Socialist Party Wales Socialism In Wales
By John Williams
BT and Openreach members took strike action on 29 July and 1 August. This is the first national strike in BT (formerly British Telecom) since 1987. It would have been in EE too if it wasn’t for the Tory anti-union laws, which meant the ballot failed to meet the turnout threshold by just eight votes. There is an angry mood against the greedy corporate bosses, while some members rely on food banks.
BT is refusing to give a pay rise to its workers in line with inflation but gave its CEO a 32% pay rise this year. The company announced a £400 million first-quarter profit just days before the strike, in addition to £1.3 billion profits the previous year while paying £750 million in shareholder dividends.
30 striking workers were at the picket line at the BT tower on 1 August. Cardiff Trades Union Council and Socialist Party members offered full support and solidarity with the strike.
The strikers were pleased that the trades council came along, in order to try to bring together the local union movement to support their action – and were eager to get photos in front of the banner to share around.
I spoke to one Communication Workers Union (CWU) members about the feeling local members have towards local MPs and the Labour Party. He said that his CWU branch only gives the bare minimum to local constituency parties for affiliation fees. And if they want more, then they have to prove that they support CWU members.
He also said if the Labour MP doesn’t join them on the picket line, then his CWU branch is done with them and will cut ties. He said that if that happens, then questions will be asked what political candidates they will be backing.
A young couple with a child walked pass the picket line and offered their support. One of them said that nationalisation is such an obvious solution, he’s utterly shocked that Labour isn’t putting that forward.
He went on to say that if people work, they should be able to afford a comfortable life, no ifs, no buts. It should be the minimum that we expect! With public opinion polls showing a majority support of nationalisation of public utilities, it’s not surprising that workers walking by want to show their support and congratulating people for giving it a good go!
The idea of coordinated action, and it went down really well. The striking workers said they look forward to seeing us again, and with their new favourite banner.
Some of the strikers bought copies of the Socialist paper. The presence of the Socialist paper instigated a few conversations on what socialism was too. Its clear workers are looking for new ideas and are open to discussing with us the strategy going forward.
Afterwards, they had a sing and dance to some classic trade union songs.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called two more days of strike action of their BT Group and Openreach members on 30 and 31 August in pursuit of a decent pay rise. Despite the previous two days of strike action being solid, the employers have refused to enter into negotiations to settle the dispute.
