DOUG NICHOLLS believes that the trade union movement is in for tough times, with the Tory government already deploying its shock and awe tactics across the board.

This has seen direct attacks on trade union rights to strike, with more attacks promised on facility time, check-off and political funding.

In addition, there are attacks on the Human Rights Act — which are aimed against the representatives of working people.

“We now face a dangerous situation in Britain. One in four voted for the Tories and yet the Tories cannot be easily removed from office,” says Nicholls, who sees the five-year parliament legislation as making matters even more difficult when it comes to removing an unpopular government.

Nicholls believes that the labour movement needs to recognise the size of the threat posed by the new government and organise accordingly.

This means taking certain actions that don’t involve wasting resources and energy.

“We need to organise and campaign in such a way that we build up our forces and do maximum damage to our opposition at minimum cost to ourselves and to ensure the Tories never get back in again, no matter how much they gerrymander the boundaries,” Nicholls says.

He believes that trade unions have been deliberately marginalised and silenced.

“At one extreme we have Colombia and the murder of trade unionists. At the other you have Britain and the drip, drip torture of anti-union legislation, mass unemployment and deindustrialisation and near media blackout of trade union voices,” says Nicholls, who wants to see the development of independent media with perhaps an internet TV station, sympathetic to unions, run by unions.

Nicholls wants a focus on trade union education, preparing the leaders of tomorrow.

On this theme, the General Federation of Trade Unions has signed a partnership agreement with the University of Wolverhampton, working with progressive academics to spread the word.

“We are well placed too over the next five years to focus on the remaining priority in the movement, the engagement of young leaders,” he says.

“I will challenge any trade unionist or affiliate that is not seriously developing the youth manifesto we have created and anyone who is blocking the rise of young members in our ranks. Quite simply we need to develop thousands of young workers this year.”

Nicholls also believes that there needs to be constitutional change in the country with a new political settlement which includes reform of the voting system. He believes that the present system suits only the 1 per cent not the 99 per cent.

The GFTU also sees the need to build broader alliances with the likes of charities and grassroots direct action organisations to fight back against the upcoming onslaught.

Nicholls sees a rocky road ahead but one that he believes that the trade unions can emerge from victorious.

By Paul Donovan