THE 125th STUC Congress currently meeting in Aberdeen has an impressive progressive agenda that will build on the STUC existing strategy document For a People’s Recovery.

The composite on finance and taxation policy focuses on the tough times ahead for our public services.

The Tory government has decreed virtually level funding for Scotland for the three years to 2024, in face of record inflation.

At the same time Boris Johnson has cancelled Scotland’s powers of public-sector intervention granted under the 1998 Scotland Act by transferring most EU restrictions on public intervention into British law — to be enforced centrally from Westminster.

This is at a time, as the composite notes, when we will need these powers of democratic leverage more than ever.

It is equally so for the composite on community wealth-building. The Tories’ Subsidy Control Bill gives Johnson central control of the massive stream of taxpayers’ cash that goes into the purchasing of services via local government.

As North Ayrshire has shown, this cash can be pumped back into services produced by and through the local community — giving workers, local government and local communities democratic powers over business.

Johnson plans the reverse — to give business power over local government, local communities and public services.

It is a pity therefore that the composite misses the Tory “levelling-up” plans which will commit billions of pounds to infrastructure and new production facilities, but where the money is almost always conditional on local government and city and regional “mayors” forming partnerships with the private sector.

In Tory-speak, “unleashing the power of the private sector to unlock jobs and opportunity for all.”

At a time of massive and continuing cuts in local government funding, Johnson plans to reinforce the control exercised by the big corporations over local services.

As during Covid, all the benefits will go in handouts to business “in partnership” with local government — with the Scottish Parliament being cut out of the deal. And this is combined with a direct attack on local democracy.

Instead of elected councils, with councillors responsible to local wards, the government wants to have directly elected mayors and governors in place within seven years.

Their job will be to look to the private sector for investment and do so in partnership with central government. This equally so for the city regions in Scotland.

That’s Johnson’s “levelling up.” That’s what the trade union movement faces in its demands for real economic democracy and tackling the issue of regional economic collapse.

While many of our members see Scottish independence as an escape route from the Tories, Scottish self-determination remains a vital issue.

Last year Congress passed policy to establish a working group to examine a range of constitutional proposals, including independence and what was termed “devo max.”

The group would seek to examine both opportunities and limitations of these different proposals for growth of trade unions and working-class movements in Scotland and set up a union-led “constitutional convention” with affiliates to represent the voices, views and vision of working people across Scotland for our future. It would produce a comprehensive and accessible report.

It’s important that the trade union movement inject class politics into what is often a debate devoid of such politics, and motion 87 is a reminder that this needs to take place.

The role of trade union councils is to take the policy and strategy of the labour and trade union movement into the community and the importance of that work is reflected in the paperwork.

The composite on a just transition includes areas where trades councils have been active, such as the role of retrofitting, in alleviating fuel poverty and campaigning for municipally owned bus services.

Key to this is a recognition that central to the campaign for just transition “are strong trade unions and a legislative framework of strong trade union rights.”

While the Scottish government believes the way forward is partnership with the private sector, the composite makes clear statutory sectoral bargaining and repeal of the anti-trade union laws are central to this campaign and others of the movement.

The term “fair work” gets used more than once throughout the documents which raises the question — can you have fair work under capitalism? Surplus value, anyone?

Even composite C, supporting fair work, states that “Covid-19 has exposed that fair work in Scotland is the exception as opposed to the rule for many workers… Fair work may fall into disrepute due to its principles not being applied,” giving the example of zero-hours contracts.

There follows a list of where fair work should be considered for legal enforcement by the Scottish government, which is clearly reluctant to do so as the Fair Work Convention staggers on towards its 10-year conclusion.
 
A legislative framework of strong trade union rights would be most welcome of course — but is this likely?

Is it enough when corporations like P&O defy the law to defend the bottom line?

Perhaps we should learn from the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders work-in, which broke the law, and which we have been celebrating over the past period — and concentrate on building a politicised shop steward movement which spearheaded the many trade union victories our movement had in the 1970s.

Tom Morrison is secretary of Clydebank TUC.