'We must reject division'

Unite delegate Andrew Holland gave a thought-provoking intervention on a wide-ranging and at times contentious debate on defence spending on Tuesday (September 9).

The motion called for unions to ?reverse policy, dating from 2022, of support for immediate increases in defence spending? and to ?prioritise campaigning for public investment in Britain?s public realm, decimated by austerity?.

Andrew, himself an aerospace worker, spoke out against the motion, arguing that it was, at heart, a motion that pits workers against workers.

?It is not weapons that I stand here to defend, but jobs, terms and conditions,? he said. ?All of them hard earned, and on which communities across the UK depend.?

?We cannot accept the argument that investment in the defence industries ? in aerospace plants and shipyards – must, and I quote: ?inevitably mean less money for our education, health, and councils, and the green transition’,” he added.

?This is not a zero sum game where one group of workers must lose if another succeeds,? Andrew noted.

He pointed out that hospital and council workers do not lose out in Rosyth, Portsmouth, Barrow or Belfast if others in these same communities benefit from jobs and apprenticeships secured through shipyard contracts. These jobs can only benefit everyone in such communities.

He said instead of being a zero sum game, it came down to political choices. He made the case for a wealth tax that would properly fund the public services that the motion calls for.

 ?We are one of the richest countries in the world,? he said. ?This is only a question of political will.

?We know it will be difficult,? Andrew continued. But he added that unions can influence the government to change tack, in the same way the movement?s influence led to the U-turn on Winter Fuel Payments.

?We can move them to introduce the wealth tax to fund vital public services on which we all depend,? he said, adding, ?We can only do that if we are united?.

He called on Congress to oppose a motion that asks people to choose which groups of workers to defend.

?That is a false choice,? he concluded. ?We must reject division. We must be united. We must win for all workers.?

The motion was put to a card vote, and was only narrowly carried.

By Hajera Blagg

Photo by Mark Thomas