Andreas Bieler
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Re:A perfect union? - 06/02/2007 16:09
I fail to understand why the creation of a new super-union is supposed to be such a positive and progressive step forward almost by default, as suggested by Denis MacShane. It may be, but it may well be not. Other union mergers - see the public sector union Ver.di in Germany - have created more problems than they have solved. Organising workers across a whole range of different industrial sectors makes it often difficult to define a clear union strategy due to conflicting interests. Is there not a danger that unions invest too much energy and resources in merger activities at the expense of concentrating on the struggles with employers and the state?
Denis MacShane writes that 'Organisations like the European Social Forum are the private playground of intellectuals. NGOs have no democratic mandate or responsibility to a mass membership in the way unions do.' This, first, completely misunderstands the purpose of the European Social Forum. It is not an organisation, but provides the space for anti-neoliberal globalisation groups to meet and discuss potential joint strategies of resistance. And a whole range of trade unions and NGOs have done so successfully.
Second, this comment is yet another expression of a dangerous over-estimation of trade union power. Unless trade unions open up themselves to co-operation with NGOs and social movements, they will be unable to enlarge the social basis for their struggles. They will also miss out on alternative campaign strategies, which social movements can deploy so well.
Neo-liberal restructuring has put labour across Europe onto the defensive. The intensified pressure on restructuring the public sector - driven by the Services Directive at EU level, pushed forward by New Labour in the UK - is only the latest expression of it. To respond to this offensive simply by creating super-unions will not be enough.
Andreas Bieler,
Professor of Political Economy,
University of Nottingham,
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