The government is mobilising the army to deal with civil problems. It is not the first time. Think back to the London Olympics. And the army’s Green Goddesses that were used in the fire strikes of 1977 and 2002.
Armed forces were also used during the epidemic, but that was a national emergency and all hands were needed. But we are not now facing a national emergency. We are facing strike action because the Conservatives have been in power too long. They have lost what little understanding they had with the gritty realities of life for many people. They have lost any sympathy for health workers who have to use a food bank or are stressed out about paying the rent or the mortgage. They have lost have empathy with paramedics whose working conditions have become intolerable.
Cobra meets this afternoon to discuss the wave of forthcoming strikes. The meeting of the government’s emergency committee is to be chaired by Cabinet Office minister Oliver Dowden, not the prime minister. There are echoes of Boris Johnson here, who failed to attend five Cobra meetings at the start of the pandemic.
A MACA request (military aid to the civil authorities) was submitted to the Ministry of Defence on Friday. The aim of the MACA is to mobilise armed forces personnel to drive emergency patients to hospital and replace striking workers at airports and ports.
There is a narrow line between troops aiding civil society and troops aiding the political objectives of the government of the day. Saving lives by driving ambulances clearly aids civil society. But standing in for border staff is arguably aimed reducing the political impact of a strike. They are not blue light service. Yes, a lot of people will be inconvenienced. But the main fear that must be in ministers’ minds is that the public’s anger will be aimed at then rather than strikers or unions.
From Health Secretary Steve Barclay’s interviews today, it is clear that the government is spoiling for a fight with nurses and paramedics. The days of clapping for health and care workers are long forgotten. Struggling nurses, no longer the government’s heroes are rapidly becoming its Enemy No 1.
So, let’s call in the army. Call in troops that cannot go on strike. Cancel their Christmas. Stretch resources at a time when tensions in Europe and across the world are high. But expect soldiers to lay down their lives the next time trouble flares.
Lord Dannatt, former chief of the general staff has been questioning the use of the armed services in the forthcoming strife. He said everybody understands why the military need to be helping the blue-light services but questioned whether it should intervene in industrial disputes that “many people think government could resolve but for political purposes chooses not to?” He added:
Soldiers might decide they’ve had enough of bailing the government out of the muddles it gets itself into. They might think, “I joined to be a soldier, not a strike-breaker”.
Perfectly put.
* Andy Boddington is a Lib Dem councillor in Shropshire. He blogs at andybodders.co.uk.
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15 Comments
Thank you Andy for an excellent article.
As you say in para 5: “There is a narrow line between troops aiding civil society and troops aiding the political objectives of the government of the day.” But surely the latter would only happen in a totalitarian state ?
“But surely the latter would only happen in a totalitarian state ?”
Or maybe an extremely authoritarian one with its power based on money and an unfair electoral system?
Can’t tell if you are being ironic Michael. We are not a totalitarian state but the direction of travel is to restrict freedoms. Even when the government changes hue, restrictive laws are not rescinded.
This is all very well. Taking a pop at the arrogant, insensitive Tories. We know now that Labour would negotiate, but would not pay 19% to nurses. What would the Lib Dems do? Those on strike are all in the public sector. There must be a better way to settle pay claims in the public sector than either of the other two parties methods. In some other countries, public sector workers forgo their right to strike, but there is a quid pro quo. It might be guaranteed rises in line with inflation, it might be compulsory arbitration by a body independent of both sides (like ACAS), it might even be pendulum arbitration, where the arbitrator plumps for one side or the other’s pay offers/claims. (This tends to prevent outrageous claims/offers). It most certainly does not include the government refusing to even talk about pay, nor misusing the army.
The Tories are talking about more draconian anti-union laws. Our leaders are saying nothing except criticising the Government.
As for the argument that pay rises cannot be afforded, everyone knows this is nonsense. If the government can give billions to the bankers by tax cuts, it can afford to pay public sector workers the money they need.
Surely it’s time to propose a way out of this damaging cycle of strikes. Let’s hear it from Ed!
Thanks Andy – I think that the participation of the army in the Olympics was justified. It was a national event and many members of the forces were proud to be able to contribute.
I totally agree with you that using members of the forces as strike breakers is totally unacceptable and reports suggest that there is unhappiness about the roles being suggested. It will not help recruitment in a time when we should be strengthening defence in Europe.
Andy Boddington: Yes Andy, I am being ironic. Certainly agree with you about the direction of travel.
Nonconformistradical: “Or maybe an extremely authoritarian one with its power based on money and an unfair electoral system?”. Yes, that is exactly what is happening.
Mick: “Those on strike are all in the public sector.”
Most of them not, I think – the CWU strikes at Royal Mail are against a private sector business, most of the rail strikers are employed by private companies, most of the bus strikes planned (or averted) have been private sector, universities receive a lot of public funding but are not strictly public sector, and on top of that there are various smaller local strike actions against individual companies.
