Trade unions don't 'hold us to ransom', they struggle for better pay and working conditions
The Times newspaper today reports that Unite the union ‘holds Labour to ransom’ over the party leadership contest.
Aside from being part of the Tory press’s campaign to push Labour to the right (even the Sun last week praised signals the party was moving towards a more conservative approach) it also chimes with the media’s anti-union bias, which is present in all stories about employer-employee disputes.
It’s important to bear this in mind as the government’s ‘reforms’ of the right to strike are hammered out and argued over in the coming weeks.
The ‘holding to ransom’ image this morning is identical to how National Rail described planned train strikes by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT).
Mark Carne, Network Rail’s chief executive, said:
“This strike is deliberately timed to cause maximum disruption to families trying to enjoy the half-term break and millions more returning to work after the bank holiday.
I find it deplorable that the RMT can hold the travelling public to ransom in this way. […]
It cannot be right that the unions can hold the country to ransom in this way.”
The idea here, echoed by the press in all stories about unions, is that they have the power to disrupt ‘the public’ (or rather, disrupt the collection of revenue from passengers), and do so purely for money – the word ‘ransom’ making it sound like this money is undeserved.
The Times’s editorial today even says unions are a thing of the past, adding: ‘Trade unionism is a minority cause.’
In fact members of unions are members of the public, and the only power they have is to refuse to work. Collective bargaining is a fundamental right, and one that most people actually recognise and are sympathetic about – everyone understands the struggle for better pay and working conditions.
Except of course for the bosses who would rather have no ‘disruption’ to business as usual.
Workers’ rights is part of the essence of left-wing progressive politics. The uniform bias against organised labour in the media in its language and how the story is presented is one of the most gross and blatant – but overlooked – example of right-wing bias in the media.
In the name of ‘the public’ the papers actually do the work of the bosses.
Adam Barnett is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow MediaWatch on Twitter
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13 Responses to “Tory press takes the side of the bosses with its anti-union bias”
Gerschwin
That’s because you assume it’s important to us to make the distinction, it’s not – one turd is much the same as any other as far as we’re concerned, whatever label one puts on it.
Keith M
Working people have benefited as a result of the struggles of workers in the past to obtain decent working conditions, wages etc. We have already seen how the nasty party has begun to make life more difficult and yet workers vote for them – talk about turkeys voting for Christmas!
steroflex
Don’t you ever listen?
Old men like myself remember the Fred Kite mentality and the 1970s when the TUs wrecked our industry by fighting the management instead of (as in Germany) working along with it.
We also remember the way Mrs Thatcher fought and won when the coal industry was wrecked by Arthur Scargill who also brought down the Heath government. If we had someone to speak up for coal today against Greenpeace, we might not be facing blackouts when the coal fired power stations close..
The general public, as Mr Blair and Mr Mandelson noted do not like the Unions. Mrs Sturgeon won the election for the Conservatives.
Mr McCluskey is really scary with the things he is saying too. How much is he accepting as his just rewards too?
Ten years in the wilderness if you do not listen again.
steroflex
Please note that immigrants of all stripes and origins are not included in the Unions at the moment.
steroflex
If Unions were still democratic – I was in the NAS when it was democratically run – they were – excellent. they fought for me when I had an argument with management (and we won too). I wonder now, though if the slur of “Union Barons” rings true. I am not at all sure that the Union bosses have very much to do with the shop floor.