Don't confuse
the Unions with the Left

Remember that, in the current spat about Derek Simpson's victory over Sir Ken Jackson.  Derek Simpson shows every sign of being a trade unionist first and a socialist second.  Bob Crow, at the RMT, although an ex-Communist like Derek Simpson, in not a member of the Labour Party, will also pursue union objectives, and seek better terms and conditions for his members.  That is right, and should not cause Labour any concern.

What role should Labour play, in the employment market-place?  Labour should advance on two fronts, and withdraw on a third.

• Worker's Rights  Labour should continue to strengthen the rights of individual workers, in the employment relationship, whether unions are present in the workplace or not.  That is a recurring theme of European practice, and we should learn from that experience.
• Union Rights  These are collective rights, of quite a different kind.  Labour should go further in redressing the Thatcherite deficit, and should re-empower the unions to play an active role as agents in the labour market.  Secondary strike action is a perfectly legitimate form of influence, widely practised by employers.  Trade unions should have greater rights of workplace operation.  The "recognition" criteria should be relaxed, to give trade unions better opportunities for recruitment.  State intervention remains necessary, to give unions some protection against the harsh doctrines of English Common Law, doctrines which are simply not present at all in Continental systems of law.  British trade unions need special protection, against a Very British Threat.

But otherwise, Labour should cease to rely on the employment relationship altogether, as an arm of State.  No reliance whatever should be placed on the provision of pensions by employers.  Employers should be relieved of the myriad obligations loaded upon them by the Thatcher State, to administer Sick Pay, Maternity Pay - for my part, I would even abolish PAYE, and make the Inland Revenue work harder to collect all Income Tax and National Insurance direct from the individual employee.  That is what government does for the self-employed - why not for the employed? There would inevitably be some loss of tax income, and management costs would be transferred from the employer to the public service.  But that is where they rightly belong.  And the "costs of employment" would be dramatically reduced, strengthening the competitive position of UK firms.

Does that sound right-wing?  If so, I say that radical thinking may sometimes generate odd bedfellows.   But it is not right-wing, properly understood: I say that public functions should be performed by public servants (my principle of Public Primacy...).   I do not like the contracting-out of tax collection to employers, and I would like to see it ended. 

There are here the makings of a New Labour settlement with the Employers.  In return for being relieved of all those burdensome public functions, the Employers would accept a new form of job-change security (see my idea of Adjustment Pay) and accept stronger trade unions, bargaining effectively in the market-place for better "terms and conditions".  It is the pragmatic British way, to allow employers and unions to scrap it out in the market-place, and there is much to commend it.  Provided that the individual worker is free to stay out of a union, and rely as a matter of choice upon a satisfactory quiver of individual rights.

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