By Socialist Aotearoa member Sarah.

We have been asking ourselves what the Union movement should do both before this election and after it. It was fantastic to have the support of the CTU President Sandra Grey at our Stop Wars rally in April. She flew the Socialist Aotearoa flag briefly, which was a nice move! She also spoke at our ‘Strike Back Against the Empire’ rally, drawing links between imperialist wars that serve the interests of rich elites and the detrimental impact on workers and ordinary people who pay the price of these corrupt endeavours. Her presence at our rallies is a signal that the CTU leadership has changed for the better.

But the absence of union flags at these rallies was notable. Where were the union officials that should have been there with their flags to support the CTU President and the anti-war movement? Every rally without them is an opportunity missed, a chance to organise, to recruit, to show workers what solidarity actually looks like, left on the table. Sandra reminded us that “peace is union business”.

So, what’s next for the Union movement as we brace ourselves for the potential re-election of the current far right coalition government and its doubling down on the last 40 odd years of the neo-liberal counter offensive against democracy, against the environment, against state provision of public services, against workers’ rights? We will not tolerate more privatisation, more deregulation, more subordination of our economic sovereignty to corporate interests. We will not tolerate the continuation and strengthening of military and diplomatic alliances with dangerous imperial interests whose corruption and war crimes are responsible for poverty and misery. No one should have to work two jobs and still struggle to afford petrol to get to work or school and then need to interface with IRD for ‘Working for Families’ or WINZ for an accommodation supplement to ‘top up’ to a poverty wage.

We need radical change. We need Union leadership to allow workers to be militant, and to encourage militancy. We need Union Leadership that is not afraid to take risks and build solidarity campaigns that resonate with all workers. The anger is there. Union and non-union workers don’t lack motivation, they lack inspiration.

The absence of visible union presence at anti-war rallies are lost union organising opportunities. Our anti-war rallies are opportunities for union visibility and to talk to people about the importance and potential of a broad workers movement to build real resistance against oppressive economic structures that serve to protect the interests of billionaires and robber barons who pillage the environment.

Last year, so much Union resource and energy went into reacting against the coalition government’s gutting of pay equity legislation, wiping out 33 claims instantly which were all at some stage of the legal labyrinth that must be navigated during the pay equity claims process. Some unions are still pursuing claims for their members based on the new rules devised by the hard-right Act party. By the time someone starts explaining pay equity, the audience is lost. It’s complicated and legalistic. The right to strike during the pay equity claims process is constrained, and some union leaders have swapped industrial action for soothing assurances to their members that union officials are working tirelessly on their pay equity claims. It’s time to make going on strike the first resort, not the last resort. At this point in neo-liberalism, Unions need to break free from their reliance on electoralism and better employment law to improve workers lives. Sure, pay equity is important. It’s just not a broad enough issue for a mass workers movement to build solidarity and militancy around.

The relentless neo-liberal war on the poor is a broad enough issue for Unions to fight back against. General strike? Why not – we have nothing to lose.The 2.5% pay outcome of the NZNO and PSA ‘Historic Strike’ last year was branded a victory. Anecdotally, some of those members talk about complicated, vague and unclear campaign messaging, leaving a feeling of hopelessness after the victory that felt more like a defeat and ended with a below cost-of-living pay increase. If a below cost-of-living outcome is celebrated as a ‘Historic Strike’, the big Unions clearly lack ambition.

How then to respond to the war on workers and the war on the poor? How to build on the militancy of the historic strike? The Union movement needs to lead with a message of militancy, confidence, enthusiasm and belief in its ability to lead radical change. Union and non-union workers will act if they’re encouraged, supported and resourced to. All workers need to see the relevance of unions as the ones leading the fight, not managing the decline.

Unions need to lead with arguments for industrial and economic strategies that address worker’s and beneficiaries’ needs. Stop being risk averse and afraid to put workers into confrontation with their bosses. Stop repeating the bosses’ arguments back to workers, which are always about how they don’t have any money or that workers’ demands will cause job losses. This messaging serves to signal hesitancy and lack of confidence and signals that workers should moderate their demands.Now is the time for Union leaders to support the radical union members, delegates and organisers. Yes, we need to change the government but getting a Labour dominated government elected won’t save us. Bring out the radicals! It’s time to reignite a Union fight.