I'm a Union Man Part 2

This is a great number that I have used before and was released by the Strawbs in 1973.?It captured the mood of industrial strife in the early 1970’s.?The Unions didn’t win then but they did help to create a lot of inflation and this same mood is so relevant to this Christmas.

I have some sympathy with the Government over the plethora of strikes that are now beginning to hold back any prospect of an economic recovery or, being more realistic, from preventing a deeper and more prolonged recession that now has a much higher probability.?As I have said in earlier articles this year, the Public Sector cannot be serious about demanding inflation busting pay rises when the real economy is not performing.?To make my point, let’s focus on one sector, the Rail Network, and I appreciate that the Train Operating Companies employees are primarily not Public Sector workers but Mr Lynch, their Union Representative, not only has a Public Sector mentality, he also talks the language of a 1970’s Union Leader.?He is a bit like a re-incarnated Bob Crowe or Arthur Scargill with his Peaky Blinders Cloth Cap ‘negotiating table’ language.?

The Gospel according to Mick Lynch tells us that the level of wages on the Railways is not right but there is no mention that the price to the general public of travelling on the Railways is also not right because the harsh facts are that we have the most expensive Rail Network Globally.?So where is the solution to the problem; well it is something that Dickensian Lynch will not tolerate because he demands total job security at ‘the negotiating table’ when the only solution to the problem is mass redundancies as technologies replace the human factor. All that the opposition will tell you is that this strike would never have happened under Labour.?They are probably correct because, in Government, Labour would have given in, not just to Rail Workers, but also to other ‘lower paid’ jobs in the Public Sector, leading to rampant wage push inflation of the like that hasn’t been seen since the early 1970’s; and I wouldn’t lose too much sleep when MP’s tell you about their experience on the railways; their journeys to and from their constituencies are all funded by the taxpayer, and allegedly on First Class terms.?The other issue that never seems to hit the headlines when Cloth Cap Lynch is at ‘the negotiating table’ is the massive benefits available to his employees, their families and to himself in the form of rail travel freebies/benefits.

COVID, of course, now seems to be disappearing into the ether but when the Unions are negotiating, perhaps the Government should remind them that it was far too generous with its furlough payments, a key factor that ignited inflation post lock down as higher saving ratios dissipated and consumerism went into overdrive as many individuals bought into the idea that cash was not worth saving when interest rates were being held indefinitely at extraordinarily low levels.?Perhaps we are also now paying the price for Privatisation over thirty years ago which made some average employees in the Rail Network very wealthy indeed and at the tax payers expense, but however you present the argument, in twenty years time, or sooner, technology will replace a high percentage of Rail Workers jobs.?I am therefore perplexed that the Government and the Media don’t drive this issue into Lynch’s brain.?I liken the language used by Mr Lynch and his cronies to that of the Fleet Street disputes over Eddie Shah; remember the Today Newspaper that revolutionised printing and, latterly, Rupert Murdoch’s move to printing his newspapers at Wapping Wharf.?

While sipping gin from my Gin Advent Calendar I never thought that we would be experiencing a real life Strike Advent Calendar this Christmas.?Opening Gin Windows is far more pleasurable than Strike Windows.?I fear that the Unions will again be the losers however you slice and dice the problem because they are incapable of moving forward with the benefits of technology, precisely because their union leaders are still stuck in the 1970’s and that is abundantly clear when you read the lyrics of the fourth verse to I’m a Union Man.

?As a union man I'm wise; to the lies of the company spies; and I don't get fooled by the factory rules, cause I always read between the lines.

As for the lyrics in the eighth verse they are the ultimate insult to Clark Kent

So though I'm a working man; I can ruin the government's plan; though I'm not too hard the sight of my card; makes me some kind of superman.

As for the Dickensian Mick Lynch, perhaps he is more Danger Man than Superman.?He may think that his Employers are Revolting but he may have to eat his words when he realizes the Public is Revolting.

When it comes to the attitude of Trades Unions I have to pinch the title from my last article; That's just the way it is; some things will never change