Though Cowards Flinch

Staff on strike at HMP Elmley

In 2008, following Gordon Brown’s announcement of severe inroads into the public sector workforce, and the services which people depend on, the TUC meeting in Brighton declared that there would be co-ordinated action to stop the cuts. Two years later, this demand is again on the lips of members – and again little is likely to be done.

Unions likely to be involved in strike action aren’t looking for pay-rises, they’re looking to defend the services they operate against pay cuts. In services like prisons, where a Damoclean sword hangs above Senior Officers and where recruitment has been frozen, the attitude of the government to spending puts lives at risk.

It also puts crime rates at risk; as Brian Caton, one of the leaders of the Prison Officers’ Association, has said, crowded and understaffed prisons mean retreats from the good practice outlined by previous reviews – such as at the enquiry following the death of Zahid Mubarek in custody. The worry on the ground is that somewhere in Whitehall there is a figure of increased deaths in custody which government officials are prepared to accept.

This is reflected in the official response to Sunday’s death of a prisoner following assault in his cell. The government have simply dismissed objections from staff on the ground that their workload is increasing, as it will, to encompass good practice, while staffing and support levels are decreasing.

There could not be a starker example that politicians, isolated in their Westminster haven, could not care less about the effects of these cuts on people. Whether it’s less housing for the estimated five million people (Local Gov’t Association figure) on council waiting lists or the people whose benefits are in the firing line, the Con-Lib government is prepared to put the pain of economic recovery on them, whilst Cameron preens about ‘fair’ cuts and future jobs.

And does nothing at all about the 7.8% of working age people currently unemployed. Well, actually that’s not true. He and his government are prepared to label them all workshy – thus Chris Grayling,

“What concerns me in today’s figures is that while there are more jobs in the economy there is too little evidence of them being taken up by the five million people who were stranded on out-of-work benefits under the previous Government.”

So, naturally, workers are looking to their unions and to the TUC to solve problems. Is the TUC going to ride into the rescue with co-ordination of strike action? Not likely. Determined action has been put off until next Spring. The most we’ll see this year are demonstrations in Brussels, at the Tory conference and some assorted lobbying and activist activities.

Unite, the single biggest union in the country, has at least made a head-bob towards preparing a determined campaign by calling together groups of activists for each area. This is a forward step, though the attitude to union organisers is often that they are jobsworths who take bungs from management, and of union NECs that they couldn’t find their bumhole with both hands and a flashlight.

That can only be addressed through an earnest engagement and responsive attitude that is often lacking from union proceedings, naming none in particular.

The TUC and the various unions will have to shoulder the responsibility for opposing these cuts; the alternative is another decade of Cameron, as a demoralised working class is a recipe for Conservative election victories.