Once again, union leaders are congratulating themselves for making a wage-cutting deal to "save jobs"! This time it is Unite union officials - who proposed a 3% wage cut for the next 10 months for workers at the Honda Swindon plant, supposedly to "save" 490 jobs.

They boast that 89% voted in favour of the proposal - but do not say how many voted. Nor do they stress the fact that for 4 months Honda workers have been laid off on drastically reduced pay. In fact, by recommending such a "deal" they have just helped Honda bosses blackmail the workforce yet again.

But this is only the latest example of union leaders colluding with bosses to make workers "an offer they can't refuse". It therefore should come as no surprise that over 1 in 3 companies have now cut or frozen pay ostensibly to "save jobs" even when they have cut them anyway, including BT, JCB, JLR - and this should certainly be a warning to us all of things to come.

Walkouts against our own side?

The case of the construction industry is just another illustration of the danger of allowing union leaders who are determined not to rock the boat to set the agenda.

Last week, again, contract workers at Milford Haven were enticed into fighting against their own side, by staging a strike against 40 foreign workers, also contracted to work on the site. It is pure hypocrisy on the part of union leaders to claim that allowing companies to employ foreign workers

undermines the situation of domestic workers!

Why? Because behind this claim is the total refusal by union leaders to fight for improved conditions in the first place - let alone to find a way to unite the ranks of workers, regardless of nationality, over their common interests - a job and a decent wage. When was the last time a real fight was organised against wage-cutting, job-cutting bosses? The fact is, these leaders do not dare!

And out of all companies, the oil giants, whose refineries are the centre of these disputes, have the means to guarantee jobs and decent terms for ALL workers presently in Britain - nobody needs to lose his/her job!

In fact nothing illustrates better the cowardly attitude of union leaders - and their determination to use the crisis to enhance their own petty position with regard to the bosses - as the so-called "unite for jobs" march in Birmingham on 16 May.

"United" - with the bosses!

It was billed as an "historic and formidable(!) alliance of the union with senior business, academic and political figures"! And having failed to make the effort to mobilise workers for it, only a few thousand, mainly union officials and activists were there, with said business "figures", of course!

So, arm-in-arm with "Lord" Digby Jones, the ex-chief of the bosses' organisation, the CBI, were Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson of Unite, leading the demonstration and then speaking side-by-side with him at the rally!

Together, they called on the government to subsidise the wage cuts, job cuts and cuts in conditions, which all three of them have been recommending that we must accept, in order to help the bosses pay for their crisis!

Derek Simpson literally joined his voice with that of this right-wing anti-worker boss, accusing the government of being "too timid" over the recession! A classic case of the pot and kettle!

These union leaders are not in least interested in uniting the ranks of all workers whose interests are identical, regardless of nationality, race or creed. No, they are only interested in uniting with the bosses - whose interests are directly opposed to ours! And they are proud of it!

All together - against them!

This manoeuvring and reactionary posturing by union leaders - whether outside oil refineries or at the so-called marches "for jobs", has absolutely nothing to do with working class interests.

Almost 2 whole years after the beginning of the present crisis, after 100s of billions of public funds have been squandered for the benefit of the capitalists, after thousands of us have already lost our jobs and many more have had to take a cut in our real wages, we need something other than these cowardly leaders' empty and reactionary proposals to defend our collective interests!

There is nothing else for it. We have to prepare ourselves to fight back, across the ranks of the whole of the working class - and that means ALL of us, no matter where we come from! And it's a matter of urgency.