When wildcat strikes the people down

STRIKE: The action by Petroleum Corporation employees last Monday and Tuesday was the most shocking of wildcat strikes in the recent history of trade union action in this country. Coming on the heels of the so-called "work to rule" by the port employees that led to so much loss to the country, and the fear of shortages of food and other essentials among the public, the petroleum strike caused for bigger fears.

In a salutary step the Supreme Court made the first decisive move to end the "work to rule" at Colombo and some other ports, with its order against any trade unionists obstructing port workers willing to report for normal duties.

It was a hallmark decision by the highest court in the land, holding hope for the public that judicial redress could be sought in future when trade union leaders use their muscle to disrupt the normal lives of the people.

As one who was closely associated with trade unions and participated in trade union action, I understand well the compulsions that move workers to direct action. It is a very difficult decision taken when all other avenues of redress have failed, and where workers aware of the tremendous hardships face once a strike is launched.

However, except in a case where a glaring injustice by its very gravity would require the immediate downing of tools by workers, it is not possible to condone situations where any trade union takes the last resort of the strike as the first weapon with which to win its demands.

Bus owner mind set

The current threats and strikes by a plethora of trade unions in the public sector, gives the impression that today's trade unions are in fact no different to the private bus owners who have no compunction in causing hardship to commuters by keeping their buses off the road when to obtain a hike in bus fares.

While we all know that private bus owners are most often politically motivated in their actions, one does not expect such behaviour from workers organised in trade unions. This is because well organised trade unions are among the best examples of disciplined action as well as unquestioned democracy in the decision making process.

A wildcat strike such as what took place at the Petroleum Corporation this week certainly lacks in working class discipline and the democratic process.

It smacks of powerful organisations, gone off the track and believes they stand above the rest of society, with the right to hold the society in which they function to ransom at the whim and fancy of a misguided, anti-social and possibly politically motivated leadership.

Any organisation that does not learn from the lessons of history is doomed to catastrophic consequences. History has good pointers as to what can happen if a given set of circumstances repeats itself. This was seen very clearly in our own trade union movement and the British labour movement too.

The present behaviour of some of our trade unions with greater clout, reminds one of the days not long after the election of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike in 1956 when the unions controlled by the LSSP carried out a series of strikes that soon earned the anger of the people, who had elected what they believed was a progressive government with the help of the same LSSP.

The strikes launched for the flimsiest of reasons, particularly by the United Port Workers Union, had lost all sense of proportion and only showed the muscle of the union, irrespective of the validity of its demands.

It was this wildcat behaviour by trade unions that enabled Sirimavo Bandaranaike to later tell very receptive audiences that her husband had been all but killed "Nomaraa meruva" by the trade unions of the LSSP.

It was the frequent and prolonged strikes by coal workers in the UK that made it possible for Margaret Thatcher to bring in new legislation to curb the unions, and carry on with Conservative reforms, which struck at the very core of workers' and people's rights, and kept Labour out of office through three terms.

Even after the victory of New Labour the steps taken by Margaret Thatcher to check the freedoms of the trade unions remained largely in place.

The highly irresponsible action that we saw during the "work to rule" by port workers and the wildcat strike at CPC, as well as the frequent warnings of imminent strikes by CEB employees, pose a major threat to the very survival of trade unions in our country.

A harassed public can have no sympathy with the demands or actions of these unions, and would possibly welcome restraints imposed on them, as the Supreme Court has shown could be done.

A time for sanity

The petroleum workers carried out their lightning strike for the most outrageous of demands. The striking, or rather bullying, workers were opposed to the President's choice of a person to be chairman of a government owned company handling petroleum terminals.

They had no arguments to present against the individual concerned. Apparently it was only when the former chairman, who also heads the CPC, was removed, and the new man appointed that the unions suddenly realised that the very existence of this company posed the danger of future privatisation.

It was obvious that had the former chairman remained, the unions would have remained blissfully blind to any danger of privatisation or the threat of so-called Indian monopoly in the petroleum sector. This demands deeper investigation into the roots of the wildcat action.

These are all cheap half-truths and untruths crudely mouthed to make a case where there is none whatever for their hasty and ill-timed action.

The appointment of that chairman was made by the President, and it is time the trade unions involved realised that the President was not given a mandate to cow down to every unrealistic demand put forward by even the strongest of unions.

One recalls how one reason for the port unions to strike during the Bandaranaike days was the finding of a cockroach in one lunch packet of a port worker, supplied by the huge kitchen at the Colombo port. We may soon find trade unions launching lightning strikes objecting to the hair style or sartorial taste of a chairman or director.

Leaders of trade unions that mistake their ability to hold the people to ransom at any given time, must of necessity understand that the people so harassed can easily turn against them and support moves necessary to curb the hold they have on their members.

In President Mahinda Rajapaksa they have a person who has been close to the working people of this country, was associated with trade unions and understands well the genuine needs of organised workers. To misuse one's collective muscle to destabilise the government that he heads may give a cheap thrill to some trade union leaders.

But, it also holds the far greater risk of alienating the people from the trade unions that one expects to be their vanguard. There is the need for sanity to prevail in working class action to halt the rapidly eroding support of the people for the trade union movement, brought on by hot-headed actions of union leaders.

It's time to mind your collective step, and also mind your strike.