Brian Caton

Off to parliament for a good session on the fight for a Trade Union Freedom Bill:

It's 7pm on a nice autumn evening, and several hundred trade union activists are gathered at a lobby at the House of Commons, having a fabulous time taking the piss out of T&G general secretary Tony Woodley. As you do.

The lobby is part of an ambitious, united union campaign to interest our hopeless Labour government in the idea of repealing this nation's draconian anti-trade union laws and putting a slightly more humane Trade Union Freedom Act in their place (one that at least allows people to take solidarity strike action). The large audience (it spills over into several committee rooms in the House) is made of up of posties, firefighters, prison officers, union reps, nurses, local government people and tube and train-driving people.

They are all normal, everyday persons whose various attempts to fight for decent pay and conditions in the last ten years have largely been fragged by New Labour's refusal to get rid of the anti-union laws and restore some balance in favour of everyday punters who just want to make a living (as opposed to a killing, like New Labour's neocon and city-bonus mates). The truth is that low-paid people will have almost no means to fight attempts to drive their wages down further while laws preventing solidarity strike action stand.

Anyway... New Labour, whose ex-very own Tony Blair cheerfully bragged about overseeing the most oppressive anti-union laws in Europe and repeatedly ignored Labour conference's calls to get shot of those laws, ain't exactly the most popular gig on the grassroots union circuit. Nor is anyone who tries to argue that unions should keep financing the Labour party.