the Activist

Issue 62
Post-ADM special

Bulletin of Socialist Party members in

Deepen the fight for democratic
accountability in USDAW
After General Secretary John
Hannetts performance at
ADM in the international debate, where he spoke in a
manner to undermine the position of support the EC was
giving to propositions, many
Usdaw members and
branches have written demanding the EC hold Hannett
to account.
Hannetts actions were hypocritical, for a man who constantly bangs on about the
ECs collective responsibility,
the first time this is put to the
test in regards to himself he
ignores it.
Those members of the EC
who have failed to stand up
to Hannett over his actions
should face a challenge from
the Broad Left at the next EC
elections. At upcoming divisional councils and conferences, EC members should be
quizzed on what stance they
took on this matter.
This has to be linked to deepening the organisation of
those who want to see a campaigning, fighting strategy for
the union to adopt, rather
than the repeated defeats
members have suffered under
Hannetts leadership.
Below we reprint a letter ini-

tiated by a supporter of the

Activist which was among
those sent to the EC and was
signed by ADM delegates including ones who voted different ways on the crucial Trident proposition.
Dear Usdaw Executive Council,
We the undersigned are
members of Usdaw, attendees our unions 2016 ADM,
who have serious concerns
over the way in which the
General Secretary of Usdaw,
John Hannett, replied to the
International debate at the
2016 ADM.
In his reply, which was on
behalf of yourselves, we believe John barely paid lip service to the position of support
which you had given to all
those propositions, instead
substituting his own personal
opinions. This denied delegates the opportunity to hear
the views of our elected executive on the issues being
debated, an important part of
our democratic discussions at ADM.

senting the union or bodies of

the union in an official capacity, union members should
represent their respective
branch, the EC or the union
as a whole. We believe that
Johns speech was akin to a
branch delegate breaking a
mandate.
Frankly, if John was unable to
carry out the responsibility of
informing delegates of the
views of the executive, then
he should have excused himself and allowed another
member of the Executive
Council to do so.
We believe you, as our Executive Council, should take
whatever measures you deem
necessary to prevent such a
recurrence of such actions in
the future.

Inside:
p2 - BHS Crisis
P3 - ADM report
p4 - Corbyn at ADM / Broad Left
p5/6 - Activist at ADM/Retail 2020
p6 - Irish Tesco Dispute
p7 - Co-op elections/Sunday
Trading

Whilst we believe members of the union will 10th annual conference takes place on
have their own opinions Saturday 2nd July, Conway Hall 25 Red
Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
on many issues, we be11am-4.30am
lieve that when repre- See www.shopstewards.net for info

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Nationalise BHS to save 11,000 jobs

Department store BHS is going into administration. The
news on 24 April will have
shocked many, not least the
11,000 staff.

Green has taken what the Financial

Times
calls
"substantial dividends" over a
number of years. He avoided
tax on these by paying them
to his wife, who lives in
Speaking to the Socialist Monaco.
Party,
one worker was
"scared and uncertain on the Superyacht
future," saying "I feel like I
Additionally, he used BHS asam not in control."
sets to back loans for other
Retail mogul Philip Green, businesses within his group.
who owned BHS as part of his Green recently bought a third
Arcadia group, sold it last superyacht.
year - for 1.
And BHS paid over 25 milBosses blame the company's lion to its subsequent owners,
large debts - 1.3 billion, in- Retail Acquisitions, ahead of
cluding a 571 million pension going into administration.
fund deficit. But when Green
bought the company in 2000, Even under previous recovery
it had a 5 million surplus, plans, management was disrising to 12 million the fol- cussing closing up to 50
stores and attacking staff
lowing year.

pensions. Now retail workers

are once again expected to
pay the costs of the bosses'
mistakes.
If administrators, or a new
buyer, attempt to shut stores
down, workers should take a
leaf from the book of workers
in Ireland. Staff at Game and
La Senza occupied their
stores.
Multiple owners have proved
incapable of running BHS as a
going concern, using it to
feather their nests instead.
The company should be nationalised, and run democratically by workers and consumers. That would save 11,000
jobs, and allow stores to respond to communities' household product needs.

