Mrs Thatcher, Monsieur Hollande and the unions

When observing the current difficulties that President Hollande and his socialist government are experiencing with their labour unions, mainly the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), it’s difficult not to think back to Margaret Thatcher’s world-famous battle with the unions in the 1980s which followed her world-famous victory in the Falklands war in 1982. Those were indeed heady times with strong, decisive political leadership.

In 1974, Ted Heath, the Conservative Prime Minister fought an election with the slogan: "Who governs Britain?" The result was that Labour's Harold Wilson became prime minister. It’s this kind of question that many people are asking in France today.

Those of us who were around at the time still remember names like Vic Feather, Joe Gormley, Jack Jones, trade union leaders who had great power and influence. Today, it is difficult to understand just how powerful they were. The strikes were never-ending, all sectors were affected: the steel industry, the car industry, the Post Office, the ferries, transport, power generation, and most famously or infamously, the coal industry. There was also Derek Robinson, known as "Red Robbo", who regularly brought the production lines at British Leyland to a standstill.

The Labour party had traditionally always been close to the unions, claiming that these good relations enabled it to keep them in line. The Conservatives, on the other hand, constantly suffered at the unions’ hand. But the unions, with such repeated strike action, now became an embarrassment to the Labour party.

In the first three months of 1979, the then Labour government ran slap-bang into the "winter of discontent". Public sector workers went on strike, chaos ensued and the effects are remembered to this day. Labour couldn’t handle their union “allies”. At the General Election in May 1979, Mrs Thatcher was returned to power with a majority of just 30. It is fair to say that the unions loathed Mrs Thatcher, but she was on a mission: the "British disease", strike fever, had to be cured and she had the treatment.

She appointed Norman Tebbit as Employment Secretary. Norman Tebbit is now Lord Tebbit, and still a force to be reckoned with. Before becoming a politician, he was an airline pilot and used to be leader of BALPA, the pilots' union. In 1978, Michael Foot, at the time deputy leader of the Labour Party, famously called Norman Tebbit in Parliament a "semi-house-trained polecat". Just the man for the job.

He began by removing legal protection from the unions. “Flying pickets” described at the time as “the shock troops of industrial warfare” were banned; they could no longer blockade factories, fuel depots, refineries, ports, railway stations, public buildings and more. Strike ballots were made compulsory. “The closed shop” was made illegal; this forced anyone trying to get a job to join a specific trade union.

It is a matter of history that the final “battle” was with the miners’ union, led by Arthur Scargill. Large numbers of police officers were brought in to ensure that the pits remained open and there were many very violent clashes, but the miners were finally beaten. By 1985, it was all over. The unions went into a steep decline. Power, influence, membership, much of their legal protection, melted away.

Mr Sarkozy said yesterday that he would make the unions liable for any damage caused during demonstrations organised by them. Mr Hollande said he might go so far as to ban union marches during the state of emergency. It will take more than that to bring about the worthwhile and lasting changes in labour relations that France so desperately needs.