Unrepresentative Representatives
Len McCluskey, the boss of Unite, is a bit of a dinosaur if you ask me and instead of making silly threats about defying any new laws over strike ballots, he should be concentrating his efforts on getting the turnouts in strike ballots up to respectable levels.
Because if that happened then the problem would simply disappear - in Germany, for example, 75% of union members in IG Metall have to participate in a strike ballot before the result is valid.
The comparison Len makes with the turnout in parliamentary elections is completely bogus because a strike is not electing a person who is in competition with others, nor is the conduct of a strike subject to checks and balances that surround politicians.
So the general secretary of the TUC, Frances O'Grady, is right to highlight the need to improve turnout by using different ways of voting such as email which we could do with in other elections as well, by the way, although the 85% turnout in Scotland's independence referendum shows that people are enthusiastic when they know their views really count.
The problem for union bosses like Len is that they are tribal and partisan in their pro-Labour political views which are not shared by ordinary union members.
Since Ed Miliband became Labour leader in 2010 Unite has handed over £14 million of its members' money to the Labour Party, yet in Scotland Labour enjoys only 25% or so of the popular vote.
In other words Unite which claims to be a representative organisation is not reflecting or representing the views of its members.
Len McCluskey issues warning over higher threshold on strike ballots
Leader of Unite says he would not respect Conservative law change as Vince Cable attacks Tories for ‘ideological aversion’ to trade unions
Leader of Unite says he would not respect Conservative law change as Vince Cable attacks Tories for ‘ideological aversion’ to trade unions
Len McCluskey: ‘When the law is misguided, when it oppresses the people and removes their freedoms, can we respect it?’ Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA
Nicholas Watt - The Guardian
Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the Unite trade union, has warned that he would be prepared to hold unlawful strikes if the Conservatives change the law after the general election to enforce a higher threshold on strike ballots. As Vince Cable attacked the Tories for an “ideological aversion” to trade unions, McCluskey said he would not respect a new law that increased the threshold.
David Cameron is expected to include in the Tory general election manifesto a proposal to raise the threshold in trade union strike ballots. Boris Johnson has suggested this could be as high as 50%.
The Unite general secretary insisted in a speech to trade union lawyers in London that he would not respect such a law. McCluskey said: “Should there be a Conservative majority in May, there will be a new attack on trade union rights and democracy. The bar for a strike ballot will be raised to a level which hardly any MPs would get over in their own constituencies, by a government which has refused our requests to use modern, more effective balloting methods.
“When the law is misguided, when it oppresses the people and removes their freedoms, can we respect it? I am not really posing the question. I’m giving you the answer. It ain’t going to happen.”
McCluskey added: “Unite remains determined to operate ever more effectively within the law, even when that law is an ass and ill serves our people. But restricting the right to strike, attacking the capacity for trade unions to organise and conduct our own business in line with our own rules, belong to last century’s consensus.”
McCluskey intervened as the business secretary said that turnout in trade union strike ballots could be increased through the “sensible” reform of e-balloting rather than “ideological” Tory plans to impose a threshold for a vote. In a reminder of the deep divisions between the coalition parties over the issue, the business secretary accused the Tories of having an “ideological aversion” to trade unions as he unveils plans for e-balloting with the TUC.
Cable said, in a joint announcement with the TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, that the business department has established a task force to examine how e-balloting could be introduced within current legislation. The Lib Dems will include a commitment in their general election manifesto to introduce e-balloting, a reform that could increase turnout in strike ballots to the 50% threshold the Tories are thinking of imposing through legislation.
Cable said: “We currently enjoy some of the best industrial relations in a generation, with overall strike days at an all-time low. Unions have been central to our economic recovery by keeping employees flexible, so we could keep Britain working. The Conservatives have an ideological aversion to trade unions and have repeatedly tried – and failed – during this parliament to curtail their mandate, such as trying to impose an arbitrary minimum threshold for vote turnouts.
“I favour more sensible reform by enabling unions to ballot their members using modern electronic voting and I have instructed my officials to work out how we can make this compatible with the current legal framework. This will increase the democratic legitimacy of any vote and the Liberal Democrats will be making the implementation of e-balloting a manifesto commitment.”
O’Grady said: “It is time to bring union balloting into the 21st century. Like it or not, the postal service is only one way of communicating today, and it is time that union members had a proper choice of how they exercise their vote on important decisions in ways that preserve security and confidentiality, but boost turnout and participation. It is now common in organisations such as political parties, and this should be a non-controversial move welcomed by anyone that values democracy.”
Nicholas Watt - The Guardian
Len McCluskey, the general secretary of the Unite trade union, has warned that he would be prepared to hold unlawful strikes if the Conservatives change the law after the general election to enforce a higher threshold on strike ballots. As Vince Cable attacked the Tories for an “ideological aversion” to trade unions, McCluskey said he would not respect a new law that increased the threshold.
David Cameron is expected to include in the Tory general election manifesto a proposal to raise the threshold in trade union strike ballots. Boris Johnson has suggested this could be as high as 50%.
The Unite general secretary insisted in a speech to trade union lawyers in London that he would not respect such a law. McCluskey said: “Should there be a Conservative majority in May, there will be a new attack on trade union rights and democracy. The bar for a strike ballot will be raised to a level which hardly any MPs would get over in their own constituencies, by a government which has refused our requests to use modern, more effective balloting methods.
“When the law is misguided, when it oppresses the people and removes their freedoms, can we respect it? I am not really posing the question. I’m giving you the answer. It ain’t going to happen.”
McCluskey added: “Unite remains determined to operate ever more effectively within the law, even when that law is an ass and ill serves our people. But restricting the right to strike, attacking the capacity for trade unions to organise and conduct our own business in line with our own rules, belong to last century’s consensus.”
McCluskey intervened as the business secretary said that turnout in trade union strike ballots could be increased through the “sensible” reform of e-balloting rather than “ideological” Tory plans to impose a threshold for a vote. In a reminder of the deep divisions between the coalition parties over the issue, the business secretary accused the Tories of having an “ideological aversion” to trade unions as he unveils plans for e-balloting with the TUC.
Cable said, in a joint announcement with the TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady, that the business department has established a task force to examine how e-balloting could be introduced within current legislation. The Lib Dems will include a commitment in their general election manifesto to introduce e-balloting, a reform that could increase turnout in strike ballots to the 50% threshold the Tories are thinking of imposing through legislation.
Cable said: “We currently enjoy some of the best industrial relations in a generation, with overall strike days at an all-time low. Unions have been central to our economic recovery by keeping employees flexible, so we could keep Britain working. The Conservatives have an ideological aversion to trade unions and have repeatedly tried – and failed – during this parliament to curtail their mandate, such as trying to impose an arbitrary minimum threshold for vote turnouts.
“I favour more sensible reform by enabling unions to ballot their members using modern electronic voting and I have instructed my officials to work out how we can make this compatible with the current legal framework. This will increase the democratic legitimacy of any vote and the Liberal Democrats will be making the implementation of e-balloting a manifesto commitment.”
O’Grady said: “It is time to bring union balloting into the 21st century. Like it or not, the postal service is only one way of communicating today, and it is time that union members had a proper choice of how they exercise their vote on important decisions in ways that preserve security and confidentiality, but boost turnout and participation. It is now common in organisations such as political parties, and this should be a non-controversial move welcomed by anyone that values democracy.”