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Usdaw conference shifts left and demands "backbone"

Against a backdrop of attacks
on supermarket premium
payments and retail job
losses, the conference of Usdaw, the shop workers' union,
took place in Blackpool on 2427 April.
On day one, conference
passed a motion committing
the union to fight to keep
these premium payments in
the future. As one delegate
said: "Let them (the companies) try to impose these
changes and we'll show them
this union has a backbone!"
A backbone that was decidedly missing during recent
pay deals when Usdaw negotiated away these premiums
for thousands of workers.
The conference was one of
the most eventful in recent
history and showed a marked

move to the left in the union. council to the union's democratic defects under Hannett.
This was heralded even prior Branches have written to the
to conference when the un- EC on the issue.
ion's executive overturned
Usdaw general secretary John Junior doctors
Hannett's recommendations
on a number of international There was also significant
p r o p o s i t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g support for the junior doctors'
strike as the union was
against Trident.
pushed into paying for transThat Hannett at the confer- port for over 40 delegates
ence then went on to give his and visitors to support the loown view of opposition to cal picket line in a marvellous
these, barely paying lip ser- and unprecedented display of
vice to the position of the ex- solidarity.
ecutive council on the matter,
sparked outrage among dele- The conference also passed
gates, including those who several motions we had writagreed with the arguments ten including for a 10 an
hour minimum wage and on
Hannett was putting.
the anti-union laws and supThe Trident proposition was ported other motions such as
lost but Hannett's actions will on renationalisation and tax
have repercussions in the un- avoidance.
ion and will help further opposition on the executive

Usdaw members including EC members Amy Murphy, Kevin Doland and Maureen Bowen visit junior doctors
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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Corbyn & Johnson at ADM: A Tale of Two Labours

Those on the left of Usdaw
were undoubtedly pleasantly
surprised when they heard
newly elected Labour-leader
Jeremy Corbyn, who stood on a
left platform, would be speaking
at ADM.
Given that by a slim majority
the Usdaw EC supported Burnham, and Usdaw General Secretary John Hannetts links with
Labour right group Progress,
then it was unsurprising that
they wouldnt allow Corbyn to
be the only speaker, and would
supplement him with Alan Johnson, Blairite cabinet minister
and now leader of Labour In for
Britain, Labours remain campaign in the EU referendum.
Corbyn was in reality a breathe
of fresh air to many members,
the first left-wing Labour MP
who has spoken at ADM in
years after being treated to the
likes of Yvette Cooper and
Chukka Umuna in recent years.
In his speech he made it clear
he sided with trade unionists,

commenting on the ongoing

NHS dispute Im with the junior
doctors. He also emphasised
that the defeat of the government on Sunday Trading was
not just a parliamentary victory,
but one won by campaigns on
the ground in communities and
workplaces.

Whilst Johnson tried to beautify

the EU in his speech, Corbyn at
least made some criticisms, saying he didnt support a free
market Europe or a Bankers
Europe. Yet this is a retreat
from his previous position
where he would recognise that
the EU was just that.

Indeed, in his speech Corbyn

made a number of points about
Usdaws history (which is 125
years this year since the formation of its predecessors) and
gave a fairly solid speech.

His retreat, is a reflection of the

fact that whilst he has mass
support amongst labour members & supporters, it is limited
in the Parliamentary Labour
Party, many of whom like John
Mann and others will stop at
nothing to see Corbyn ousted,
given what he and his supporters represent they will never
reconcile themselves to him.

Yet, the speech stayed away

from areas of controversy, including Trident renewal that
would be later voted on at the
conference.
Despite that, he gave a somewhat different message to Johnson. Whilst Corbyn was polite,
Johnson went out of his way to
ingratiate himself, coming out
with the somewhat unbelievable
statement that John [Hannett]
is an inspiring leader!!

