Tooth & Nail: Billy Bragg - Tolpuddle 2013

Colleagues,

I am particularlyy proud of the fact the Ruskin College is the only institution of its kind to return to Tolpuddle year-after-year.

And this year the appearance of Billy Bragg is made all the more special as my wife has brougnt me tickets to see Mr. Bragg in Birmingham as part of the tour for his new album.

So, thanks Billy for supporting Tolpuddle once again and see you in Birmingham in November!

In Solidarity

Ian

A Workers' Society: The El-Ghazl Factory, Mahalla, Egypt

Colleagues,

Long before mass, popular resistance brought down the Mubarak regime, ushering in the doomed Islamist Morsi, I spent a glorious period in Egypt exploring at close quarters the work of the unofficial pro-union Centre for Workers & Trade Union Services CWTUS (http://www.ctuws.com/Default.aspx).

The leader of the Centre, Kamal Abbas (of whom I have blogged before) has been serially brutalised by the regime but nevertheless was party to the historic creation of official, independent new federation of Egyptian trade unions born in the aftermath of Mubarak and before Morsi (http://www.ctuws.com/Default.aspx?item=1287).

A distinct feature of Egyptian workplace activism that I was familiar with before my visit, but that I learnt more of in my time there, was that despite the official labour movement acting as a mouthpiece for Mubarak, there thrived a dominant, independent labour movement (of which CWTUS and other NGOs provided support) which bore bitter, constant state-inspired assault but which remained undimished helping to inspire the populist backlash rendered most vivid in Tahrir Square in 2011.

The filmmakers Cristina Bocchialini and Ayman El Gazwy have created a rich, vivid portrayal of this secular, working class movement bound within the lives of 'a workers' society' at the gigantic El-Ghazl factory in Mahalla, Egypt.

The strapline for the film is all you need to know of why you must watch this eye witness "insight on the cauldron of revolt where workers inspired an uprising".

To view the film click on this link: http://aje.me/yqr2zN

There is some helpful background historical material here: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/revolutionthrougharabeyes/2012/01/201213013135991429.html

In Solidarity

Ian

Welcome to the New World Order

Colleagues,

One of my all time favourite Springsteen tracks (The Ghost of Tom Joad) carriers the profound lyrics

Shelter line stretchin' 'round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the Southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

Finishing the song with narrative lifted directly from The Grapes of Wrath

Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

I recommend a reading of the book as it is a classic of sociological analysis of the implications of industrialisation, economic degradation but also of the triumph of the human spirit.

I am posting the item as I have returned to the song recently and never cease to be in awe of how in crafting its structure it allows for the layering of the US depression era in the current context of the economic crisis.

YouTube has many different live versions of the song, this is one of the best.

In Solidarity

Ian

Small Unions: Part of the Big Picture

Colleagues,

Working for the GFTU, the UK’s federation for small, specialist unions and professional associations, it is always of interest when there is a development which helps (re)inform our labour movement understanding of the way in which small groups of workers comprising their own bargaining unit are of critical relevance to organising strategy.



Grunwick: An insight upon state fear of worker mobilisation

Classic workers’ struggles represented throughout the UK’s labour history from Tolpuddle to Grunwick illustrates the power of small groups of workers to challenge employer and state power. Indeed, direct state aggression/violence in both of these cases represents a critically valuable insight on the potentially far-reaching implications of worker resistance and of what the state feared.

So the current response of employers and their acolytes across right wing politics in the US around the mis-named micro unions is a contemporary perspective on an historic tradition of labour movement expansion of new forms and models of collective representation of workers.

In a fascinating piece which was published recently by In These Times there is an important investigation of the way in which the employer-right-wing-lobby nexus is attempting to curtail the capacity of independent small groups of workers to gain formal recognition for collective bargaining purposes.

