Amid a wave of pay strikes and growing talk of concerted industrial action this autumn, councilors signed an open letter saying they offered “full solidarity and support” to the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU), Unite and others. The latest workers to strike are CWU postal workers who rejected a 5.5% pay rise in exchange for changes to their conditions, while the RMT plans a further round of rail strikes in the autumn. There are also 1,900 Unite dockers at Felixstowe, the country’s biggest port, on an eight-day standstill. However, the issue of strikes is vexing for Labour. Keir Starmer, the party leader, has expressed sympathy for the striking workers’ aims, but party whips have asked frontbenchers not to appear at the talks. The party is also stressing the need for negotiated solutions, with Starmer saying he “fully understands” why workers are striking, but adding that his party will make sure the talks are done properly. Starmer’s ambivalent stance on strikes annoyed Labour’s union funders. Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, told the Observer earlier this month: “It makes no sense to give money to a party that basically sticks two fingers up at workers. It’s almost like an abusive relationship.” Ahead of the Trade Union Congress in September, senior union officials have started talking more about scheduling strikes around the same time for maximum impact or escalating them for power. Earlier this week, Mick Lynch, the RMT’s general secretary, said: “We need a summer of solidarity and a spring of solidarity if we have to go through next year. CWU, Unite, GMB, RMT and others, we need to call on the whole movement … to join this action, motivate members and call them to the flag and vote yes for a wave of industrialization action across the UK and internationally, if necessary, because we need to restore balance to society. “And not be dictated to by people from Eton and Harrow, who tell us we must give up our wages and give up our position. We’re not going to have it.” The joint letter was organized by councilors Aneesa Akbar, from Hull, Jumbo Chan, from Brent, and Matt White, from Haringey, who are all active in the trade union movement. In it, councilors said they were “proud to witness this emerging renaissance of trade unionism and we offer the RMT, CWU, Unite and many other unions taking action our full solidarity and support, on the picket line and elsewhere”. . criticized the “obscene” situation in which millions of people in Britain were struggling to make ends meet and workers were given a “tsunami of lies” to keep workers in their place, while there were more billionaires than ever before, and profits and dividends Payouts by Britain’s biggest companies soared. Councilors said the union’s actions were a “welcome, significant rejection of this sad absurdity”. “We urge all ordinary workers to take control of their own destiny and join a union today,” they said. Starmer was told to “get a spine” and send a “strong message” that Labor supported striking workers by Unite’s Graham. He told BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House program “you can’t stand up for working people by staying silent” and that neither Labor nor the Conservatives knew “how bad it is for people out there”.
