LONDON — According to a wire service, a series of strikes and a swing leftward by several major unions have widened a rift between Britain’s working class and Prime Minister Tony Blair’s governing Labor Party.
For decades, Labor was the party of the blue-collar worker, receiving huge financial donations and support from the trade union movement. But since the mid-1990s, and particularly under Blair’s stewardship, the party has moved toward the political center and courted business.
That realignment has sparked resentment from unions and prompted claims that Labor has abandoned its roots.
In a sign that the bond continues to weaken, 750,000 municipal employees staged a one-day strike over pay Wednesday, closing schools, libraries and recreation centers in their first national walkout in more than two decades.
“The unions are moving left,” said Ruth Lea, head of policy at the Institute of Directors. “The language of militancy is back and it is bad for the economy.”
Commentators say dissatisfaction over Blair’s policies, primarily part privatization of some public services, is driving a wedge between unions and his party.
Unions are now demanding higher wages, electing left-leaning members to head their organizations and cutting Labor funding.
Last month the Rail, Maritime and Transport union — which was behind Thursday’s subway strike — said it would cut its contribution to the party from 112,000 pounds (dlrs 168,000) to 20,000 pounds (dlrs 30,000) a year to protest the government’s transport policies.
“This decision will be a shock to the Labor Party but it cannot accept our money week in, week out unless it is prepared to do something for us,” general secretary Bob Crow said at the time.
Tom Quinn, who researches industrial relations at the London School of Economics, said unions had waited patiently for Labor to come to power during 18 years of Conservative government.
They had moderated their demands during Blair’s first term in office, 1997-2001, but now wanted to reap the rewards of the support they had given him, Quinn said.
On Thursday, former Communist Party member Derek Simpson narrowly defeated Sir Ken Jackson to head the manufacturing union Amicus, the latest shift to the left in union leadership, Quinn said. Jackson challenged the result. The union executive failed to make a final decision Thursday.
Downing Street played down talk of a rift with unions.
“Unions have obviously got their job to do in terms of representing their members, and the government has got its job to do in terms of governing for the whole country,” said a Blair official on condition of anonymity.
Blair met Thursday night with key trade union leaders, adding to speculation of a crisis in his party’s relations with the unions.
Quinn said the scale of the industrial action was small, compared with the last national public sector strike in 1978-79, during what became known as the “Winter of Discontent.” That unrest, which saw uncollected garbage pile up in the streets and corpses go unburied, helped topple the Labor government of James Callaghan and elect Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
But Quinn said the present unrest could be a sign of things to come.
“More and more unions are prepared to flex their muscles,” he said. “It has a capacity to cause problems for the Labor government.”