Unions and the far right

This is part of a briefing document for members of the Public and Commercial Services Union

Unions and the far right

'(Trade Union members are) fixated on nonsensical Marxist dogma about equality and anti-racism something that makes these time-servers a menace not just to their members but to the whole of our society': Quote from BNP website

Why unions oppose the far right

Far right political parties may attempt to project themselves as 'respectable' politicians but they are fundamentally opposed to democratic politics and the values and objectives of both PCS and the trade union movement as a whole.

Despite the diametric opposition between union values and those of the far right, there are fascists who want to join unions and who are already members of unions.

It is crucial that unions are welcoming, safe and inclusive organisations. The involvement of the far right inevitably puts this proud ethos in considerable jeopardy.

Members of far right organisations within trade unions present problems. Even though they carefully attempt to distinguish between their overt out-of-work activities and what they do in the workplace, some have access to personal information on civil servants, local authority workers and the public. Members of far right organisations can capitalise on their positions within trade unions, with the chance that they will abuse positions of authority and discriminate against certain social groups. This not only has a likely effect on the prospects of promotion, training, and so on for black and ethnic minority members, but a more general negative effect on the climate of the workplace by creating cultures of fear and intimidation.

The far right try to join unions

Research by anti fascist organisations has shown that there are increasing numbers of people belonging to far right organisations joining trade unions. Searchlight magazine in April 2003 revealed that the British National Party (BNP) is actively encouraging its members to join trade unions.

The far right are urging their supporters to join trade unions to win large damages when they are expelled. PCS believes that the far right think that once trade unions realise they are going to be pursued for compensation they will stop criticising the far right and cease expelling them, thereby clearing the way for fascists to organise unimpeded within the trade union movement.

PCS policy

PCS has the constitutional and legal capacity to deal with members who are found to exhibit behaviour or ideas that are incompatible with our values of equality and social justice.

PCS rule 3.17 states:

'Any person who is, or becomes, a member of an organization which the NEC considers to be a fascist or racist organization, or who supports, or speaks or circulates material on behalf of, any organization concerned with disseminating racists beliefs, attitudes and ideas, or who undertakes actions against others (whether or not members) designed to discriminate on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origin, nationality, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, shall be subject to the disciplinary procedures under these Rules and may be expelled from the Union.'

In order to strengthen the above rule, the following motion to enable a rule change is being submitted by the NEC to the 2004 PCS Annual Delegate Conference:

'That this conference agrees that in order to adopt the recommendations of the TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Group and to bring the PCS Rule book in line with TUC Congress policy, the following changes to the PCS Rule Book should be made:

1. Delete rule PR1(f) and replace with new rule PR1(f):

To promote equality for all:

Through collective bargaining, publicity material and campaigning, representation, union organisation, and structures, education and training, organising and recruitment, the provision of all other services and benefits and all other activities including the union's employment practices; and

By opposing actively, all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair treatment whether on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age or other status or personal characteristic.

2. Delete rule 3.17 and replace with new rule 3.17:

Any person who is, or becomes a member of an organisation which the NEC considers to be a fascist or racist organisation, or who supports, or speaks or circulates material on behalf of any organisation concerned with disseminating racist beliefs, attitudes and ideas or who undertakes actions against others (whether members or non members) designed to discriminate on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age or other status or personal characteristic, shall be subject to disciplinary procedures under these Rules and may be expelled from the Union.'

TUC policy

The 2002 Trades Union Congress sent out an unequivocal message that it would stand shoulder to shoulder with unions who expel fascists. The motion passed by Congress reads:

'Congress deplores the policies of the BNP and all racist and fascist organisations which are incompatible with the principles of the trade union movement. Congress commits to support affiliates who deny membership to, or expel from membership, members of the BNP or other fascist organisations.'

Legislation to stop the far right infiltrating unions

Currently the Employment Relations Bill is going through the House of Commons and the House of Lords. PCS and the TUC welcome the clause which was introduced at Committee stage and which will amend the laws on exclusion and expulsion of workers from unions so that where they are members of far right political organisations the union can choose not to allow them to join, or to expel them from membership.

This amendment is needed to change outdated Conservative laws. It will also remove the current provision of a minimum award of £5,900 where an expelled or excluded person wins a case against the union.

