8/14/2019 Fight the witch hunt of Stephen Deans and Unite

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Unite Industrial Sector ConferencesFIGHT THE WITCH HUNT OF

STEPHEN DEANS & UNITE!Sections of the capitalist me-

dia and the Tory Party leader-

ship have gone into overdrive intheir denunciation of the tradeunion Unite and its former con-vener at Grangemouth, StephenDeans.Stephen Deans has been sub-

 ject to scandalous attacks fromthe trade union hating press andthe Tory and Labour leadership,which Socialist Party Scotlandtotally condemns.This has followed on from the

events at Grangemouth whereUnite suffered a setback and ma-

 jor attacks on workers’ terms andconditions and trade union rightsat the plant.This has emboldened the vile

anti-union press barons and thepro- big business political estab-lishment.While we have genuine construc-

tive criticisms about the way Uniteconducted the dispute, we giveour full support to Stephen Deans

and the union both in the plantand outside against this attack onUnite’s right to organise effective-ly both industrially and politically.The rest of the labour and tradeunion movement should alsocome to their aid.

Stevie Deans resign edfrom his job, be fore he wassacked by Ineos, which ha s

been conducting a campaignof victimisation against him formonths.He is also standing down as the

chair of the Falkirk Labour Party.A brutal assault against Steviehas taken place in the pages ofthe Sunday Times, the Daily Mail

et al.Cameron even went as far as

attacking Stevie Deans in theHouse of Commons describinghim as a “rogue trade unionist”who almost brought the plant toits knees.Cameron went on to demand

that Labour leader Ed Milibandlaunch an inquiry into Unite’s

activities, including in the Falkirkconstituency.Unite have also been targeted

by Cameron for their leveragecampaigning, which involved pro-tests outside the homes of Ineosbosses. These were “sinister” and“bullying” tactics according to the

Tories.

A company that conductedblackmail against its workforceplaying the victim of “bullying” byUnite is laughable.And this from a government that

is waging war on the poor and theworking class by slashing benefitsand wages and assaulting living

TIME FOR A NEW WORKERS PARTY 

8/14/2019 Fight the witch hunt of Stephen Deans and Unite

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standards.But it’s not only the Tories and

their lapdogs in the media whohave been on the warpath. La-bour MP and former Home Secre-tary, Jack Straw has called Unite’srole “disgraceful” and has addedhis voice to a new inquiry intoUnite and Falkirk.

Even ‘liberal’ commentatorshave turned their bile on thetrade union movement. IainMacWhirter, writing in the SundayHerald in the aftermath of theevents at Grangemouth, com-mented: “Unite seemed preparedto allow one of Scotland’s mostimportant industrial centres... tobe sacrificed to their own obsti-nacy and self-interest”.

FEARDriving these attacks is the classhatred of the capitalist elite at theidea that a trade union shoulddefend its members against cuts.Also that an explosive situation

exists in British society that coulderupt at any time. It’s the samefear that saw the Mail launch amad dog attack on Ed Miliband’sfather, Ralph, describing him as a“man who hated Britain.”This followed Miliband’s speech

at the Labour conference wherehe promised to freeze energyprices for 18 months.Even this paltry pledge, falling

way short of the need to national-ise the big six energy firms as putforward by the Socialist Party, wasseized on as a lurch to the left bythe Labour leader.It is nothing of the sort. Ralph

Miliband was a Marxist, but hisson is no Marxist as he himself

made clear: “I want to make capi-talism work for working people,not destroy it.”Nevertheless, Miliband’s attack

on the energy companies washugely popular. His poll ratingshave risen as a result, reflectingthe massive public support foraction on energy bills and the

plummeting standard of living forthe majority.This reflects the huge potential

for the building of a new massworking class party, with a pro-gramme for public ownership andwealth redistribution.Unfortunately, as Unite have

found out in Falkirk, any attemptto change the Labour Party backto the left and for the interests oftrade union members will not be

tolerated by the Labour leader-ship.Labour has been transformed

from a party that, while alwayshaving a pro-capitalist leadership,was a workers’ party at its base.Today, it is now completely com-

mitted to the interests of capital-ism. Its democratic structureshave been obliterated and, asUnite have found, there are no av-enues open for the working classto change it.

MILIBAND’S ROLEIt was Ed Miliband who ensured

that a dossier on Unite’s role inFalkirk was handed to the police.The bosses at Ineos used this tolaunch their witch-hunt againstStevie Deans in order to weakenthe union.Len McCluskey, the general sec-

retary of Unite, has quite correctlygone on the offensive defending

Trade Unionist and

Socialist Coalition

www.shopstewards.net WWW.TUSC.ORG.UK

The NSSN has been to the fore of the cam-

paign for a 24-hour general strike, organis-

ing lobbies, protests, petitions and more.

Organising mutual solidarity when trade

unions are in dispute has been at the heart

of our work. The NSSN brings together

fighting trade union activists to share ideas

and to build a united struggle.

Initiated by the RMT in 2006, the NSSN

now also has national support from PCS,

CWU, NUJ, NUM, POA and BFAWU as well

as many branches, trades councils, etc.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coa-lition (TUSC) was set up in 2010 toenable trade unionists, communitycampaigners and socialists to standcandidates against the pro-austerityestablishment parties.TUSC has a clear position of opposingall cuts, and candidates endorse a clear

10-point programme (see the website).TUSC was set up by the RMT and includesother leading trade union fighters and so-cialists, including the Socialist Party.

the right of Unite to conduct itsleverage campaign and also toengage on the political plane andto try and alter the direction ofthe Labour Party.

NEW PARTY We agree that Unite and the rest

of the trade union movement

should be at the forefront of poli-tics. However, it’s clear from theattacks on Unite from the Labourleadership that this requires thecreation of a new political partyfor trade union and working classinterests in general.There is currently no mass party

that stands for public ownershipof energy, transport and the priva-tised industries.No party in parliament that fights

for the repeal of the brutal anti-

trade union laws. No party thatcalls for a massive redistributionof wealth from the capitalist eliteto the millions living in povertyand insecurity.In other words, no mass party

that stands for the interests ofthe majority of society.The Socialist Party has long

campaigned for the unions to endtheir formal link with the LabourParty.

We call for an emergency confer-ence of trade unions, both Labouraffiliated unions and those of therailworkers (RMT), the firefighters(FBU) and the civil servants (PCS)who are not affiliated to Labour,to discuss the setting up of a newworkers’ party.We participate in the Trade Un-

ionist and Socialist Coalition withthe RMT and other leading tradeunion members, as a step in thisdirection.

This would be the best answer tothe attacks on the trade unionsfrom the Tories, the capitalistpress and the Labour leaders. It’stime to act and act now. There is