It is also what a lot of people must be asking the Lib Dems after their pact with the Conservatives but a few weeks ago. Impressed with Clegg's performance in the leadership debates, it is understandable that many would flock to the Lib Dems in support of what they thought was the candidate for 'change'. However, the Lib Dems showed their true colours by demonstrating they were simply Yellow Tories, and gave Dave the support he needed to form a government.
'But Mr. Hawkins', I hear, 'Surely this is just sour grapes on your part? The Lib Dems simply went after the best deal, and you can't really blame them from trying to get into government - better to rule than be in opposition! Besides, they're still the Lib Dems, they've not done anything noticeably Tory.'
There is much to be said for this idea. I accept that Cameron is our PM and and the Tories are the biggest party in Parliament, as much as I detest it. However, the Lib Dems have shown that they are Tories with a different rosette, not only in their record on local councils, but also quite majorly in what they propose to do with Royal Mail.
There you have it folks, in black and white. The Lib Dems are directly responsible for privatising a public service. The Tories can't really be blamed for this, they're doing what comes naturally to them, and what's been expected of them since the 1980s. They're still scum, mind, only we knew that much anyway. People at least knew what they were voting for with the Conservatives. But people really expected better of the Libs, and they have been well and truly sold down the river. And people will remember the part the Liberals played in this farce.The government is preparing for another potentially explosive confrontation with the postal unions by attempting to privatise Royal Mail, the Guardian has learned.
Vince Cable, the business secretary, is determined to press ahead with a restructuring of the group, which could embroil the government in a dispute with the Communication Workers Union
...
A majority of Tory and Lib Dem MPs back some form of privatisation, cancelling out any potential Labour opposition.
I don't need to point out that this sets a very dangerous precedent with regards to other public services. Both Tories and Lib Dems are hot on introducing 'private and voluntary' services where the State exists, under the guise of empowerment to ordinary people. In fact, this is just a roundabout way of privatisation, of making cuts a more palatable to the general public. It is a deception.
It's not only the Royal Mail that's facing the axe. The working class the world over is under attack. This is usually the case, though now with the worldwide recession, this conflict is becoming more and more apparent. But there are signs of a fight back. The lowest paid are being asked to foot the bill for this crisis, and quite rightly they are not having it. Protests are cropping up in Romania over similar but much more drastic cuts as we see here. In Spain, the public sector workers are proposing a general strike on June 2nd. The situation in Greece I have already touched upon, and needs no further introduction. As of writing, the injunction on the UNITE strikers in the BA dispute has been overturned, and there looks to be another round of strikes from there on in.
Increasingly, it's coming down to the workers against big business and their cronies in governments across the globe.
So tell me...which side are you on?
I don't see the Left or the Right doing the working classes any favours – we are merely the cannon fodder in their ideological battles. To take your example of the BA strikes: In the blue corner, wee Willie Walsh's abrasive and arrogant management style has obviously infuriated the workforce to such an extent that the unthinkable is happening, a blue-chip private sector company is facing industrial action by its staff.
ReplyDeleteIn the red corner, the Unite union, headed by Tony Woodley (another lovable character) called these strikes on the eve of a general election to make a political point to the nation and the Labour party: they are Labour's paymasters, and they call the tune. Nobody wants to be stranded thousands of miles from home, and there are plenty of other airlines who would be more than happy to take a slice of BA's market share. Walsh and Woodley want their heads banging together for letting it get to this stage.
What we are seeing with BA is a Walsh/Woodley replay of the Thatcher/Scargill miner's strike, a messy conflict played out for purely political ends, with the workers and passengers caught in the crossfire. If Walsh wins, he will decimate staff levels and set the management tone in Britain for the next decade: if Unite win, BA will not be restructured to compete commercially and will go under.
Another aspect to consider: not only are BA facing a £500+ million loss for the year up to April 2010, even more worryingly they have an estimated £3.7 billion pension “black hole” that may never be filled. If BA do go under, some fat cat somewhere will save a hell of a lot of money. A company pension won't pay out, if the company goes bust. It's not beyond the realms of possibility that these strikes are being engineered specifically to destroy BA, thus offloading any future pension liability.
So this dispute is a win/win whatever happens for the City: a Netto-ised, understaffed BA moves back into profit, so the shareholders are happy, or BA goes tits up, and the pension black hole is written off. The options for BA staff: crap jobs, or no jobs followed by no pensions.
Which side am I on? – the side caught between government/management and the unions. I'm sick of them both.
Ace, you raise a number of good points, particularly about the economics of the situation.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, you write as if the cabin crew at BA had no agency in this dispute, and in comparing it to the Thatcher/Scargill conflict as if the workforce had not been balloted. In fact, 81% voted in favour of the strike on a 79% turnout, a substantial part of the workforce by any estimate. Woodley is not simply dictating industrial action - the workforce want it too.
It will be an inconvenience to passengers, yes, and that is the most regrettable part of the strike. No worker wants to go on strike and lose pay either. But that is what a strike is: a last resort, when all other methods have failed. The withdrawal of labour hurts a lot of people, but compared to people like Walsh who have the media and courts at their disposal (although not completely under his spell, as we've seen) it's the only weapon they've got.