The World At War & The Movement For Peace - A Trade Union Issue

Report of Newcastle Stop the War Conference

On Saturday, May 20, Newcastle Stop the War held a conference to discuss the vital importance of involving workers and their trade unions in building the movement in Britain against war and for peace. The conference was organised by Newcastle Stop the War and supported by Newcastle Trade Union Council, the NEU Northern Region and South Tyneside Trade Union Council.

The conference began with a session on Russia, NATO and the Proxy War in Ukraine. Introduced by the Vice Chair of Newcastle Stop the Wear Pam Wortley, this was the longest session of the conference. Andrew Murray, Vice President of Stop the War, spoke at length and said that it is important to focus on the aim for the peace movement, as disinformation causes people to lose their bearings, but nevertheless want to unite against Britain and NATO escalating the conflict in Ukraine. He underscored that the aim of Stop the War now was to demand that the British government and the opposition support a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war with "security for all, security arrangements that don't just depend on the expansion of NATO, because if security is not for everyone, it is not for anyone". He said that this was the stand of the majority of countries in the world and especially China and the global south including Iran and Saudi Arabia. "Only in British politics," he concluded, "is a ceasefire a dirty word. We have to challenge that and say that the dirty word is actually nuclear annihilation. Now is the time to be pushing for peace and demanding that the British government stop its reckless escalation of this war. Its reckless promotion of continuing the conflict and get on the side of peace." The discussion continued on and around these important issues for the working class and trade union movement till lunch time.

Andrew Murray, Vice President of Stop the War speaking at the conference

In the first afternoon session Graham Kirkwood chaired and introduced the session on The Lucas Plan and the Alternative to Arms Spending. Martin Levy, President of the Newcastle Trades Union Council, spoke on the Lucas plan. He said that in 1976 the Lucas Aerospace Combine Shop Stewards produced an alternative corporate plan. The division employed 18,000 as the company was announcing huge job losses. 150 product ideas came up from the workforce from medical equipment to alternative energy technologies, including energy conservation, showing that the workers were ahead of the times, Martin emphasised. This movement quickly spread to northern shipbuilding and war industries, which at that time were in decline. Martin concluded that there "needs to be a new drive for general and comprehensive disarmament, beginning with the elimination of nuclear weapons" and rejection of imperialism and NATO, and a just transition for all workers in carbon and defence industries that involves the workers in making these decisions. Adding to the talk of Martin, Roger Nettleship, Chair of Newcastle Stop the War and Vice President of South Tyneside Trade Union Council, spoke on Britain today as the wars workshop of the world. He outlined how the armaments industry was now the largest manufacturing industry in Britain - not for defence but for arming the wars of the world, including the government's continued escalation of the war in Ukraine. He pointed out that the government safeguards the war industry by owning "golden shares", whilst they have no concern for the car industry or the thousands of jobs in other industries, and especially no concern for public services. He concluded by saying that only the working class and people can save the day and that the Lucas plan was that kind of inspiration today for a political economy that is anti-war and pro-social, and he looked forward to the two Trades Councils working towards this goal. In the discussion that followed, climate change was also highlighted as one of the consequences of the war industries and wars themselves.

The final session, The Bloody Legacy of the "War on Terror", was chaired by Roger Nettleship. Alex Snowdon spoke on behalf of the National Education Union (NEU) Northern Region. He highlighted issues which are important for everyone in the trade union movement, pointing out that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan following the invasions and occupations of those countries. He said that far from ending "terrorism" the aggression has led to civil wars in these countries and the refugee crisis. It is this which has been the legacy of the bloody "War on Terror". Alex drew attention to the opposition to those wars, which has created a strong body of anti-war public opinion and has built the movement and influenced public debate. He pointed out that people are now highly sceptical about interventions by US/UK and their allies and a sea change in the trade unions can also be seen. Today, he said, we need to articulate the arguments of the anti-war movement and open up the space even if the motions opposing NATO, opposing increased arms spending, etc., are not always successful. We need to expose the link, he said, between the cost of living crisis, which includes cutting school budgets, and the spending on arms and wars.

Also speaking in this session were Syed Ullah of Newcastle Stop the War, and Stop the War officer Shadia Edwards-Dashti.

In summing up the conference, the Chair thanked the speakers and those that had attended, and the planning committee that had organised the event. He said that it was very important that the conference had itemised and taken a stand on the questions and the discussion that needed to be taken up in the trade union movement. The work for the conference had reached out to all circles in the trade union movement, and that will have an impact as well. The conference was brought to a successful conclusion with proposals on how to carry the work forward.

