It’s workers’ ability to maximise disruption that determines industrial power, rather than keeping people happy
On Boxing Day, I was informed by a relative that the sympathy he’d once had for the RMT union had evaporated after its decision to hold rail strikes over Christmas. My relative understood his change of heart to be of grave significance for the trade union. Prolonged disruption had turned people like him away, he warned, and that would cost the union dearly.
His position – that the outcome of an industrial dispute is in large part determined by the presence or absence of public support – is repeated throughout coverage of the current wave of strikes. Sky News recently asked the Aslef general secretary, Mick Whelan, if the fact that nurses are paid less than train drivers made it difficult “to get the public on board when you’re talking about pay”. The Financial Times reported that senior Conservatives believe teachers, who are currently being balloted, aren’t likely to gain widespread public support after the disruption to children’s learning during the pandemic.
Polly Smythe is labour movement correspondent at Novara Media
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