Let Us Rise.