THE Star’s coverage of last week’s successful Scottish Trades Union Congress, ably chaired by Comandante Mike Arnott of Dundee TUC, makes the task of an assessment, without repeating what readers have already read, rather challenging.

So I’d like to focus on the view from a trades council, including some of what we at Clydebank TUC (CTUC) were involved in.

Among the political visitors to Congress were Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, whose address was almost Fidel Castro-like in length if not in content. In usual, Anas-style, he said what he thought his audience wanted to hear. 

His call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to arms sales was welcome. However, his accusation of SNP cronyism, while it may be true, was a bit rich given his boss, Sir Keir Starmer has faced such allegations in the “transformed” Labour Party, where every other candidate in the forthcoming general election appears to be friends with or associated with the new regime. All in all, though, even the most hardened cynic would likely admit nothing so “radical” would come from Sir Keir’s lips.

The SNP’s Humza Yousaf took to the stage the next day. His party’s governments have never used the full powers of the Scottish Parliament to tackle the inequality that exists in our country and they continue to manage decline under his and his predecessors’ leadership.

On the other hand his consistent calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a halt to arms sales to Israel are to be commended.

He promised more support for workers but, as we have seen since, he joined the Tories in voting down the Employee Injury Bill. Once again, it appears, telling the punters what they want to hear. No wonder the masses are cynical towards politicians.

It all points to the importance of organising extra-parliamentary struggle in compelling parliaments to act in the interest of labour over capital.

If, as is likely, Starmer becomes the new prime minister, he must be held to implementing the New Deal for Working People, as big business and even darker forces in his party, like Peter Mandelson, will be pushing hard the other way.

The debate on the general council’s (GC) statement on Palestine heard from Palestinians direct via video link. This was stuff that made the hairs on your neck stand up.

The GC highlighted the continued support for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign in a comprehensive statement which won the support of Congress.

However, some concerns have been expressed. Why condemn the retaliatory strike by Iran to Israeli aggression? 

There must be a recognition of the efforts made to create a united front, and the importance of unity of the movement in what was a positive statement.

Possibly the most contentious part was the refusal to support demonstrations at arms workplaces except when agreed by the workers’ unions.

Calling these workers “murderers,” as has been the case in some instances, is obviously not helpful and will not win workers to cease production. As the statement says, actions should come from the workers themselves.

This was the case with solidarity by Scottish workers against Pinochet’s fascist Chile in Rolls-Royce, Yarrows Shipbuilders and other sites where politically aware shop stewards won their members to stop work which supported that regime.

It is indeed horrific that we are producing weapons in Scotland used in genocide of, in the main women and children, but the harsh reality is that these workers have to be won through persuasion.

Individual unions could perhaps facilitate dialogue between, in the first instance, shop stewards and Palestine campaigners. We certainly need more trade union banners on the weekly demonstrations that take place throughout these isles.

A passionate debate took place on strategy to fight the devastating cuts to local council funding. CTUC submitted a motion calling for the movement to support no-cuts budgets. The GC, while supporting the sentiments of the motion, opposed it on legal grounds, calling for a practical strategy. Trade councils lined up to support CTUC.

A Dundee delegate referred to the president’s earlier address when he quoted a predecessor saying councillors should not be passive administrators of cuts when that is exactly what they are doing.

Another delegate asked what master plan did the opponents of the motion have, because the current strategy was and is not working.

That is certainly the case. The strategy of the last decade and more has been the class collaboration of “Partnership Working.” This has cost tens of thousands of jobs, attacks on terms and conditions, loss of real wages and decimation of services.

Last year a similar motion from CTUC was put to the vote and gained a third of the hall, despite opposition from the GC. This time it was so close that it went to a card vote.

We heard later that some in union delegations, after hearing the discussion, delegates wanted to vote for the motion despite their union policy. Others were so determined not to vote against they urgently needed a comfort break.

As expected, the card vote heavily defeated the motion as the big unions voted against.

The fact is the writing is on the wall for fans of Partnership Working. It is a dead duck. It is not working and we could see the end of local democracy unless there is a change of strategy before it’s too late.

We heard some delegates being critical of the GC statement on military spending. Indeed, we in the CTUC delegation were disappointed that the section in our motion which referred to Ukraine did not make the statement.

While no-one in the hall was supportive of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, we had made mention of the intervention by Boris Johnson in spring 2022 when he thwarted efforts for a negotiated settlement on behalf of Nato. We thought it was important to raise this as it exposed the role of our government in prolonging the proxy war in Ukraine at the cost of thousands of lives of working-class Ukrainians and Russians.

When these points were raised in the debate it was too much for one delegate who called us Putin apologists, which apart from being incorrect was rather insulting.

An even more bizarre remark was made by a delegate from the shipbuilding industry when arguing that military spending should be increased. Reference was made to British soldiers being given inadequate equipment, which is true, but the example given was their boots melting when in Saudi Arabia. I’m not quite sure what the link was with shipbuilding, but surely the question is what were the melting boots doing in Saudi Arabia in the first place?

The takeaway from the GC statement was surely that it was a success for the work of trade union councils. Motions from eight trades councils made up the statement which called for an end to the recent increase in arms spending, and for the STUC to be an educator and campaigner on peace.

The assessment from our delegates was that, despite some differences, our Congress is head and shoulders what is coming from the main political parties and a country mile ahead of the British TUC.

Could that be down in part to the significant role of trades union councils in the Scottish movement, which does not happen down south? It is they who take the policies of our movement into working-class communities, winning people on the ground.

For the first time in many a year we have an STUC general secretary, Roz Foyer, who genuinely seems to recognise the potential that trades councils have to make a real difference locally when working alongside trade union branches and community activists.

Her deputy, Dave Moxham, deserves credit for the regular trades council conferences he convenes throughout the year.

Foyer’s call at Congress for unions to ensure they affiliate and send delegates to their local trades union councils helps in the building “councils of action” in the localities.

Such organisation at the grassroots is essential to putting some backbone into locally elected members to resist the destruction of local government. If these politicians continue to fail their constituents in fighting the cuts then such organisation as above will be required to replace them by class fighters.

We came away from Congress rejuvenated, ready to play our small part in the class struggles ahead along with our comrades in the wider movement to create a fairer and just society.