Rather than Corbyns supporters

retreating like Momentum has,
they need to carry the fight to
the right. A start would be
made by campaigning for no
cuts policies in local authorities
and the Welsh Assembly where
Labour holds power, campaigning for mandatory re-selection
of MPs.

Usdaw Broad Left meeting at ADM 2016

Over 25 delegates, visitors and officials at Usdaws 2016 ADM attended the annual Broad Left meeting on the eve of conference with
numerous apologies also given,
making larger than previous years.
The meeting reported on the successful divisional meetings that
took place in the Southern, where
over 50 attended, and North East
regions. While those in other divisions discussed holding meetings

which includes a planned meeting

at Eastern divisional conference in
June.
Support for key motions on the
agenda was discussed including on
Trident and the demand for 10 an
hour minimum wage as well as potential rule change propositions for
2017.

tors on strike would be arranged

which resulted in over 40 delegates
visiting the picket line at Blackpool
General Hospital.
The annual Broad Left social night
which followed on 25 April kicked
off with a political discussion for the
first time, with a speaker from Momentum and discussion on Jeremy
Corbyn and the Labour Party.

It was agreed at the meeting that

solidarity action with the junior doc-

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Activist at ADM 2016

Supporters of the Activist were at
the forefront of a number of debates at this years ADM. This year
saw the Activist run-out of copies
at ADM on a larger print-run than
usual. Alongside this over 80 cop-

ies of the Socialist were sold

throughout ADM.
The now annual Activist fringe
meeting, this year discussing the
topic of defending premium payments, had probably the best discussion yet.

Below we print an article based on

one of the contributions at the
meeting by Activist supporter Iain
Dalton, where he analyses the
plans of Retail bosses in the recently published first Retail 2020
report, part of a series laying out
their plans for the future.

Retail 2020 a vision of the attacks to come

900,000 fewer jobs in retail by
2025 thats the headline figure in
the first of a series of reports released in February by the British
Retail Consortium a body that
brings together most of the major
retail players in the UK. Fewer but
better jobs is the first of a series of
reports considering the changes
likely to affect the retail industry
over the next period.
As the report summarises, retail is
being shook-up at the present
time. Due to the impact of austerity through the restraining of
wages, then there has been
slower market growth following
the financial crisis. Retail sales are
currently growing by about two per
cent. This is low by historic standards.
Secondly, given the growth of the
discounters there had been
overcapacity and intense competition in the market which has led to
a sustained period of price deflation, linked to which is the transfer of retail sales from physical locations to online which now accounts for 15% of sales. This has
already led to there now being
40,000 fewer shops today than
there were in 2006.
The result has been to cut profitability in the sector, from 6-8% in
2007 to 3-5%. This in itself is not a
threat if sales increase at a faster
rate to maintain the total profit.
But the logic of capitalism, produc-

tion for profit, demands an expansion of returns on investment

exemplified in some of the dodgy
practices regarding suppliers exposed in Tesco in the last few
years.
Of course there are multiple ways
around this falling rate of profit for
the supermarket bosses, primarily
this has been expansion both geographically and in footfall across
stores, but the rise of the discounters has cut across this. Tesco and
Asda in particular, have gained,
reputations in the past for effectively cannibalising the independent retail sector which accounts for
65% of all retail outlets nationally,
but last year this went into decline
again after a post-crisis recovery in
2012.
Now they are attempting to cut off
the less profitable parts of their
businesses, with many of the big
retailers are closing stores as many
leases expire Tesco alone has
shut 43 stores and axed plans to
open another 49. 60% of retail
leases are up for renewal in the
next five years, and the report suggests this will see a decrease of
20% in retail space over that period (the document later puts forward an estimate of 74,000 closures of 270,000 current stores).
But whilst some retailers may close
stores where they are oversaturating the market, or there is the possibility for co-location which is
rumoured to see a substantial clo-