A lot of them are in the relatively-recently-privatised sector, true.
You should definitely know that the CWU strikes are in the private sector, after all it was Vince Cable who privatised Royal Mail!
I should perhaps have said that all the people going on strike are providing public services. This still requires a better system of settling pay claims and I stand by what I said about that.
Royal Mail is trying to shed jobs to increase profits for its shareholders, but that said, the volume of mail is decreasing over time as people use electronic alternatives for much correspondence. I now get very few letters from my bank, the local council and most utility services. So, there is an issue of the changing nature of Royal Mail and it does have to be addressed.
Like all other industrial disputes the only way to settle it is round the negotiating table and this government, despite its protestations to the contrary, is preventing negotiations from taking place by deliberately limiting the money they are prepared to put in to pay for public services, whilst at the same time giving away much more money to the rich, especially bankers,
These strikes would be unnecessary if the government allowed proper negotiations and took part itself instead of attacking trades unions and their members for asking for a fair wage.
“Royal Mail is trying to shed jobs to increase profits for its shareholders…”
Of course it is. It’s a private company. That’s what private companies do. Maximise shareholder profits. They’re companies not charities. You should know this, it’s been the basis of liberalism since the enlightenment.
It’s not really very liberal, or Liberal for that matter to have the government running negotiations when all the participants are private parties… which leads us on to…
… going by the basic principle of “you shouldn’t change things unless you understand them first” which seems to me to be a pretty sensible way to go about things, either Vince Cable didn’t know what he was doing, or else he did know, and what’s happening now is a fine and dandy straight up bargaining.
Alternatively he may have simply been acting on a dogmatic / ideological basis – which would be pretty stupid IMHO.
Which one is it? I’m interested to know so that I know who to blame for my late parcels!
> It’s a private company
Indeed. But I’d far rather deal with Royal Mail than with any of the couriers. I’ve never been impressed with any of them. If Royal Mail tried to deliver a parcel when I’m not there I can arrange to collect it at my convenience from the local delivery office.
The Royal Mail is a Chimera. It is required to provide a loss-making public service (specified by OfCom) but instead of giving it a subsidy, it was given a limited monopoly from which to cross-subsidize it. The “public service” part now largely consists of 11 months of junk mail and bills that the recipient doesn’t want to receive and one month of Christmas Cards which will now probably arrive in January. It’s probably time to take away the ‘Royal’.
“> It’s a private company
Indeed. But I’d far rather deal with Royal Mail than with any of the couriers. I’ve never been impressed with any of them. If Royal Mail tried to deliver a parcel when I’m not there I can arrange to collect it at my convenience from the local delivery office.”
so you’re basically saying it’s less bad than the others – that ain’t no great praise.
“It’s probably time to take away the ‘Royal’”
Indeed. That should have been done when it was privatised. Alternatively it could be renationalised – like the mail mail service in that well known commie country the USA. The founding fathers had the nous to realise that a functioning mail service is a crucial part of national infrastructure. Privatising it in the first place was either stupid, wicked, or both.
Belgium links it’s public sector worker’s pay to the CPI inflation index. Canada has sectoral pay bodies to negotiate pay rises to keep pay fair and realistic and t keep the economy in balance.
The UK did not have to squeeze and reduce real terms pay since 2010. It was a political choice. In doing so staff are being lost, are unable to be recruited and people earning up to £30k are commonly needing charity to feed themselves. Then the strikes are a painful cry for help. Meanwhile local economies are failing, with thousands of pubs and restaurants closing, shops closing, high streets are often becoming boarded up or into a mixture of charity shops, betting shops and fast food outlets.
Back in 2010 Keynesian economists predicted that the UK economy would gradually flatline then go into recession from extended austerity and that has happened. The UK GDP has fallen from 5th to 7th place, while GDP per head is down into the 30’s of countries and it will fall further from the dreadful performance predicted over the next few years. Brexit is another major factor, costing the economy 5%, losing investment, productivity and exports, as well staff shortages.
2)
In the Corporate sector, profits are holding up well, or are bloated in the energy sector. They have no need for below inflation pay rises, but are paying only about 5-6%. To an extent they are not being pulled up by competing with the inflation proofing in the public sector
In the trains industry, companies are unable to freely negotiate pay, as the government have ultimate control over settlements built into contracts.
The Tories legalised the gig economy and zero hours contracts to cut pay and the cost of employing people while keeping out unions with a cowed casualised workforce.
The Tories want low pay to tip the balance of incomes towards profits. They want low pay and staff shortages in the public sector to cut the public pay bill while making public services non viable. When they collapse, they will be able to enact privatisation and contracting out to replace them. A U.S trade deal would involve handing large parts of the NHS to U.S Corporations to run, notably purchasing, where upon Pharma costs would multiply.