THE recent upsurge in trade union disputes could be the spark that encourages widespread resistance on a range of fronts against one of the most authoritarian British governments on record.

Significantly, the current wave of disputes is mainly national in character and is attempting to change the course of whole industries.

These major disputes are built on strong union organisation which has allowed those unions to smash through government-imposed industrial ballot thresholds.

It remains to be seen whether unions can build on their ability to win these ballots to enable them to secure real power for their members by winning real wage rises and security of employment for the long term.

Real change will only be won and secured for the long term through an ongoing commitment to organising and the resources made available across these unions and the rest of the movement.

A problem in achieving this is that union organising has been elevated to a religious status in some quarters.

The followers of this religion are as evangelical in their devotion as you will get anywhere. They are also quick to denounce as heretics anyone who dares to stray from their doctrinal path.

The true believers in the “there is only one way to organise” cult even have their prophets or gurus to guide us on what they see as the one true path.

These all-knowing gurus are the ones who pass down the commandments from high that define all that is “real” organising.

Any deviation from these commandments will inevitably condemn the perpetrator to eternal damnation in that hell-hole called “union servicing.”

This religion is overwhelmingly Anglo-Saxon. That is not to say that this most evangelical of religions is not practised by people who are not Anglo- Saxon. Far from it.

Evangelicalism of pretty much every persuasion has always sought to convert people to their way of thinking and behaving.

Like the missionaries of the colonial era, they fan out across the globe in search of converts who can be lured by their hip language and flashing lights to promises of gold at the end of the rainbow.

They point to the occasional victory while ignoring the far more inconvenient truth of falling union membership even in the areas where they have been operating.

It is pure Hollywood fiction, that like much of that particular genre, all but ignores the two largest continents on the planet, Africa and Asia, except to tell them that they too should be following the yellow brick road.

That’s why the new book by Nigel Flanagan, Our Trade Unions: What Comes Next After the Summer of 2022, is so important.

The book begins with the global South, rather than treating it as an afterthought or somewhere that just needs to follow the increasingly failed approach to organising practised in the global North.

Flanagan shines a light on the organising that is taking place in the global South in often some of the most hostile conditions imaginable. The importance of this approach cannot be overstated.

By foregrounding the organising taking place in the global South the book manages to shine a light on the deep-seated racism in union work in the global North.

Flanagan rightly suggests that without beginning our organising from a place of honesty, we will not be best placed to defeat the racism that is so fundamental to capitalism.

Examining the experiences of organisers across Africa and Asia first, rather than later, Flanagan argues, will help us to navigate a landscape littered with the landmines of racist denial.

None of this is to suggest that there is not great workplace organising taking place outside of Africa and Asia. I would not suggest such a thing — and neither does Flanagan.

Instead, he suggests — and I agree with him — that the approaches taken so far are not making a big enough difference.

This is largely because of the highly seductive but largely failing model of organising that has been followed over the last couple of decades.

The much-needed fundamental change in society will not come about by small isolated wins.

We need to change whole sectors rather than just individual workplaces. That’s one of the things that makes the current strikes so exciting.

Large transnational corporations can — and do — write off relatively small wins in single workplaces while continuing to exploit workers doing the same work just a few miles up the road.

The full-spectrum organising approach suggested by Flanagan is not based on the worship of some godlike figure or guru. It learns the lessons from some of the toughest organising campaigns that have taken place in recent years.

Full-spectrum organising is no new religion or some Hollywood event full of Americanisms and sparkly things.

It’s a method for deep strategic organising that suggests placing the whole resources of the union behind winning real and lasting sectoral change for workers in a serious and planned way.

It also prioritises building real power for workers and not relying on the role of professional organisers with their “one-method-only” approach.

The current wave of strikes provides an opportunity to appraise where we go from here and to decide two things.

First, piecemeal change just will not do.

Second, organising gurus do not have all the answers. Workers of the world do — not just in the global North. We should listen to them. I highly recommend Flanagan’s book.

Our Trade Unions: What Comes Next After the Summer of 2022 by Nigel Flanagan is published by Manifesto Press — www.manifestopress.coop.