The legal advice from Unite is to sign ‘under protest’ so as not to ‘put people’s jobs at risk’. That BESNA will see many jobs being lost through deskilling is apparently not the concern. This betrayal did not come as a surprise. The ballot of Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES) employees in November 2010 returned a resounding 81.6% yes in favour of taking strike action against the leading company of the seven breakaway BESNA companies. Predictably, BBES challenged the legality of the ballot, alleging that some postal addresses were incorrect and that Unite omitted to ballot a number of staff. Despite the fact that the disputed handful of workers are not required to sign the BESNA, nor would their votes change the result, Unite immediately withdrew the ballot. Rather than push ahead with the strike, Unite retreated down the legal route, refusing to challenge the anti-trade union laws.
Despite this capitulation, rank and file sparks across the country staged an unofficial walkout on 7 December, the original start date for the strike. Pickets shut the Blackfriars station site in London and occupied the BBES site office in Cambuslang, Glasgow. Whilst unofficial protests have continued in the New Year, the promised official support is yet to materialise. North East Unite members were refused transport costs to a national rank and file conference in Birmingham on 14 January, meaning only one representative could attend. Although the re-ballot of workers at BBES began on 19 January, those employed at NG Bailey Building Services and SPIE Matthew Hall will not be balloted at the same time. This is contrary to union promises.
So how do we explain the continuing betrayal of the Unite leadership in the electricians’ dispute? Unite is Britain’s largest trade union with over 1.5 million members, an annual income of £151.8m and gross assets worth £267.6m. The Guardian (23 November 2011) reports that the cash resources of Unite have more than halved to £15m between 2008 and 2010, and the deficit on its pension fund has doubled to £103m. In a meeting at Glasgow’s Scottish Trades Union Congress on 21 January, Kevin Coyne, a Unite national officer, stated that ‘we must protect our resources’, warning that assets could be seized by government if unlawful action were taken. Far from kick-starting trade union action, the economic crisis has made it tighten its purse-strings. Unite will not risk its huge assets to take action that may contravene the anti-trade union laws. This is the reality behind McCluskey’s rhetoric.
The electricians will continue to stage unofficial walkouts and strikes, with or without official union support. The ‘seven scum’ BESNA companies have already begun sending out contracts to be signed with a view to implementation in March. Many contracts have already been returned, unopened and unsigned, in protest. The key will be to keep up the pressure on the employers through disrupting their profits.
Sam McGill
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! 225 February/March 2012
