Tories always say strikes are ineffective yet it's being widely reported in the media across Wales that petrol stations are already introducing rationing. This is before any strike action by UNITE tanker drivers takes place.
Meanwhile Labour leaders tell us that strikes are a sign of failure and refuse to back the tanker drivers. This is despite the fact that UNITE is their biggest single financial backer, accounting for maybe 40% of donations to the Labour Party.
UNITE members will question why they are giving £millions each year to a party that refuses to back their members' struggles to defend their conditions. UNITE aren't the only union that gives to the Labour Party generously from their members' subs but the 25% of motions for GMB conference which call for the breaking of the link is the music of the future.
Other unions should follow the example of the RMT (who've agreed to allow all bodies of their union to officially support TUSC in the May elections) and instead back election candidates who stand in support of workers' struggles. In May that means supporting Trades Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidates.
The Tory press has tried to create confusion about this dispute alledging that tanker drivers earn £45,000 a week and are demanding a pay rise. Read the TUSC bulletin above, which has a link to Channel 4's Fact Checker, which proves this is nonsense. The dispute is primarily about health and safety, training and hours worked. The next time you pass a fuel tanker on the motorway do you want to be worrying about how many hours the driver has been at the wheel for that day and whether he is sufficiently trained?
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