theActivist
Issue 118
members in Usdaw
Usdaw, Corbyn and the fight
for working class politics
A�er several general
elec�ons, where policies on
key issues affec�ng the living
standards of working class
people, which had been
supported at Usdaw annual
delegate mee�ngs, featured
in the manifesto of the
Labour Party – the upcoming
general elec�on will instead
have only limited differences
to that of the Tories.
Gone from Labour’s policies
now are na�onalisa�on of
energy companies (currently
se�ng new record profits!)
and Royal Mail (currently run
by a vicious union-bus�ng
management). Nor has
Labour’s minimum wage
demand been updated from
the £10 an hour adopted
when Corbyn became leader
8 years ago, to the new
demand raised by the TUC
and unions (including Usdaw)
of £15 an hour.
Labour under Sir Keir Starmer
won’t support picket lines,
and told last year’s TUC
conference “he wouldn’t
apologise” for this. Starmer’s
shadow health secretary,
Wes Stree�ng, has talked
about expanding the role of
the private sector in the NHS.
This process of shi�ing
Labour back to being a safe
pair of hands for big business,
Usdaw Activist
ADM fringe
Sunday 23rd April, 12.30
Melville Hotel, 70-72
Adelaide Street,
Blackpool, FY1 4LA
Refreshments provided
usdawactivist.wordpress.com ■ usdawactivist@gmail.com ■ Facebook: ‘Usdaw Activist’ ■ Twitter: @UsdawActivist
has gone hand in hand, with
burying the figurehead as
leader of the Labour Party
whilst these policies were
adopted, Jeremy Corbyn.
Usdaw members who were
enthused by a Labour Party
campaigning for policies they
supported, will undoubtedly
be dismayed that the
representa�ves of their
union on Labour’s NEC, two
unelected union officers,
have voted to declare the
party will not accept Jeremy
Corbyn’s candidature for the
party at the next General
Elec�on, despite seemingly
widespread support in his
cons�tuency of Islington
North.
Given Usdaw’s main elected
leadership posi�on, the
General Secretary, has been
held by Blairites for some
�me, then it can be easy for
some to tar the whole union
with that brush. The current
Usdaw NEC’s failure to
substan�ally challenge this
and other decisions made in
the unions name emphasise
that.
But we should not forget that
alongside the rise of Corbyn,
were also steps forward
within Usdaw for ac�ve
supporters of socialist
policies. Alongside the
elec�on of Socialist Party
member Amy Murphy as
Usdaw President between
2018 and 2021, was a block
of Broad Le� NEC members
who, for example, pushed for
the pro-ac�ve stance taken
by the union in the Save Our
Shops and Time for Be�er
Pay campaigns, including
street campaigning.
ENGLAND & WALES
Although pushed back in the
2021 elec�ons, these
posi�ons will be again up for
elec�on in 2024, which
unlike the last elec�on will
not be contested under the
same Covid influenced
restric�ons. Therefore it is
vital for those who wish to
defend the unions radical
policies to get organised
ahead of these elec�ons and
fight to win posi�ons on the
NEC to ensure these policies
are enacted rather than le�
as nice words on paper.
Unlike within Labour, where
witch-hunts have driven out
sec�ons of the party, with
others leaving in dismay,
including those in search of a
new poli�cal home, the
situa�on in Usdaw is
different. In many of the
workplaces Usdaw is
recognised in, it is the only
recognised union, therefore
many members will rightly
chose to stay a member of a
trade union to protect their
rights at work, despite their
cri�cisms and frustra�ons
with the leadership.
Part of the fight for those
policies desperately needed
by workers, is to organise for
them being ac�vely taken up
within the trade union
movement. That’s why
Socialist Party members in
Usdaw are part of the Usdaw
Broad Le�, to work with Jointhe fightback
other le�s in Usdaw to fight
for such a leadership. We
urge Usdaw members who
agree to join it - https://
usdawbroadleft.typeform.c ● England & Wales
om/to/j2machXd
April 2023
IRELAND
Join the union and help us
organise for
• Pay rises at least in line with
inflation for all in retail,
distribution and manufacturing.
