As early morning protests of rank and file electricians have continued across the country in October and November, Unite the Union officials have tried to undermine and divert these unofficial actions. Sam Mcgill reports.
For 40 years the Joint Industry Board (JIB) agreement has set wages and conditions for electricians. However, in the face of the economic crisis, major contractors have moved to rewrite parts of the JIB agreement in their favour. Over the past four years, negotiations have stalled, resulting in Balfour Beatty (which announced profits of £50.5 million for 2010) leading a walk out of the JIB talks with seven other major contractors, proposing their own Building Engineering Services National Agreement (BESNA).
BESNA proposes a one pay grade system, meaning the worst hit will have their pay cut by 35%. Skilled electricians will see their professions and grades disappear as employers redefine job categories and switch to lower-paid semi-skilled operatives. The latest attempt to deskill and downgrade professions follows a long process whereby skilled trades have been re-organised in order to pay workers less. Alongside this there has been an increase in the proportion of workers employed by agencies which often ignore national agreements. It is estimated that currently only 16% of electricians on construction jobs are still employed directly ‘on the books’; the rest work for agencies. Unite reports that in the last seven years the number of operatives directly employed by JIB registered companies has fallen by 1,733.
Following the first wave of rank and file protests in September, ‘weakest link’ contractor MJN Colston announced it was returning to the JIB negotiations table. However, MJN Colston made clear that it still intends to implement BESNA, but at a future point in time. Five of the major contractors served Unite with legal notice of their intention to dismiss workers who do not sign the BESNA contracts by 7 December, and on 31 October, Grattes Brothers informed their electricians that they would be on £10 per hour from Christmas – ‘take it or leave it’.
Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey was full of fine words at an official rally on Wednesday 9 November when he stated: ‘The important thing for us is that we remain solid, that we remain united – don’t let anything divide us. We are working for the same goals, both the Rank and File Committee and the official unions. We are working for the same objective.’ However, this has counted for nothing. McCluskey’s officials have attacked the Rank and File Committee: national secretary for construction Bernard McAuley, described it as ‘cancerous’ and ‘divisive’. They also attack unofficial action. Unite’s north east regional officer Billy Green, speaking on 26 September in Newcastle, said that ‘at no time will we ever stand up and support non-legitimate industrial action’. He went further and said that although Unite is advising workers not to sign the new BESNA contracts, the union would not support them in employment tribunals.
Following considerable pressure, Unite agreed to a national demonstration on 9 November. However the day’s events again exposed the union leadership’s attempts to direct the struggle down a dead end. The London Rank and File Committee initiated the action as 500 activists blocked roads and closed down the Pinnacle site, Bishopsgate at 7am. This was followed by the official Unite demonstration which ended in a march to Westminster to lobby MPs. The Rank and File Committee quite rightly criticised this move as a diversion from blockading building sites. On the same day Unite announced that it had finally given notice of strike action, but only 1,690 workers who are directly employed by Balfour Beatty, one of the seven BESNA contractors, will be balloted. Unite have stated that ‘the locations of strikes will be decided in due course’ suggesting only site-specific actions limiting the industrial action further. As it is, the ballot only aims to return the employers to the stalled JIB negotiations rather than demand the retention of the original JIB agreement.
Despite various attempts by the union bureaucrats to undermine the movement, electricians continue to organise unofficial action, targeting larger sites such as Sellafield, Grangemouth and Ratcliffe power stations, King’s Cross station, Corus steel and Lindsey oil refinery. Significantly, unofficial action has spread to other trades. Wednesday 16 November saw walk-outs across the country by scaffolders, pipe-fitters and platers on sites under the National Agreement for the Engineering Construction Industry (NAECI). These new forces will have to join the struggle against the trade union leadership if they are to protect their conditions. The crunch will come on 7 December: the vital task will be to maintain the unity between directly-employed and agency workers.
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 224 December 2011/January 2012
