Skip to main content
Putting the class politics into union-building
MARTIN SMITH revisits some core organising principles that were to the fore in battles of the ’90s and which remain just as relevant today
Trade unionists on a Britain is Broken march last year

OVER the last 30 years there has been a slow, patchy, inconsistent and faltering return to an organic bottom-up organising culture in British trade unions, based primarily on a renewed understanding of the dynamics of class conflict at work.

Truthfully, this evolution was not assisted in any major fashion by the Labour government of 1997 to 2010, whose focus was on individual rather than collective employment rights that could be organised around, enforced as they were on a case-by-case basis through employment tribunals. 

With the prospect of another Labour government, unions must learn the lessons of our failure to capitalise on the last one to grow our organisations.

Take out shares in the People's Press
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
ADCU members protest at Uber's treatment of its workforce, w
Features / 28 January 2025
28 January 2025
Martin Smith speaks to general secretary of the App Drivers and Couriers Union ZAMIR DRENI about his members’ fight against the nefarious methods of exploitation by shadowy app giants like Uber and Bolt
JUST PAY NOW: (Below) Amazon staff members on a GMB picket l
Features / 31 August 2024
31 August 2024
MARTIN SMITH says unions must be proactive if Labour's promises are to be turned into tangible gains for workers
Labour leader Keir Starmer speaking at the TUC congress in L
Features / 27 February 2024
27 February 2024
As the prospect of a Labour government becomes increasingly likely, MARTIN SMITH looks at the lessons for unions from the 1997-2010 era and focuses on what our core goals should be today
UPSURGE: A PCS on the picket line in May this year
Features / 20 June 2023
20 June 2023
Former head of organising at GMB MARTIN SMITH puts forward eight principles to capitalise on the current wave of militancy
Similar stories
Communication Workers Union (CWU) general secretary Dave War
Features / 4 December 2024
4 December 2024
Communications Workers Union general secretary DAVE WARD says combatting a resurgent far right means uniting the working class behind a positive vision for change – with collective bargaining at its heart
JUST PAY NOW: (Below) Amazon staff members on a GMB picket l
Features / 31 August 2024
31 August 2024
MARTIN SMITH says unions must be proactive if Labour's promises are to be turned into tangible gains for workers
Features / 14 July 2024
14 July 2024
JOHN McINALLY calls for militant trade unionism and overt socialist politics to counter the new government’s pro-capitalist agenda and a looming authoritarian turn that threatens to muzzle working-class resistance
EDUCATING FOR STRUGGLE: Unite members on the picket line out
Durham Miners' Gala / 13 July 2024
13 July 2024
From AI to class-struggle unionism, the the GFTU's new courses aim to equip activists with skills to take on employers and halt membership decline, writes HENRY FOWLER