Union Leader Tells Keir Starmer To ‘Get A Spine’ And ‘Stick Up For’ Workers

The chances of Starmer growing a spine are about the same as Keir Hardie raising from the grave to give him one.

Labour needs to “get a spine” and stand up for working people, the general secretary of the Unite union has said.

Sharon Graham told Keir Starmer he is more likely to win the next election if he did more to back workers seeking pay rises as employers make big profits.

“There isn’t really a very strong voice for workers in parliament currently,” she told BBC Radio 4′s Broadcasting House on Sunday.

“It is more likely they (Labour) would get elected more if they spoke up for workers more.”

“I think that if they came out now strongly and said `hang on a second, these abhorrent profits that are going on and what’s happening with the cost of living, this is what we think should happen’ – then I think they would very much get elected.

“From my point of view, I think we are doing Labour a favour actually by saying `look, get a spine, stick up for workers’. Graham told the programme “you cannot defend workers by being silent”.

At this stage telling Labour under Starmer to change direction is proverbially pissing in the wind.

Starmer is a Trilatralist, when he claims to be pragmatic rather than ideological, he neglects to say his form of pragmatism is all about globalisation curtailing democracy and kerbing the power of the unions.

Sir Keir Starmer’s latest decree states, The Labour Party must move away from being a “party of protest” in order to win elections and “hand power to working people”.

It also appears protest covers a magnitude of actions including workers withdrawing their labour and carrying out the legitimate right to strike.

Writing for The Mirror the Labour leader stated: ” “I am now leading a Labour Party that wants to change lives and give Britain the fresh start it needs. That means turning from a party of protest into a party that can win power – then hand that power to working people. I make no apologies for that.

Of course, that all sounds very ‘pragmatic’, pragmatic, being the latest centrist buzzword from Starmer central, however, when you take into account his views on picketing and lack of support for striking workers you begin to question his motives, especially when you look at his own history of protest.

His intervention comes as part of an ongoing debate between Labour’s left and right wingers about how to respond to the cost of living crisis, amid growing threats of further industrial action from public sector workers.

The country looks set to see ongoing rail strikes from transport unions, with union leaders calling for deserved pay rises more in tune with soaring inflation levels.

There is a very real chance of unions pushing a general strike, forcing the government into action. Starmer has no intentions of supporting industrial action. Labour will sit it out, Starmer will hope for the worst. His plan will be to see the unions and government fight it out, he will hope for both sides to be weakened, the government for their inability to resolve the issue and the unions for what he and the media will claim was an attack on worker and the economy at a time when the country needed to come together, Starmer is not short of a spin doctor or two with Madelson by his side.

This all comes as the rate at which prices rise has hit a 40-year high of 9.4% and is expected to grow further over the course of the year.

We know industrial action is set to grow as Government pay offers to teachers, nurses, police officers and other essential public sector industries have been rejected or condemned by unions as failing to address the crisis, with many in the process of or suggesting plans to consult their members on whether to strike later in the year.

This crisis is sure to grow Starmer hopes our pain will be his gain, the alternative of course would be for him to really grow a backbone and do his job, oppose the government, offer an alternative and support the workers and unions in their legitimate industrial action.

However, even without the scepticism, this is Starmer setting out his version of the future.

However again it must be stated this will not happen, under Starmer, there is only one future…

A future that does not tolerate protest, public dissent or even legitimate union strike action, a future as with a Trilaitralist for a leader.