TUC Special Congress: a rare intervention
The TUC is holding a special conference on 9th December to discuss what is to be done about the Tories widely discredited Minimum Service legislation. A Culture War measure with no obvious genuine practical implementation it could even be used to force workers who had voted to strike to work instead. If they refused they could face the sack and unions who fail to police this would face sanctions.
The TUC wants an incoming Labour Government to repeal the legislation which it is committed to do. The history here is mixed. The 1974 Labour Government did repeal the Tories 1971 Industrial Relations Act. The 1997 Labour Government did not repeal the numerous anti-union laws passed by the Tories from 1979 but introduced a new law on union recognition and representation.
Secondly the TUC says it will support any worker who is sacked under the Act. How this is to be done will no doubt be debated. Some will call for the law to be defied, others may look to legal action.
The last Special Congress was held on 5th April 1982 to oppose a Tory anti-union law known as Tebbit’s Law. A lot of it dealt with the closed shop, where workers had to be members of unions. The 2023 equivalent is the right of workers to be in unions and have them recognised by employers. It also outlawed secondary and solidarity action.
The Congress voted to defy the law and there were mass pickets at the Stockport Messenger dispute where Eddie Shah busted unions out of production of his new Today newspaper. Mass police mobilisation won the day for the Tories and defeats for the miners and printers followed. In short the words of the Congress did not lead to effective action.
The Tories 1971 Industrial Relations Act which set up a National Industrial Relations Court that could intervene randomly in disputes did not provoke a Special Congress. The annual 1971 Congress agreed to defy the law and most large unions did so. Some smaller unions didn’t and were temporarily excluded.
What broke the Tories legislation however was the Pentonville dockers dispute of July 1972. Dockers had been secondary picketing a cold storage unit. They defied Court orders to stop and were jailed at Pentonville. The TUC planned a General Strike but before then the Tories found an Official Solicitor to get the dockers released.
In short talking about defying Tory union laws did not stop them. Actually defying them did.
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