The nexus is attempting to re-classify, re-brand and toxify an age-old tradition of workers voluntarily and organically seeking to gain recognition as a means of either creating a new, standalone union or gaining additional power through merger with a larger, long-standing union or federation. Thus the term ‘micro union’ has been crafted to suggest that officials from the US National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have been actively encouraging groups of workers to organise and thereby offering them easier access to recognition.

As Bruce Vail outlines in the In These Times piece

A micro-union, in short, is a relatively new description for a time-worn labor organizing technique that focuses on smaller, sharply defined groups of workers for the purpose of creating collective workplace action. That tactic, although nothing new, rubs against the grain of the popular imagination of labor organizing as a mass movement against large, highly visible corporations.

In short, what is happening in the US is an attempt to circumvent by statute the most natural form of expression on the part of workers: the right to collectivise their interests and mobilise these in the form of a union.

Although there is some suggestion that the latest attempt to curb this tradition will fail the article is well-worth a read regardless, if nothing else for a sense in the US of the right-wing backlash in the face of a nascent upturn in the appeal of unions as a voice for workers:

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15183/what_are_micro-unions_and_why_is_big_business_so_upset_about_them/

In Solidarity

Ian

The Future for Rebel Cities

Colleagues

As I’ve spent the last couple of days watching the state’s response to the Carnival against Capitalism in London, formed as to the looming G8 summit and recognising London’s pivotal role in supporting the architecture of global capitalism, it has reminded me of the central thrust of David Harvey’s critically important 2012 publication Rebel Cities.

Here, Harvey partly laments the decline of the urban space as the site of and location for anti-capitalist resistance and explores this through an examination of cities from South Africa to India. In doing so though he critically navigates something vital to understanding the context of the on-going Carnival battles in London.

Harvey predicates the first part of his work on the work of the French philosopher, Henry Lefebvre, and his ‘right to the city’ thesis. Lefebvre’s approach to an understanding of the role of the city as a site of resistance is made all the more important with his analysis of the ‘urbanisation of capital’ and that in the post-war era urbanisation was replacing industrialisation as a means of survival for capitalism.

Crucially, Lefebvre argues, the occupation and control of space (through property ownership and the use/abuse of rent) – and in particular sites of strategic economic and and political importance becomes, from a Marxist perspective, a new means of understanding the strategy of capitalist accumulation. In this new analysis of space however Lefebvre contends that as capitalism witnesses a reduction in the means by which production offers a route to accumulation, space and property provide a politically and financially profitable means via which to maintain predominance as an economic theory.

Harvey is worth reading for much more than a revisiting of Lefebvre, not least in understanding how urban spaces can provide an important location for the generation and propagation of anti-capitalist activity, but in this ultimate urban call to arms it is important that we do not lose sight or understanding of why the state would invest so much time and energy in defending the City of London whilst so much of the UK remains in neglect.

In Solidarity

Ian

My Generation: Joining the Intergenerational Dots

Colleagues,

 

Life has been fairly frantic recently and whilst I've been keen to follow-up on the focus on Amazon et al and the thread that tax status and the omnipetence of multinationals there's been little time to sit down and get my thoughts together.

 

In the interim though just a brief note on a wholly worthwhile morning spent making the connection between differing parts of the UK's labour movement. On behalf of The Age & Employment Network (TAEN) which is now part of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) I was asked to chair a panel session (entitled My Generation) during the residential event for new National Union of Students (NUS) further education (FE) sabbatical officers.

 

TAEN is just ending a year-long European project seeking to generate good practice in the intergenerational engagement in civic and political life. To round off this project TAEN (www.taen.org.uk) was able to make a link with the NUS on the basis of exploring how differeing age groups, within the context of education and/or employment, could benefit from greater engagement with civil society institutions like the NUS and workplace trade unions.

I was particularly pleased to discover that the panel was to include the newly elected NUS President Toni Pearce (second from left above) who makes history as the first President to come from an FE background and who doesn't hold a degree. On a personal note, having sprung from Ruskin College in the early 90's as someone else without a first degree, and spent a significant period of my teaching career in this sector with adult learners, Toni's election is a welcome break from the usual suspects who tread a well worn path via the NUS into political life or that of the quancocracy or similar.