Currently the provision applies where the member has behaved in a way which was contrary to union rules. Many unions have preambles or statements in their Rule Books about promoting diversity and tackling discrimination, rather than actual rules. The TUC is seeking an amendment which would broaden the scope of the clause to include union's objectives. The TUC has discussed this with the Government and is hoping that the following could be included: in Clause 32, in section 4(1B) the phrase 'contrary to the rules of the union' should be replaced with 'inconsistent with the rules and objectives of the union'.

Advice and Support

Where individuals are found to be union members and exhibit values that are contrary to the above, members should report individuals to their branch officers and seek advice from their PCS Headquarters official or the Equality Health and Safety Department. In order not to fall foul of the law, it is important the individuals acting against the Union's equality values are properly dealt with in line with the union's rules and procedures.

The Prison Service as a public service employer has introduced as part of its terms of employment rules that allow them to dismiss anyone who is found to be a member of a racist organisation. Departmental Trade Union Sides in areas such as the DWP and Customs & Excise have also engaged in negotiations to adopt similar provisions in contracts of employment.

Get involved in campaigning against the far right.

If you are interested in getting involved in campaigning against the far right, PCS, together with many other trade unions, supports the broad and inclusive 'Unite Against Fascism' campaign.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary
Janice Godrich, President

For further information, please contact:

Unite Against Fascism
PO Box 36871
London, WC1X 9XT
Tel: 020 7833 4916

PCS

3-0! Three key council by-elections, three BNP defeats

Three key by-elections in successive weeks last month could have provided the BNP with an excellent platform from which to launch its local election campaign for May. However, through hard grassroots campaigning, which included tackling the BNP head-on, the fascists failed to win any of them. This was all the more remarkable given that in one ward the BNP already had two councillors and in another it had previously had a councillor and came within fewer than 30 votes of winning last May. Any political party considering how to deal with the BNP threat in its area could do no better than look at the lessons from these three by-elections.

For several years council by-elections have been tailor-made for the British National Party. The racist party can concentrate its resources, tap into local resentment and a protest vote and catch the main parties napping. Many of its council successes originated from a by-election victory.

Success has dried up in recent times as the political parties have become better prepared to take on the BNP, and anti-fascist groups more sophisticated in their campaigning. In fact the last council by-election the BNP won was in September 2004. Between then and last month there have been scores of contests but the BNP has not even come close.

This looked like changing last month when three by-elections were called in successive weeks, including two in areas where the BNP had already had councillors elected. With the May 2007 local elections only weeks away the stage was set for a major BNP push.

The by-elections were in Bede (Nuneaton and Bedworth), Brunshaw (Burnley) and Illingworth and Mixenden (Calderdale). The BNP divided up its national operation with activists from the Midlands, the South West and even London and Essex concentrating on Bede. The North West focused on Brunshaw and Yorkshire on the Calderdale seat.

In all three wards the BNP set about running model campaigns. Not only would a victory act as a wonderful launching pad for its local election campaign but the elections also provided activists with an opportunity to practise their own campaigning skills.

The BNP had never contested Bede before, but a profile of the ward illustrated its potential clearly. Solidly white and working class, the area had once been the site of a mine, long since closed, and more recently home to many car workers who had also seen their jobs disappear. It bordered Nuneaton with its substantial Asian population and there was a general feeling that Bedworth was losing out. In the 2004 European elections the BNP picked up 9% of the vote across the borough with no local campaigning.

The BNP hit the ground running, delivering several leaflets in the first week of the campaign. Under the stewardship of Wayne McDermott, the party’s East Midlands election officer, and with the guidance of two national officers, Eddy Butler and Sadie Graham, the BNP set about canvassing the entire ward.

The Labour Party was slow to respond. Surprised by the BNP effort, they initially thought that the BNP was best ignored but of course this policy had to change as the fascist threat became apparent.

The unions were mobilised and two sent letters to their members in the ward while others sent activists in to help the Labour campaign.

The local TUC obtained some Searchlight postcards and circulated them around the ward. The following week 26 people, including both Searchlight and UAF activists, distributed two more leaflets and it is clear they had an impact. The week before polling day saw the arrests in Birmingham over an alleged kidnap plot. Given the media hysteria surrounding the raids Searchlight felt it had to deal with the politics of hate head on.

Polling day, 8 February, was hit by atrocious weather but there was still a 36% turnout. Labour won the seat by 112 votes, but the BNP came second with a respectable 31% and more votes than the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats combined.

Analysis of the results by polling district suggested that Labour’s vote held up while a chunk of the Conservative vote slipped away to the BNP. As usual, the BNP also picked up many people who had previously stopped voting.

