After today’s (Tuesday 24 February) picket the workers marched through Newark, the local town for what turned out to be the shortest rally I’ve ever witnessed.

The three platform speeches in the market square couldn’t have been altogether more than 15 minutes long and no questions or comments were taken from the rank and file.

John Mann, Labour MP spoke about his experience of the Cottam power station dispute (it is in his constituency of Bassetlaw) and his efforts in parliament through an Early Day Motion to get rid of UK opt outs from the Posted Workers Directive.

Tommy Hardacre said that the union was working to make sure that the national demonstration in London would be effective, but didn’t give any date.

The main part of Derek Simpson’s short speech was directed at Jerry Hicks and his supporters who were heckling at the front of the rally. Simpson said that anybody who interrupted him was either BNP, drunk or a tosser. He added insult to injury by seeming to claim that it was his intervention that had been crucial in the Lindsey Oil Refinery dispute. Then, realising his mistake, he quickly added that what the workers assembled here were doing was also important. And then he finished, no outline of a way forward, no suggestion of how the union would progress the fight, no nothing.

Quite rightly there was no clapping for him and there was disbelief on a lot of faces.

Many of those I spoke to expressed concern that they had been out of work for a longer period than ever before which was adding to their frustration with the union: one worker suggested replacing the slogan “Unite, The Union” with “Unite, What Union?” There was talk of Unite having become too big and unwieldy and that it would have been easier to get strike action in a more specialised union. Again there was talk that the rank and file would have to call national unofficial strike action and a steward (the same one from last weeks picket) was asking for phone numbers to help get themselves organised.

It should also be mentioned that there was nobody from the GMB on the platform and that the four laid off workers from Motherwell Bridge were still effectively sacked.