According to the Guardian (23 April, union leaders at last week's Scottish TUC were privately noting indicators that for the first time in many years trade union membership appears to be falling — a direct result of unemployment.
Unemployment doubled the Labour government. was a result of the world slump; in part a result of Labour's deflationary policies of cuts in government expenBut the spiral of unemployment is being given a particularly vicious twist by the Tories' monetarist policies. • What do the Tories' policies aim The basic problem Thatcher, Joseph and Howe are trying to come to grips with is the decline Monetarism ting the money As the slump deepens, that less profitable down. in profitability of British capitalism.
- the policy of savagely cutting public expenditure and restricsupply and credit aims to start to deal with this problem by forcing up labour productivity.
, older and will be closed The threat of unemployment will put massive pressure on trade unionists to give up gains in working practices and wages in order preserve jobs. This is exactly what is happening in British Leyland. Profitability will thus be driven up as fewer workers in a smaller industrial sector work harder to produce more. whole power and bargaining position of the trade unions will be consequently weakened.
Of course, the drive for higher labour productivity and higher profits will be broken if real wages go up as a conscquence. But what ogists are banking on is the The tion that unemployment will so crip ple the power of the trade unions that real wages will not rise in line with profitability. feeling mass in these spending Tory ideolassumpCHAPPLE You for a 35-hour week, but hours worked in most industries show no sign of reduction. It is time that we forced the TUC to act in defence of jobs. This means every union resisting closures through a policy of work-sharing, and enforcing a 35-hour week throughout manufacturing industry.
Every threatened closure should be met by occupations supported by the whole labour movement. And the campaign to resist all cuts in social must be redoubled. The campaign for these policies must be brought home to this year's TUC and Labour Party conferences.
At stake is not just the misery of unemployment for thousands, but the strength of the organised trade union movement as a whole.