The sadness in all of this is that it's not actually about Left or Right, Bosses and Workers, Cloth Caps and Bowlers. More and more it seems to be about an individual expressing, and manifesting, "power".
If there wasn't a Unite leadership election?
If there wasn't a new Tory Government?
I honestly believe that the
actual concerns of the working people out there are frequently completely ignored, and that internal power-struggles are what really matter to Union leaders. And, given the benefits they enjoy [salaries, housing, pensions] that's hardly surprising.
If I was a high-level Union Rep, I would certainly be looking to become the Gen Sec of Unite ... with all the benefits that brings. I wouldn't give a tinkers' cuss for the people on the shop floor, in case some pirrock like DH damaged my climb up the greasy pole to the top.
And, of course, the same principle applies to every and any aspiring pole-climber, regardless of the environment.
God knows I've worked under a few of those in my lifetime
