Wildcats, Walkouts, and the importance of Slogans

 You could almost hear the groans last Friday morning. As one leading SWP member said to me, ‘Greece gets riots, France gets a General Strike, and what do we get? British jobs for f***ing British workers’. Months into a recession, with jobs being shed at a ridiculous rate, the first real fightback adopts this nationalist slogan. Despite the settlement last week the issue, and the slogan, is running, with further demonstrations and walk outs this week. The one thing serious people can’t do is ignore them.

 Historical examples are useful, but not if you end up contorting reality to fit them. So let’s be clear, this strike is not like the racist strikes of 1968, where dockers took action against immigration with the slogan ‘Enoch was right’, and a lone socialist stood opposite the picket (though not crossing it) holding an anti-racist placard. It’s also, however, not the 84-85 miners’ strike – That is to say it’s not a straightforward industrial dispute about jobs and closures that ought to be enthusiastically supported and spread by the left. There are clearly very real industrial issues at stake, around the question of sub-contracting and undercutting pay, which others have dealt with better than I can.

The coverage and arguments offered by Socialist Worker recently have been extremely useful, and I think activists have done well to get to the picket lines to make their case. Well done also to Mark Serwotka from the PCS for having the guts to speak out against the slogan at a recent meeting. I wanted to add a few thoughts and experiences of my own though.

At Lindsay Oil Refinery, where the issue began, it seems that the slogans have improved, and people on the ground have done well to make this happen. What is less clear is the nature of many of the solidarity walkouts. The one picket line that I have made it to, Fiddler’s Ferry in Widnes, showed a very mixed picture. I don’t want to exaggerate this; I met no-one racist, and almost everyone I spoke to was at pains to point out that they have nothing against the Italian workers, and have no time for the BNP. Most people were clear where the blame lies, with the companies. However, the slogan ‘British Jobs for British Workers’ was prominent, and some of the strikers were insisting on it.

The most concerning moment was last week. Having arrived at Fiddler’s Ferry after the majority of workers had left for a mass meeting, a passer by approached me and my comrade thinking we were strikers. It quickly became clear what his agenda was. The word’s ‘swamped’ and ‘indigenous’ came up, before he asked me where I was from. When I answered England he demanded to know how many Grandparents I had from England (only one actually). Our conversation ended when he asked me how many Caucasian faces I saw last time I was in London. The fact that these people are so encouraged by this strike should give everyone pause for thought.

We have to be clear that British jobs for British workers is a reactionary demand, one that dates back to the National Front. Gordon Brown was an idiot for raising it in 2007, and the union leadership have been even more idiotic in following his lead. Last year in Liverpool there was a march to stop the closure of a factory that makes engines for Rolls Royce. The production was due to move to the USA, so the bj4bw slogan was raised, and endorsed by the union. During the march I bumped into an old school friend, now in the construction industry. His parents had been refugees from Chile, but he was born and bred in Liverpool. He was mortified by the slogan. I can only imagine what it must be like for him on site now.

 These strikes could be a beacon for future struggles, but only if they are directed at the right targets. British Jobs for British Workers is the wrong slogan, it divides workers and gives strength to real racists.