•Raise the minimum wage to
£15 an hour for all
•Increase staffing levels in store
to carry out any necessary
cleaning & hygiene duties, bring
back in house outsourced
cleaners. Full time contracts to all
those who want them
•Elected local health & safety
committees/reps, including
overseeing when and if to lift any
measures brought in to deal with
Covid
•No waiting times or lower rates
for sick pay
•Scrap the 2 year qualifying
period - Full employment rights
from day one
• Scrap performance targets
•Time and a half for all overtime
worked over contracted hours
•Reinstate lost paid breaks and
premium payments, double pay
on Sundays and time and a half
on Saturdays. No extension of
Sunday trading
•Trade union control over
changing staff duties, hiring and
firing, and opening time changes
•35 hour working week without
loss of pay
•Open the books to trade union
inspection if companies say they
can’t afford these measures
• Bailout workers, not the bosses
and the speculators. Campaign
for nationalisation to save jobs.
•Democratically elected
committees of workers and
consumers to control prices and
any rationing policies at all levels.
•For socialist planning to put the
needs of workers first, not
shareholders profits.
Join Usdaw - usdaw.org.uk/join
JOINTHE
SOCIALISTS
socialistparty.org.uk
● Scotland
socialistpartyscotland.org.uk
● Ireland militant-left.org
theActivist
Unions must back Corbyn to stand - Prepare
a workers’ list for the general election
We reproduce below the
editorial from issue 1221
of the Socialist which
discusseds the blocking
of Jeremy Corbyn from
standing for Labour in
the context of the wider
trade union movement,
thosewhose reps on
Labour’s NEC mostly
voted against or
abstained, unlike
Usdaw’s representatives.
The Labour National
Executive Committee (NEC)’s
decision, by 22-12, that
Jeremy Corbyn ‘will not be
endorsed as a Labour Party
candidate at the next general
election’ was the latest
demonstration by Starmer
that his ‘New Labour Mark II’
will reliably defend the
capitalist status quo. The
status quo means growing
poverty, real-terms pay cuts,
crumbling and privatised
public services, and
unaffordable housing. So,
with Labour in the grip of the
pro-capitalist Starmerites,
the question of how the
working class can create a
party which stands for its
interests is very sharply
posed.
As Jeremy Corbyn put it,
writing in the Islington
Tribune: “Keir Starmer has
abandoned his pledges to
defend trade unions, bring
key industries into public
ownership, reverse NHS
privatisation, raise
corporation tax, protect free
movement, abolish tuition
fees. Solidarity is now saved
for CEOs, not striking
workers. Trust is placed in
corporate interests, not party
members.”
usdawactivist.wordpress.com ■ usdawactivist@gmail.com ■ Facebook: ‘Usdaw Activist’ ■ Twitter: @UsdawActivist
the bulletin of CWI members in Usdaw
However, yet again, the
ruthlessness of the pro-
capitalist Labour leadership
has been met with silence, or
open retreat, by most
representatives of the Labour
left. Jon Lansman, founder of
Momentum (set up to support
Corbyn’s leadership), got
press coverage for comparing
Starmer’s undemocratic
actions to those of Putin, but
then proceeded to beg
Corbyn not to stand. John
McDonnell MP condemned
the decision, but limited
himself to calls for ‘unity’,
when it is clear to all that
Starmer will only be happy
when the final embers of
Corbynism within Labour
have been pounded to ashes.
Corbyn himself has so far only
obliquely referred to his next
steps by saying: “I have spent
my life fighting for a fairer
society on behalf of the
people of Islington North, and
I have no intention of
stopping now.” This appears
to be a hint that he will stand
in the general election in
Jeremy Corbyn received a standing ovation from delegates when he spoke at Usdaw ADM in 2016.
Islington North, either as an class political
independent or under the representation. So far, the
banner of a new party. response to the NEC decision
has been distinctly muted.
There would be a huge Sarah Woolley, General
response if Corbyn was to Secretary of the Bakers’
now move beyond hints and Union, BFAWU, which
publicly declare his intention disaffiliated from Labour in
to stand, as a step towards 2021, has made a statement
the formation of a new of ‘solidarity with Jeremy
democratic workers’ party Corbyn’ which concludes that
based on the trade unions. if Jeremy stands as an
Millions who are angry at independent her union will
Starmer ‘wiping the slate “support his campaign”. The
clean’ of Labour’s Corbyn-era TSSA union also issued a
anti-austerity policies would statement, which quoted
be enthused by such a call. Nicola Jukes, TSSA Labour
However, it seems that NEC member, saying: “The
Corbyn’s plans may not passing of this motion, on top
become clear until after the of so many disappointing
Islington North Constituency actions under Keir Starmer’s
Labour Party has gone leadership, will prompt
through the selection difficult discussions about
process, and probably been Labour affiliation within our
suspended for trying to select union.”
him as its candidate.
