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Challenging New Labour

Going to Acas will delay, but cannot postpone for long, the moment when the FBU and other trade unionists have to face up to the following:

• New Labour will only "negotiate" on its terms. These are the destruction of fire service conditions and jobs by way of the Bain report's proposals leaked to The Times on December 5
• Blair, Brown and Prescott have put New Labour's political and economic authority as well as the future of the government on the line in this dispute
• the government wants to break the FBU to teach a lesson to all those who challenge privatisation of public services and growing wage inequality
• Blair's party long ago decided to base itself on right-wing middle class voters, corporate interests and financiers. It has replaced the Tories as the major party of greed and profit
• New Labour does not give a damn for anyone else's views and certainly not those of the trade unions who founded the original party
• the coming Anglo-American war and occupation of Iraq shows that New Labour is a warmongering voice for global business that will profit from a war for oil
• most ordinary working people in Britain now have no party that is prepared to represent their interests and aspirations.

Trade union leaders, the TUC and 'left' MPs fool nobody but themselves when they insist that New Labour is some mistake, or that a "few elements" are leading Labour astray. Their calls for workers to "recapture" Labour and return it to some mythical golden age is a dangerous delusion about the true, capitalist nature of this government.

By contrast, more and more rank-and-file members recognise the need to create alternative political representation to advance their hopes for the future. Firefighters want their contribution to society recognised with a living wage and to ensure that changes to working practices are not at the expense of either their jobs or the communities they serve.

None of this is on offer in Britain Plc, a country driven by commercial considerations and profit margins. This should stimulate the debate on the building of a political voice beyond New Labour and what kind of society we want to live in.

The TUC is desperate for Acas to show that it is somehow possible to do business with New Labour and avoid confrontation. But Acas cannot deliver a fair deal for the firefighters and the FBU is therefore posed with resuming the struggle. The FBU cannot defeat New Labour on its own. It should call on other union leaders to turn their fine words into supportive strike action. The challenge is one for the whole trade union movement.

Movement for a Socialist Future
7 December 2002