IN AUGUST 2023 the National Policy Forum (NPF) met to discuss possible content for the next Labour Party manifesto. In September, the TUC Congress will meet in Liverpool to determine a programme of action for the trade union movement.  

High on the agenda of both is the extent to which employment rights and trade union freedoms will be protected from the ongoing onslaught of Tory ideological attacks on working people and their families.  

For the Labour Party, the position should be simple. The New Deal for Workers, a Green Paper drafted with the help of the Institute of Employment Rights, was approved by Conference in 2022 and adopted by Keir Starmer as part of his leadership election campaign. It sets out a programme of rights and freedoms which, though not perfect, can unite the labour movement, as highlighted by Usdaw in its motion to TUC.  

Yet press reports indicate that many of the proposals contained in the New Deal were watered down at the NPF. We await to see the outcome as nothing has yet been published. But according to reactions from trade unions, the signs don’t look good. Starmer, in his desire to win the support of the corporate lobby, seems willing to dump key aspects of the New Deal green paper, including rights from day one, a single status of worker and reducing the commitment to rolling out sectoral collective bargaining to the care sector only. 

The question now is to what extent will trade unions stand firm in their demands for better employment rights and the repeal of anti-trade union laws. Appropriate then that the first section of motions to be debated at the TUC addresses those very points.   

Motions 1 to 5 on the TUC agenda highlight the escalation of class war by the Tories. They set out the case for trade union unity in action against the new anti-trade union and anti-protest laws and the continued forcing down of real wages. As the motions overlap significantly, a composite involving up to nine unions is likely. Hopefully, the agreed composite will retain the important strong demands of the original motions.  

The draconian new Minimum Service Levels (MSL) Act is condemned by most. The RMT states it is the biggest attack on trade union rights and values since the 1900 Taff Vale judgement. Unite adds the risk to trade union rights posed by the Public Order Bill and the Retained EU Law Bill (both now Acts) and calls for a future Labour government to “repeal all anti-trade union laws within 12 months of gaining office.” Unite’s call for “a bill of rights providing positive employment and trade union rights — including strong rights to collectively bargain and to take strike action” are reflected in similar demands for positive rights from FBU and UCU.  

 NASUWT calls on the TUC general council to lead united action to “build coalitions to campaign against further restrictive trade union legislation” and to “build an appropriate industrial response to defend the right to strike.”  The UCU makes a similar call for an industrial, political and public campaign to defend the right to strike. NASUWT also calls for online voting for industrial action ballots, which the BDA says should be extended to executive committee and general secretary elections.  

The RMT points to the Tory betrayal of workers after the P&O scandal and notes the MSL Act now gives ministers wide powers to extend the proposed restrictions on strikes across the economy, compelling unions to instruct members with work notices to cross picket lines or face dismissal and fines on the union. 

The RMT and FBU focus on what should be done to defeat the MSL Act with the FBU stating Congress has “no choice but to build mass opposition…including a strategy of  non-compliance and non-co-operation to make the laws unworkable.”  This would include a co-ordinated campaign to demand the non-issuing of work notices by devolved governments, local authorities, mayors, fire authorities, other public bodies and employers. The Scottish government has already declared that it will not issue or enforce work notices.  

Calls for a mass demonstration, 100 per cent solidarity with any trade unions attacked under the law and a campaign of mass non-compliance together with a call from RMT for a special congress event to explore non-compliance and resistance set a strong and determined tone to the debate.  

The 2023 TUC Congress is likely to be the last before the next general election. A united front of trade unions and the many varied community and national working-class campaigns in conflict with the government is essential if we are to win the next election. Standing firm to the principles and policies set out in the unions’ draft agenda for Congress will also send a strong signal to the Labour Party that unions are in no mood to compromise any longer.   

Andy Bain is Communist Party industrial organiser. Carolyn Jones is senior vice-president at the Institute of Employment Rights.