What do we think of the trade unions?
For many decades, the trade unions have worked hand in hand with employers to quell rank and file militancy. Their overriding concern has been industrial harmony not social justice, and so they fail to question the most basic assumptions of the way our society is organised. The objective of many unions has been to keep British companies profitable with union consent as a means of maintaining employment.
However, the truth is that the major companies in Britain are multi-national and employ people all over the world. Ford, Rover and Unilever are examples. These same companies and the vast majority of others have seen their profits (and boardroom salaries) rise to astronomical proportions while their workforces have been slashed to the minimum.
The remaining workers have had to put up with excessive workloads and many have cracked under the pressure. The trade union response to recent developments has been far too inadequate. Surely we deserve something better?
While regular trade unions only organise in single countries and split workers up according to their skills, company or employment status, allowing the members of one union to cross the picket line of another, the IWW believes in one big union, organised world-wide along industrial lines. If, for instance, the nurses carry out some form of industrial action, they should be able to count on the support of the doctors, porters, pharmacists and clerical workers in their hospital.
Many of our members also belong to trade unions where they work where we often agitate for more rank and file democracy. We do not believe in signing away the right to strike, nor do we recognise the authority of the courts to impose injunctions upon unions.
While we are happy to do strike support for workers in struggle whether they are union members or not, we also work towards building a better alternative. In these circumstances we are developing IWW Industrial Unions in the shell of the old TUC unions.