sure of Argos stores after their

buyout by Sainsbury there is also
the counter-tendency of the discounters, especially Aldi and Lidl,
opening hundreds of new stores.
Linked to this is demands for
changes in taxation. Like all businesses, thinking of short-term gain,
the less paid out in taxation is
more money that can be distributed as profits. The retail companies have a particular bone to pick
though with the way in which the
Tories have cut taxation. Like other
businesses, retailers have benefitted from the huge cuts to corporation tax firstly from 30%-28%
under Labours Gordon Brown in
2007, and then from 28% to a rate
of 17% by 2020 under Tory chancellor George Osborne. However,
given retails property footprints,
they pay far more in business rates
than other companies. Far from
even arguing for a rebalancing of
the two to maintain current tax
revenues, they simply want various
measures to reduce the amounts
they pay in business rates!
The other way is through increasing productivity the output of
workers. Retail 2020 tries to paint
a warm picture yes there will be
store closures and jobs lost but
those of you who remain will reach
the promised land and work in a
high wage, high tech industry. The
report points out that productivity
per hour increased across the retail
industry in 2013 and 2014.

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

It estimates that a huge 60% of
retail jobs are at a high risk of
automation, citing a recent study
by Deloitte. Undoubtedly there has
been a certain amount of investment and automation most
stores have at least some self-scan
checkouts, and versions that can
handle more goods and customers
are being introduced. Some warehouses have seen increasing automation of good picking with warehouse workers simply putting together orders in the same container of items that are robotically
transported to them.
But there are serious limits to this,
firstly in terms of the nature of how
much can practically be implemented in customer facing environment, which both have potential
safety implications as well as the
willingness of customers to use
things (for example, the significant
numbers who refuse to use selfscan checkouts). But also in the
willingness of companies to invest
significantly in such technology
the history of British capitalism
over decades has been a refusal to
invest, instead favouring other
methods to attempt to boost productivity.
These other ways productivity
gains can be achieved include holding back pay/benefits or increasing
the intensity of work. For all the
talk of better jobs, the report indicates this is a key part of the mix.
The report, of course, starts with
the good news that retailers are
supportive in principle of the governments living wage and that
most retailers arent planning to
pay under 25s less. Let us remember that the 7.20 an hour workers
on this rate will receive is far less
than the TUCs demand of a minimum wage for all of 10 an hour.
But the report suggests the figure
of an extra 14bn costs by 2020 as

a result of these measures

(although that is an amalgamation
of all four years costs, as a yearly
cost they estimate it at around
4bn). How will they pay for this?
The report states The actual costs
are likely to be reduced by a narrowing of the differentials in pay
for performance, the reduction of
premium payments and consolidation of benefits into pay. The attacks our members in Tesco, Coop, Morrisons and elsewhere have
faced are part of this co-ordinated
assault.
The document also demonstrates
how retailers have held down pay,
and at an increasingly disproportionate manner to the rest of the
economy. The percentage of people in low pay (ie less than 1.2% of
the minimum wage) in general has
increased from 15% to 21% between 1990 and today. In retail it
has gone from 33% to a staggering
57%! So for the right to even catch
up a little on our employers holding
down of our wages, we are expected to give up all the hard-won
conditions of the past.
It is clear that whatever promises
of a bright future for retail workers,
this is largely just spin. In a system
driven by profit, new technology
will become just another tool in
minimising labour costs further and
further. Whilst technology could be
alternatively used to lighten the
burden of work on ordinary people,
this will only come
about it workers
come
together
collectively to resist the attacks on
our jobs, pay and
conditions,
and
fight for an alternative way of running society where
our needs come
first, not last.