For the full report and links to audio files to the speeches of Andrew Murray, Vice President Stop the War, Martin Levy, President of Newcastle Trade Union Council, Roger Nettleship, Vice President South Tyneside Trade Union Council, Alex Snowdon, President of the NEU Northern Region, Syed Ullah, from Afghanistan and Newcastle Stop the War, and Shadia Edwards-Dashti, Officer of Stop the War, see http://www.northeaststopwar.org.uk/reportsindex.html

Motor industry contribution to UK economy up to 2021 - Image Statista

Three of the largest international car firms have urged the British government to renegotiate the Brexit agreement. Ford and Jaguar Land Rover have joined Stellantis in calling for Britain and EU to postpone tighter "rules of origin" that are to impose taxes on auto exports that, they claim, may derail the move to electric vehicle production. These rules, by which exports of British-made cars would be subject to 10% tariffs, are set to take effect in the new year. Britain would lose its competitive edge, they say, as a location for vehicle manufacturing, if the government cannot agree to maintain the current regulations until 2027.

Stellantis, the parent corporation of Vauxhall, Citroen, Fiat, and Peugeot, has issued a warning that it might be forced to shut down its British factories if the government does not renegotiate the Brexit deal. The monopoly claims that tariffs will make it more expensive to construct cars in Britain than in Japan or south Korea, casting doubt on the profitability of its facilities in Ellesmere Port and Luton. It has urged ministers to reach a deal with the EU that will keep things as they are until 2027 and review the arrangements for parts manufacture in Serbia and Morocco. Additionally, it has warned that the absence of British-made batteries will put the auto sector "in trouble" and deter people from purchasing the vehicles.

Consumers, say the monopoly, would be less likely to purchase the vehicles because it is no longer able to comply with Brexit trade rules regarding where parts are sourced. Due to rising prices for energy and raw materials, electric vehicle manufacturing in Britain is becoming uncompetitive, and unsustainable operations will cease to exist, they warn. Stellantis met with Kemi Badenoch to discuss its issues with the 2025 renegotiation of Britain-EU trade agreement.

Meanwhile, the government is pleading with the EU to delay a change in manufacturing rules in the Brexit trade deal, and has reported "productive" talks with the EU on tariffs and rules of origin. Andy Palmer, a former chief operating officer at Nissan, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that it is impossible to comply with local content regulations unless the battery is sourced from Britain or EU.

Taking advantage of this context, and stressing that the automotive sector in Britain employs some 800,000 people, the large car manufacturers are pushing for further pay-the-rich schemes. The government already supports the industry through the Automotive Transformation Fund and the Advanced Propulsion Centre. The big firms are citing the example of the US, where the government there is providing money as an additional incentive to car producers. Jaguar Land Rover have requested the British government assist its construction of a battery plant. At the same time, Elon Musk and the Spanish government are attempting to persuade Jaguar Land Rover to construct "gigafactories" in Spain.

Nissan workers in Sunderland fighting to defend their pensions in 2020

Such pay-the-rich schemes come about as governments do the bidding of the monopoly cartels and big investors, who will only invest their huge sums of accumulated social value if an agreement for state subsidies can be reached. In this case, the demand is that the government pays much of the price for new battery production facilities. The industrial and financial oligarchs demand constant and fast returns, and in the absence of such pay-the-rich schemes, will only invest in new facilities as lenders, and then only if they can be certain that interest payments start immediately.

The debate over prices and supply chains leaves out monopoly ownership of the industry, where the largest players both exercise control over the market price of what they produce and compel suppliers further up the supply chain to lower the prices that these monopolies pay. The resulting price inflation means additional profit for these monopolies, but it also puts pressure on the reproduced-value (wages) claimed by workers and the purchasing power of that value, and in general in adds to disruption across the interconnected, socialised economy.

Attacks on the working class call for them to concede part of their reproduced-value in the form of wages and benefits. The threat of closure is a significant part of this pressure, and serves to disrupt workers from organising and fighting to catch back up with price inflation and to regain the dignity of their labour. The working class faces the challenge of taking a unified, comprehensive stance to defend its rights and claims given the actual circumstances of monopoly control within the socialised economy, so as to defend its rights and claims on the social product it produces. Workers' Forum echoes the call of the working class as it loudly declares: Enough is Enough!

(Sources: BBC News, The Guardian, The Independent, Sky News, The Telegraph)