Trade unions are about solidarity. The very name of our movement is symbolic of the fact that we are bound together by ties that go beyond nationality or location.
By John-Paul McHugh, Scottish officer at Community Trade Union
Trade unions are about solidarity. The very name of our movement is symbolic of the fact that we are bound together by ties that go beyond nationality or location.
We stand together with colleagues across the UK, campaigning as much for fairness in Scotland as we do in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
At a time of economic turmoil across the world now more than ever we need to stand together in the pursuit of social justice. Putting up barriers between workers in the rest of the UK makes no sense at all.
And workers across the whole of UK stand united in solidarity. Whether we are from Glasgow, Grimsby or Glamorgan, we know that by working together we can achieve so much more than we could apart.
Where is the social justice argument in abandoning colleagues south of the Border?
I am proud that Community members from across the UK have come together to say with a clear voice that we are better together and will campaign against Alex Salmond’s plan to break up the United Kingdom.
Working together with trade unionists across the UK we have achieved so much. From the National Minimum Wage, which the SNP failed to support, to health and safety legislation, pooling our resources across the UK has resulted in significant improvements for our workers.
Things are far from perfect, but the suggestion that workplace rights would be infinitely better in a separate Scotland is risible.
The complete failure of the SNP to support the Scottish steel industry when contracts were being handed out for the Forth Road Bridge replacement was a taste of what life would be like in a separate Scotland.
The SNP’s economic case for breaking up Britain appears to rest on cutting corporation tax for big business. When companies like Starbucks, Vodafone, Apple, Google and npower stand accused of avoiding tax on a grand scale, Alex Salmond wants to reduce their burden even further.
We are promised Scandinavian style public services and investment but Irish style levels of low taxation. It simply doesn’t stack up.
One area of significant concern to steel workers in Scotland is the impact of separation on pensions. Campaigners fought long and hard to establish the Pensions Protection Fund (PPF), the UK wide scheme which supports workers whose pension schemes go bust. What will happen to this if Scotland breaks away?
The failure of the SNP to provide any credible assurances on the PPF’s future is indicative of the flimsiness of their case.
Working together and pooling our resources is what the trade union movement, and Community in particular, is all about. Creating divisions on the basis of nationality is contrary to our whole world vision. We are so much stronger and better together as part of the UK.
49 Responses to “Trade unionism is not about creating even more divisions based on nationality”
Elliott Steven
‘slash’… hardly. 3% points less than the British average – daft thing to suggest that it’s being ‘slashed’
Haver
Where is the social justice in having Scotland’s working classes trapped in a UK where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer courtesy of the Westminster elite. The Labour Party have a shadow cabinet of 29 MPs, 23 of whom are millionaires. What do these millionaire career politicians know (or care) about the working classes? They’re there to look out for their own kind.
The Labour Party had 13 years in power where they could have removed the muzzles put on the unions by the Tory’s. What did they do? Hee haw – ef aw, is what they did. Labour have already stated they are pro education fees, pro benefit cuts, pro bedroom tax, pro prescription charges, pro removing bus passes. Is that what the author of this piece on nonsense imagines to be social justice? Or is it more about self interest – looking to protect his position and salary?
As for the loss of Scotland’s steel industry and tax cuts for the rich: we could go on at great lengths about that, that and Labour’s complicity in it.
Bill Cruickshank
Seldom have I read such an ill-informed article, it is riddled with lies, distortions and smears. Three examples:
1. ” The very name of our movement is symbolic of the fact that we are bound together by ties that go beyond nationality or location.”
Using this argument, workers all over the world would be “bound together”. Why stop at workers in the British context, what about workers in France, Germany and Timbuktu?
2. “The complete failure of the SNP to support the Scottish steel industry when contracts were being handed out for the Forth Road Bridge replacement was a taste of what life would be like in a separate Scotland.” The facts behind this particular lie are that a Westminster Government closed the steel works in Scotland which could have produced the type of steel necessary to build the Forth Road Bridge replacement. That is, no steel works in Scotland produced the type of steel needed.
3. “We are promised Scandinavian style public services and investment but Irish style levels of low taxation. It simply doesn’t stack up.” I take it this is a reference to the “Common Weal” as outlined by the Jimmy Reid Foundation. If it is, it is wrong on two counts: a) The Common Weal has been “promised” by nobody. The SNP are to look at the proposal. b) The Common Weal does not include a proposal based on low Irish taxation. It is based on Scandinavian models.
A question for Mr. McHugh: Why should Scottish workers have to endure Tory Governments because England votes Tory?
Three of Scotland’s greatest socialist sons believed in an independent Scotland i.e. John McLean, James Connolly and Jimmy Reid; great socialists and great trade unionists Their hope and desire for a self determining Scotland will be achieved next year when Scotland votes YES.
Sunshine on Crieff
You have put the following explanation at the foot of your article:-
“This entry was posted in Social Justice and tagged Alex Salmond, Better Together, internationalism, Scottish Nationalism, SNP, socialism, Trade Unionism, Trade Unions.”
Why have you not included a tag British Nationalism? Because that seems to be your underlying philosophy.
I quote:
“We stand together with colleagues across the UK, campaigning as much for fairness in Scotland as we do in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“At a time of economic turmoil across the world now more than ever we need to stand together in the pursuit of social justice. Putting up barriers between workers in the rest of the UK makes no sense at all.
“And workers across the whole of UK stand united in solidarity. Whether we are from Glasgow, Grimsby or Glamorgan, we know that by working together we can achieve so much more than we could apart.”
Why not stand united in solidarity with workers from other, non-UK nations? After all, whether we are from Glasgow, Gdańsk, Gorakhpur or Guangzhou, we know that by working together we can achieve so much more than we could apart. That doesn’t mean that Scotland needs to be governed from Warsaw, New Delhi, or Beijing, or that our tax revenues be paid to Poland, India or China, with their governments deciding what proportion be spent here.
To suggest that solidarity should be limited to those workers under the control of the UK state is British Nationalism.
And as for this:-
“Where is the social justice argument in abandoning colleagues south of the Border?”
What patronising rubbish! By opting for self-government, people in Scotland would be abandoning no-one, certainly not people ‘south of the border’ (as you put it). The people of England, Wales and Northern Ireland are as capable of making their own choices as anyone else, and do not need rescuing by the people of Scotland.
And they certainly do not need the help of the faux trade unionists that seem to make up the leadership of Community.
Eddie McReadie
Torpedo… Straight to the engine room of HMS Dribble. Kaboom!