 

Also joining the panel was the indomitable Dot Gibson of the National Pensions Convention (http://npcuk.org/) (middle of picture above) and it was a genuine honour to share a platform with someone who has spent a significant part of their life fighting so hard for the rights of others. Unbeknown to Dot she now has a starring role in Ken Loach's new film, the Spirit of '45 - and you are thoroughly recommended to see it: http://www.thespiritof45.com/.

Also joining us was Keith Frost (last on right above) who has worked for TAEN and was joining Dot in providing for the panel discussion an historical perspective on the changing nature of work and of the differing contributions that older workers and learners can bring to bodies like the NUS.

 

The debate itself was thought provoking and on a personal note I have to say how rewarding it is to be able to hear from speakers representing age groups quite distinct from those of the mainstream TU officers and activists that my day-to-day work involves. The views expressed represented a genuine commitment to bring together student groups from diverse backgrounds in the different FE institutions the students were drawn from. All of those who spoke understood that the challenge of being an FE student can be just as difficult for those who are 'mature', part-time and carers.

 

The contributions of Dot and Keith helped underline the need for these sabbatical officers to tap into an additional, experienced body of support for the work of the NUS from older, and non-traditional leaners. In concluding the session Toni reinforced a message that was distinct in her election campaign, which was to re-energise the work in the NUS in FE and help bring the distinct voice of this often marginalised group of learners to the forefront of the union's work. I have no doubt that she will work hard at doing this, and I wish her, and the new NUS sabbatical officers in FE all the very best in meeting this goal.

 

In Solidarity

 

Ian

Who Rules When There are no Rules?

Colleague, the allies at the Tax Justice Network (TJN) have beat me to an analysis of a great piece in the FT on April 30 about Amazon’s US political machinery which appeared as part of the paper’s tax competition and regimes series.

My particular interest in the piece however wasn’t the sheer arrogance of Amazon in rebuking countries for their effrontery in requesting that the firm comply with domestic and business taxation duties, but moreso how the article helped to articulate a corporate strategy of naked ambivalence towards any form of civil or moral responsibility to the nation states in which they operate.

There are indeed many on the right of political life who would argue that Amazon’s brutalist approach to managing its affairs are what comes within the domain at operating beyond the fringes of mainstream land-based, tax paying business – a kind of cowboy utopia. When, however, the US Congress now attempts to force online retailers to gather tax what we can see is the full force of a complex corporate assault upon federal and state’s rights to assert a dominant, restraining influence on business behaviour.

As we have seen with Amazon’s response to the UK Treasury select committee when challenged over its tax avoidance behaviour it threatens the relocation of jobs and divestment and much the same has happened in the US, backed by legions of lobbyists, and supported by a rabid army of anti-tax Republicans and libertarians.

This is all very much redolent of what I have written of in this blog before; an inherently mercenary business approach which expects to be able to cleave any advantage from its largescale business operations, whilst at the same time avoiding any responsibility that accrues from operating at that size and scale. 

I have previously written about this in the context of corporate personhood – the demand of the corporation to be treated as citizen in order to dominate civil society – but here with Amazon and their ilk we see something even more sinister – if that were even possible.  It is of an economic and political predominance so overweening that it can set the parameters and limits of how the state, government and civil society may ‘interfere’ in its activity.

This analysis is best summed up in the final paragraph of the original FT piece that kicked off this blog post.

Essentially, Amazon has become so dominant that it no longer cares to fight. It has played out the clock longer than it dared hope and would now like to be able to build warehouses everywhere without doing state-by-state battle over its “physical presence”. In other words, this is not a case of Congress finally choosing to act. It is a case of the owners finally giving it permission to do so.

The TJN and original FT pieces are linked here: http://taxjustice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/ft-opinion-writer-gets-it-on-amazons.html

In Solidarity

Ian