TUC demonstration, 18 June
TUC Congress finally took place on 18-20 October. The hastily reorganised Congress was both shorter and less well attended, with many unions deep into campaigning mode. Although the mood very much reflected the upsurge in strike action and the imminence of further ballots, the gathering was flatter than ever, with most participants preferring the commodious hospitality of Brighton hotels to actually planning the serious, sustained fightback necessary.
Probably the best discussions on Congress floor took place around reproductive rights, sexual harassment and trans rights. There was strong acknowledgement of the centrality of these struggles and an honest recognition that some trade unionists have been (and still are) part of the problem. This probably reflects the influence of the equalities’ conferences and committees, which include some of the better people involved in these gatherings. This year’s new TUC president is Maria Exall, who has done much work in these campaigns over decades.
There were no international resolutions submitted by individual unions, but the TUC general council brought forward its own “world to win” statement. Although the statement rightly pledged solidarity with Ukraine, it was soiled by other skewed content and its omissions. The statement failed to mention China or Chinese workers or the destruction of Hong Kong trade unions. It condemned “apartheid” in the occupied Palestinian territories, hiding behind the UN, instead of offering a working class, consistently democratic political solution to the conflict.
The only significant disagreement was the debate on a GMB motion, effectively calling for more wars and more defence spending in order to shore up British manufacturing. Although the resolution tried to mask its reactionary message with reference to Ukraine, few were fooled by its nationalist, sectionalist and thoroughly opportunist character. With support from Unite, the resolution carried on a card vote by less than a hundred thousand votes – about 2.5 million votes to 2.4 million. This was a rare case where smaller unions held the balance – and some it seems sat on the fence.
RMT disputes were prominent and had a resolution reiterating the demand to repeal the anti-union laws; a Fire Brigades Union speech in support included a useful plug for the Free Our Unions campaign. The TUC’s strategy was summed up as “see you in court”, although Mick Lynch bluntly told delegates not to trust the judges.
Keir Starmer’s speech was noticeably well-received by the majority of delegates, taken in by some carefully crafted rhetoric. Starmer’s performance was actually better than both Miliband and Corbyn as Labour leaders, helped by the tangible desperation in the hall for any government other than the Tories. However he made few promises and gave quite a few warnings, lowering expectations of a Labour government.
The fringe and activist layer around the Congress was dominated by Stalinism. The absence of healthier, militant and democratic campaigns was visible – although Free Our Unions hosted a useful discussion. The upper echelons of the trade union bureaucracy has awoken to the new militancy, but we have much work to do to create the rank-and-file-led leadership necessary for a successful strike wave against the employers and government.
Few can have come away believing it was worth the wait from the regular scheduled date in September. The previous two Congresses were mostly online and truncated due to the pandemic. This year’s was disgracefully postponed in September due to the death of the queen. In the midst of our strike wave, all but a handful of trade union leaders felt it was worth scuppering the workers’ democratic parliament to doff our caps to the monarchy. The employers of course carried on their side of the class struggle regardless.
• All documents etc from the Congress online here.
• Our report of TUC Congress 2021 is here.