Tesco Dispute in Ireland

Tesco workers in Ireland,
members of Mandate and
SIPTU have both balloted for
strike action, against very
similar proposals to those
that Usdaw have accepted in
the UK attacking premium
payments and other terms
and conditions.
Whilst Mandate have called
off two strike days that been
previously set, first for talks
with the employer that
proved fruitless, the second
has brought Tesco to the Labour court (the Irish equivalent of ACAS) as well as a
suspension of impleneting
the attacks for the time being. This results from Tescos
fears of the disruptive impact
a strike would have on its
ability to open stores and
ultimately its profits.
This demonstrates that
where industrial action is
properly built for through
mass meetings and other
methods to organise and
mobilise action it can force
the employer back. Usdaw
members should emulate
such ideas here.

Mandate mass meeting of Tesco workers in Ireland

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Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

Sunday Trading defeated, keep

fighting for Premium Payments
Retail workers up and down the
country will be celebrating the
governments defeat of its plans to
devolve Sunday Trading to local
authorities. A majority of 31 voted
down the governments plans including 27 Tory MPs.

This factor, means that despite

the Tories saying they will not reintroduce these proposals, if the
government brings in limitations
on Scottish MPs to vote on
English matters and with pressure
from big business, may yet appear
again. The vote on 9 March was,
Camerons reaction to the vote after all, the third attempt by the
has been to declare that the plans Tories to introduce such measures
are dead in the water, but a in the last five years.
number of Tory MPs have argued
that the votes of the SNP, who Clearly the vote is a great result
opposed the changes, should not for Usdaw members hard work in
count given the new English votes campaigning and lobbying in opfor English laws provisions. Scot- position to this vote. But given the
land already has longer Sunday vast majority of the big, urban loTrading.
cal authorities are controlled by
Labour, then serious opposition at
that level, a refusal to use powers

if granted to extend Sunday trading, could have made this dead in

the water before now.
The task now is to use this victory
to give confidence to organise retail workers to halt the attacks on
terms and conditions, particularly
premium payments that were
stepped up in advance of this legislation possibly coming in. Mobilising an active campaign for the
TUC demand of a 10 an hour
minimum wage, while defending
hard won premium payments and
campaigning for a minimum of
time-and-half for all working on
Sundays, must be the goal of Usdaw and other retail unions.

Usdaw and the Co-op Board Elections

On the 4th May John Hannett sent
a group email to Usdaw members
asking that if we are members of
the Co-op that we vote for Hazel
Blears to the Co-op Board of Directors.
Hannett says that Hazel Blears is a
long-standing member of Usdaw,
a n d c la i ms t ha t s h e h a s
consistently supported Usdaw
members whilst an MP.
This is an interesting claim. Whilst
Blears was an MP, and a member
of New Labour cabinets, she voted
for numerous policies which have
made the lives of ordinary Usdaw
members worse. She voted cuts in
the NHS, closures to maternity
wards and for foundation hospitals,
all of which led the way for the
current Tory privatisation attempts

on the NHS which we all rely on.

She voted for massive increases in
tuition fees and cuts to student
grants making it more difficult for
young and student members of
Usdaw to pursue an education.
Whilst Counter-Terrorism minister
she endorsed racial profiling of
Muslims, helping to contribute to
the daily difficulties BME members
face.
Blears was also one of the most
high profile MPs caught up in the
expenses scandal. Whilst Usdaw
members struggled with increasing
cost of living and low pay, Hazel
was living the life of luxury at our
expense. Flipping the sale of her
houses to maximise her taxpayer
funded profits, whilst avoiding paying Capital Gains Tax. Claiming

thousands in expenses for hotel

costs, food and furniture on top
of her six-figure ministerial salary.
These are not the policies that
benefit ordinary Usdaw members.
These are not the politicians who
will fight in the interests of Usdaw
members.
We need workers representatives
on workers wages, who only take
the minimal expenses needed to do
the job. We need policies such as
10 an hour minimum wage, a
meaningful fightback against cuts
to premium pay, campaigns for
free education and for a publiclyrun fully-funded NHS. These are
the policies which will support Usdaw members, Hazel Blears will
not.

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