The Oath of Mutual Protection

Money speaks for money, the Devil for his own

Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone?

What comfort to the widow, a light to the child?

There is power in a union.

The unions have been in all over the news lately. Unison have been loudly critical of the coalition government's threat to public service jobs. The RMT and TSSA are leading a series of strikes on the London Underground this autumn in protest to job cuts by Transport for London. And now, with the announced plan to privatise the Royal Mail, it will not be long before the CWU start making their voice heard too. And of course, union support played a big part in Ed Miliband's election as Labour leader. All reports on union actions are negative. They are ritually demonised by the media and hated by our Tory leaders to the extent that Joe Public has learned to hate them too, for no good reason. Not so long ago, union membership was something to be proud of, but to say one is a unionist now is to face derision and condescension. I was trying to fathom why this is and like a bolt from the blue, I remembered what Billy Bragg sang at Tolpuddle in July: there is power in a union.

The established rich, the politicians and the media are relatively safe because most of the discontent, working people who might march against them are scattered and solitary. Now if somebody, or some organisation, was to unite them, they could be a real threat to the system. They can bring this country to it's knees, and so in the interest of preserving their power and their salaries, those at the top must keep their discontented subjects disorganised. The establishment are terrified of the massive power that unions contain.

There is, however, a deeper rot threatening the strength of unions: the endemic greed and laziness that my generation languish in. We were born in a world where the Tories had been carefully teaching us that every man existed for himself and that community was dead, with the result that people are more concerned for themselves and their wallet than for their fellow human beings. Therefore, a Londoner doesn't care why the LU workers are striking, all they care about is that their train is late, making them late for work, etc.. People don't care enough about each other to want a union.

So, what are they for? Trade unions are basically a way for workers to protect their fellows, their wages and their jobs from potentially unscrupulous bosses. That's not to assume that all employers will fuck you over, but trade unions can protect you from those that do. They fight for fair wages, for safe working environments and against job cuts. September's strike on the Tube, regardless of what uninformed and lazy commentators might say, had nothing to do with money. London Underground workers were dismayed at the loss of 800 ticket office jobs across the network, leaving stations unmanned and less safe. Since no amount of negotiations had saved the jobs and livelihoods of these men and women, their fellows protested in the most effective way: strike. And the sloppy, sensationalist media called the LU staff selfish and out of touch. When did it become old-fashioned to stick up for yourself? When did it become selfish to stick up for your fellow man?

Isn't that what we're always taught, as children? To share, to help others who are less able to help themselves? When I was little, my favourite programme on TV was The Animals of Farthing Wood. That is red propaganda if ever I saw it. Their home is destroyed by humans and so they set out on a dangerous journey to a nature reserve. However, they first of all swear the Oath of Mutual Protection, to look after each other and never leave anybody behind on their journey, to put the safety of all the other animals before their own. That's the main theme of the book, and they bloody do it. They feed each other, carry each other and fight for each other from cover to cover.

In the real grown-up world though, apparently that's stupid. Far too selfish. Far too old-fashioned. We should all keep our heads down, look after ourselves, pay our taxes and die without ever trying to change or improve the world for anyone but ourselves.