Speaking after the election the Labour agent told Searchlight that the presence of the BNP had galvanised local members. “In a strange way they actually did us a favour,” he said. “It was certainly the hardest campaign that I’ve ever had to face. We are very grateful to the work of Searchlight.”

Amusingly, the BNP was vitriolic in its rage at Searchlight. Simon Darby, the regional organiser, even told a local journalist that they had lost because of our intervention. While this is overstating the case and ignores the hard fought campaign from the Labour Party, our leaflets certainly did have an impact.

Previously held

A week later on 15 February came the Brunshaw by-election. A traditional Labour seat which the BNP won in 2003, only to lose it after a year when its councillor Maureen Stowe walked out of the party, it was now a three-way marginal. In last May’s elections, where two seats were vacant because of Stowe’s resignation from the council, Labour and the Liberal Democrats took one each, with the BNP only 29 votes behind.

The BNP distributed a total of 12 leaflets during the campaign, including a full-colour postcard and a mail-merge letter to identified supporters. In addition, they canvassed the whole ward, a first for Burnley BNP. Everyone agreed that it was by far the most professional campaign the BNP had ever fought in the North West.

The Liberal Democrats matched the BNP leaflet for leaflet. Their campaign focused on the unpopularity of local planning decisions while simultan-eously squeezing the Labour vote by presenting themselves as the only party that could beat the BNP.

With a week to go, Searchlight’s own telephone poll, coupled with insider information, showed it was neck and neck between the Liberal Democrats and the BNP, with Labour trailing some way behind.

Searchlight produced two leaflets for the campaign, the first focusing on the appalling track record of the BNP councillors in Burnley over the years.

The final few days of the campaign were overshadowed by the trial of Robert Cottage and David Jackson at Manchester Crown Court. Just in case the residents of Brunshaw had not read the papers or watched television, Searchlight produced a hard-hitting leaflet, which was probably equalled in its ferocity only by the Oldham gang rape leaflet in 2002. Headlined “BNP candidate pleads guilty to possession of explosives”, it also drew on a source from within Burnley BNP who told us that Cottage had been to a branch meeting only weeks before his arrest.

The BNP was so furious with our leaflet that its local organiser, David Shapcott, threatened to put a local activist “six feet under”.

On its website the BNP called it “the dirtiest campaign ever” and condemned the Searchlight campaign as “those underhand efforts, and the outrageous interference in the democratic process by Labour’s Stalinist Searchlight allies …”.

The BNP clearly believed that the controversy surrounding the trial was a key factor in its defeat. “This media onslaught clearly roused anti-BNP voters to a frenzy, and produced the wave of tactical voting which saw the Lib Dems take the seat comfortably.”

The Liberal Democrats are less convinced and point instead to localised campaigning on their part coupled with a consistent anti-BNP line coming out throughout the campaign.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. The BNP had identified 1,000 potential voters through its canvassing but despite a large “whipping in” operation only half turned out. Even given the duplicity of people when canvassed, it is clear that several hundred potential BNP voters had changed their mind.

Reflecting on the result, one leading Liberal Democrat in the North West told Searchlight that it was important to carry the anti-BNP message throughout the year and not just at elections. “We are still not getting across an adequate message about the BNP between elections. We have all said we need to mount a policy/ideological/issues attack on them, not just pointing out the failings of their leaders and candidates etc. We are not yet doing it.”

While the BNP was well behind in Brunshaw, there is little room for complacency. With the BNP defending four wards in Burnley in May, and another three at risk, it is clear that the BNP remains a serious threat to all the major parties across the town.

BNP heartland

The Illingworth and Mixenden by-election was always going to be a lot harder. The ward already had two BNP councillors and was one of the party’s safest in the country. The BNP worked it hard, delivering at least nine leaflets, conducting a full canvass and issuing its increasingly standard mail-merge letter, with localised pledges for every street, individually addressed to voters.

The BNP thought it had won by a mile. Even before the polls closed the party’s supporters were taunting the Labour candidate that it was “already in the bag”.

But the BNP had not expected one of the best Labour campaigns to date. Localised campaigning and canvassing were complemented by a strong anti-BNP campaign co-ordinated by Hope not Hate Yorkshire. While the BNP vote held firm from last May, Labour found several hundred new voters.

“It was a model campaign,” said Hope not Hate’s Paul Meszaros. “This proves that there is nowhere in the country where we can’t beat the BNP.”

Searchlight