Another 2,300 jobs axed, another 10,000 at risk. posted by Richard Seymour

The ongoing cull of manufacturing jobs, of which over a million have been lost since New Labour came to power, continues. The DTI is feigning outrage, as well they might since this could cost the government many votes in a crucial working class area. On top of which, there are about 1,700 supply jobs that depend on Ryton and as many as 8,000 jobs that rely on the spending power of those who worked there. The multiplier-effect has its nasty obverse.

There are a number of tendencies that replicate themselves when a large-scale closure takes place in the UK: 1) the news coverage tends to get all wistful, as in end of an era - just one of the sad little realities of the modern globalised world; 2) government ministers express great disappointment (see above) while firmly denying that anything they could have done or can do would make the slightest difference; 3) workers express anger and a willingness to take industrial action; 4) Tony Woodley of the TGWU vows to explore ways of reversing the decision, which basically means slowing the death march by finding another company which supposes it can squeeze a quick buck out of the remaining husk, with only 'voluntary redundancies' of course.

Of course, the question now is the same as it was when the Rover plant was first threatened with closure in 1999: why does anyone listen to Woodley? He's not the worst union leader around but he has shown himself time and again to be totally unwilling to take the necessary measures to save jobs and put the government under pressure. I remember April 2000 when about 80-100,000 Birmingham residents and workers staged a huge march and rally against the closure, and you could not have found a group of people who despised Woodley more. He was booed and hissed as he came on stage to speak. There were, by contrast, great cheers for those who called for the occupation of the factory and similar measures. Yet, in the end, the mood did not sustain itself. Woodley's way won the day, and MG Rover finally went into administration in April last year, with redundancies handed out to about 6,000 workers. It may be re-started by its new Chinese owner in the next year, but with only 200 workers.

So anyway, why does anyone listen to Tony Woodley? Because there are not and have not been the necessary structures of grassroots, rank and file organisation in the unions capable of maintaining the ability for independent action. Without that, one tends to see sporadic - sometimes inspiring - actions, that ultimately end in failure, disappointment and dependence on the union bureacracy, the government, or any capitalist who promises to save some jobs. Of course, the other factor that is required is an alternative economic vision, a different growth formula that is opposed to the neoliberal recipe touted by all three major parties. There is no ethical dilemma in attempting to force a capitalist outfit to engage in counter-cyclical activity at some cost to shareholders, but strategically it isn't a viable long-term solution. If the cars are not in demand, the only sensible thing to do is to renationalise the plant and redeploy the machinery and skills to other ends. Such would be a modest Keynesian gesture, and yet it is totally off the spectrum of acceptable meeja discourse.

Still, the fact that workers are talking about industrial action, linking up to French trade unions after their brilliant victory, is very important. And it is especially important in the context of the sell-out by union leaders last week over pensions. These are not just sectional fights organised around single issues, after all. This is about the future of the labour movement - if unions prove themselves inept, malleable to government pressure and sometimes little more than very costly and bureacratic negotiation services to settle disputes in the workplace, it is no wonder that numbers remain historically low (albeit they have picked up a little in recent years). If they are seen as fighting, campaigning organisations, capable of mobilising mass support and really seeing through struggles to victory, then recruitment will increase and branches will proliferate. It is a cliche to say of the anticapitalist movement that we need to take its initiative, political imagination, self-motivation and organisational independence into the trade unions. A cliche, but true. Rank and file organisation is the crux of this.