Unemployment is not an accident. Mass unemployment has been tolerated and encouraged by both Tory and Labour governments because it is an essential weapon in the bosses' armoury. because it can be used to keep wages down and thus to restore or increase profit levels. The present increase in unemployment reflects the fact that in recent years the organised working class has temporarily succeeded in increasing the share of wages in the national income at the expense of profits. For such a trend to continue would be nothing short of disastrous for the employers and their government (be it Tory or Labour). To solve their problems and restore their profits they must smash working class militancy. As a leading City journal, The Banker, recently stated, "less unemployment would surely intensify the militant union pressure for an ever-growing share of wages in the national income". You face unemployment because it is a vital part of the employers' attack on the living standards of you and your fellow workers.
The present Tory government and its Labour predecessor have followed policies which attack the working class in at least four ways.
1. Through increased unemployment. Under Labour, unemployment doubled to 600,000. Under the Tories, unemployment has increased to 800,000 and is still on the way up. Taking individual companies, the Tories are prepared to see 27,000 men's jobs threatened through the collapse of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders while Labour gave a knighthood to Arnold Weinstock after he had sacked 15,000 GEC workers.
2. Through attacks on individual groups of workers. The Labour Party carried on a vicious campaign in 1966 against the seamen even though they were one of the worst paid sections of the working class. The Tories did not hesitate to try to crush the Post Office workers and to whip up "public opinion" against the power workers. They openly say that their aim is to force wage increases below the increase in the cost of living.
3. Through attacks on the Social Services. The Labour Party increased charges on National Health Service teeth and spectacles, increased the tax of less well-paid workers, and abolished the principle of universal family allowances. The Tories have increased prescription charges, abolished free school milk, increased school meal charges, and aim to greatly increase charges for housing.
4. Through laws against the Trade Unions. Labour's In Place of Strife proposals would have introduced secret ballots, allowed the fining and imprisoning of workers, and would have made easy the victimisation of shop stewards. The new Tory anti-union laws do exactly the same.
Undoubtedly it is now necessary to fight the Tories with all the organisational strength of the working class. That means making it impossible for them to govern by defying and breaking all the reactionary laws which they pass (e.g. non-registration, non-payment of fines by trade unions, etc.) But it would be a very bad mistake to think that replacing the Tories with and eventually had to give up. The extension of this policy to the whole of the trade union movement would represent a tremendous step forward in the struggle against unemployment.
Secondly, some union members are now adopting much stronger measures in the fight against unemployment. Workers at the Rotax works in West London agreed to physically prevent the removal of machinery from a factory which the management had declared it was going to close. At Upper Clyde Shipbuilders the men have agreed to occupy the yards if the government tries to close them.
Tough measures are always necessary when dealing with a government if the unions are to have a chance of winning. Tactics such as petitions and lobbies of Parliament are worse than useless as the UCS men found out when they went to Downing Street. It is only tough action right from the beginning which can defeat governments when they create unemployment or attack the working class in other ways.
But the most important way of protecting jobs is to fight for union control of hiring and firing. This means control by the unions of the number of people employed in an industry and of how work is allocated if there is a rundown in the industry, and involves measures such as the introduction of work sharing instead of redundancies. Part of this struggle is the traditional trade union fight for a shorter working week. A 30 hour week, which DATA is already campaigning for, would greatly increase the number of jobs available. Tied to the question of a shorter working week is the question of overtime: working overtime needs to be made conditional on a guarantee of no redundancies or short time in an industry or firm. ORGANISING THE UNEMPLOYED Employers have always tried to use the existence of a mass of unemployed, unorganised workers to frighten workers still in jobs into accepting lower wages and worse conditions. It is therefore vital from the point of view both of those in work and of those out of work that the unemployed are organised. Unfortunately, trade unions have not always done the job which needs to be done. At the crudest possible level, the unemployed pay lower dues than members in employment and for that reason alone some union officials are unwilling or completely refuse to do anything about their unemployed members. Thus the TUC refused to support the South Wales "hunger" marches of the unemployed in the 1930s. For the trade union official who is basically interested in a quiet life, the unemployed are an inconvenient problem. Their problems are usually those of vicious 120000 UNEMPLOY WE SHALLD WEST OF IN THE NOT BE SCOTL Social Security officers, hire purchase companies, rent collectors, etc. which can only be dealt with on an individual basis and therefore disturb the comfortable routine which the official has built up for himself.
Most important of all, the unemployed are a potentially explosive section of the population because their problems are so pressing and so urgent. The belief that society is basically all right may seem reasonable if you are earning £25 a week, but is much less convincing if you are having to live on the dole on E8 a week. For all these reasons we can judge how serious a union and its officials are about dealing with the real problems of workers by how seriously they take the question of organising the unemployed.
As far as payments to the unemployed are concerned, what is needed is the slogan of five days work or five days pay. In other words, if capitalism cannot provide work then that is the fault of capitalism and not of the unemployed, and the unemployed should not suffer because capitalism cannot provide them with a job. Already in some industries victories have been won with firms agreeing to pay men for any time they are laid off. This needs to be extended to cover those out of work for longer periods.
Because the trade unions have tended to fail in their duty to the unemployed, organisations such as Claimants Unions have sprung up in many areas. These do a tremendous job in ensuring that the unemployed and others get their full benefits, in preventing the social security departments from intimidating people, and in providing at least basic organisation of unemployed workers. This work is very valuable, but it is not sufficient. Only the trade unions themselves have the money and the resources in terms of full-time organisers to organise the unemployed on a mass scale, and it is in their direct interest to see that the unemployed are represented on Trades Councils, inside trade unions, that branch funds are devoted to organising the unemployed, and so on. The long-term aim of Claimants Unions must not be to organise the unemployed in separate organisations but to fight to ensure that both employed and unemployed workers are represented in all the organisations of the working class movement. Some steps are already being taken in this direction-for example, the largest TGWU branch in the country has recently given money to the Claimants Union.
A POLITICAL STRUGGLE Although trade unions can do a great deal both to prevent unemployment, and in the organising of the unemployed, their effectiveness will the RIGH LIQUIDATE 200 always be restricted by the fact that the huge power of the government remains in the hands of those who are actively supporting and creat ing unemployment. Unless a political fight is waged against the Tory government it can attack the working class through taxation policy, cuts in the social services, forcing rent increases by local councils and in a whole host of other ways. The Tory government must be defeated in its aims if any progress is to be made.
However, simply replacing the Tories with Labour will not do much good. To see why it is only necessary to remember the last Labour government. The trade unions need to prepare a plan for fighting regardless of which party is in power. Certain actions such as bans on overtime, bans on productivity deals, introduction of worksharing, etc. can be introduced at once. But these can only be short-term measures. When it comes to the crunch it is only a change in the control of the economy that can solve the problem of unemployment. The present suggestions of the TUC for expanding the economy are extremely dangerous precisely because they leave control over investment in the hands of private employers, who will only increase their investment if the government continues and extends its attacks on the working class. Only measures of nationalisation and workers control will genuinely safeguard the jobs of workers. The political attacks of the employers' government must be countered with a political alternative: a government based on the organisations of the working class. This is a political solution which will involve a big political struggle both inside and outside the Labour Party.
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