As well as Nicola Jukes,
Working-class political representatives from Unite,
representation CWU, Aslef, and FBU all voted
In the meantime, it is urgent against Starmer’s NEC
that the workers’ movement motion, unlike the Unison
begins to address how to representative – who
solve the crisis of working- abstained – and the GMB
theActivist the bulletin of CWI members in Usdaw
and Musicians’ Union a couple of unions were to resolutions for disaffiliation politically, proving its
representatives who take steps to found a new from Labour will inevitably be credentials to big
shamefully voted with party, millions of workers and on the agenda. Disaffiliating business and the
Starmer. However, at the time young people would be in order to ‘stay out of capitalist establishment.
of writing, BFAWU and TSSA inspired by it. politics’, which effectively It follows the refusal of
are the only national unions means leaving it to the pro- Starmer to support
to have made any public New mass workers’ party capitalist politicians, is not striking workers, and the
statement condemning the Most importantly, the the answer. But any union sacking of Sam Tarry from
NEC’s refusal to support working class having its own disaffiliating to begin the shadow cabinet for
Corbyn, never mind mass party would be an building something new speaking up for union
proposing next steps. important step towards would be a huge step action from the picket
understanding the huge forward. line
Some organisations on the
left are trying to evade the potential collective strength It is possible, however, such • It is confirmation that,
question of what the unions of our class, and beginning to resolutions might not under Starmer’s
should do politically, using envisage how the working mobilise the maximum leadership, Labour does
the excuse that what happens class could run society on a support at this year’s union not represent the
in parliament is less socialist basis, rather than conferences for the next interests of workers and
important than strikes. In being in a constant battle to steps that are needed. The working-class
reality this superficially win a few crumbs from the drive to get the Tories out, and communities
‘radical’ argumentation gives capitalist elite. the desperate hope that
cover for the majority of union At many of this year’s trade continued affiliation might • Therefore, workers need
leaders’ failure to take steps force an incoming Labour political representation
union conferences there are that supports their action
towards a new mass workers’ likely to be a variety of government to give a few
party. crumbs to the working class, against the cost-of-living
resolutions on agendas squeeze, and stands for
relating to political may lead delegates to hold
While it is true that taking back from voting to break policies such as re-
strike action can be a ‘higher representation. Each union nationalisation,
has its own rules and their unions’ link to Labour.
level’ of struggle than voting opposition to cuts, and
in an election, although not traditions. Some are still Also on the agenda of some for the repeal of the Tory
necessarily in all affiliated to Labour, others – conferences will, however, be anti-union laws
circumstances, most of the the RMT and BFAWU – have resolutions – often moved by
million-plus workers who already broken that link, Socialist Party members – to Therefore, this union
have been on strike in recent others have a history of open up political funds and to organisation/conference
months see the ‘staying out’ of politics. While start backing, alongside agrees to:
interrelationship between the these different starting Jeremy Corbyn, other genuine • Instruct the union NEC/
two. The experience of strike points will have an effect, it is pro-trade union, anti-
likely to be an issue of EC/Executive to give full
action has strengthened the austerity candidates in the support to Jeremy
feeling that the working class discussion in almost every general election, as a step
union. Corbyn, and if necessary
also needs a political voice. towards a mass party of the change the rules of the
CWU members can see how a Unions voting for resolutions working class. union to allow the union
party in parliament fighting to support Jeremy Corbyn to campaign for his re-
for nationalisation of Royal Model motion for trade
standing would be an unions: election as the Islington
Mail would aid their struggle, important and very positive North MP if he decides to
as rail workers want a party step. However, what is This union organisation/ stand in the next general
fighting for rail
needed is much more than conference believes that: election, including as an
nationalisation. Across the support for one candidate in independent candidate
whole workers’ movement one constituency. The • This is an utterly
many can see that a mass workers’ movement needs its undemocratic act, • To also provide political
party fighting for the abolitionown political voice. That does removing Jeremy’s right and material support to
of the undemocratic trade not mean simply funding a to take part in a selection other genuine pro-trade
union laws would be an new ‘left project’ but starting contest union, anti-austerity
enormous asset. to build a mass democratic candidates in the general
• As with Jeremy’s election
With no such party currently party based on the trade suspension from the
in existence, the dominant union movement. Parliamentary Labour
mood is to grudgingly vote for At some affiliated union Party, this is a political
Starmer’s New Labour in conferences anger at statement by the Labour
order to get the hated Tories Starmer’s pro-capitalist leadership, moving the
out of office. However, if even policies will mean that party to the right

usdawactivist.wordpress.com ■ usdawactivist@gmail.com ■ Facebook: ‘Usdaw Activist’ ■ Twitter: @UsdawActivist