When Brothers and Sisters Go To Battle

My last words to the congress of Swedish journalists on world press freedom day 2011 this week (May 3) were an appeal to unity. Stay together, I told them, even when you can’t bear to be in the same room as your political opponent; even when it’s suffocating to breath the same air.

This was the first day of the biennial congress of the Swedish Journalists’ Federation, a group that represents pretty much 90 per cent of the country’s reporters and editors. But after decades of easy-going Soviet-style stage management of elections, the union was stepping outside its democratic comfort zone, beginning a week-long battle for votes as the leadership is hotly contest for the first time in a generation.

After years of witnessing the tooth and claw politics of trade unions -- mostly at national level (although I’ve had my own moments in recent months) -- I know that the term “union democracy” is more oxymoron than many of us like to admit.

This union has been a particularly good friend of international trades unionism for many years.  It has been a frontline fighter for journalism, taking up cases of brutally victimised reporters and editors and, importantly, organising the productive use of millions of Euros from Swedish taxpayers to help build unions of journalists in dozens of countries.

It has helped the umbrella body of journalists – the International Federation of Journalists – to establish itself as the world’s largest journalists’ group and along the way it has built a union consciousness in countries and regions where the lives of journalists are mired in social inequality and exploitation.     

This record of service is undisputed, but some wonder if the policy is sustainable in times of crisis at home where jobs are scarce and where work is precarious. Isn’t it time, goes the argument, there was more focus on “bread and butter” struggles in Sweden. Hasn’t international solidarity become something of a luxury?

The questions are not mean-spirited. It is a terrible time for journalists and their unions. Employers are belligerent and uncompromising. The economic crisis has beaten down newsroom morale. Recruiting and defending members in an industry which is struggling to keep down costs and maintain profitability is a thankless task for unions, which are themselves feeling the pinch. Resources are scarce and the Swedish union has had a freeze on its own membership fees for a decade.  

In these cash-strapped times the debate about international affiliation gets an airing every time the union annual budget comes up for discussion, but the Swedish debate has implications for thousands of journalists far beyond the borders of Scandinavia and Europe.

So my appeal for solidarity is entirely appropriate, but this is not just a call to remember the poor and needy. When opposing blocks are lining up for a bloody and bone-crushing election the bitterness that results can poison the well of goodwill a union needs to maintain its own solidarity. Unions are at their best when consensus and tolerance are the driving force of policy and when these values get sidelined the consequences may not just be a lost election, but deep divisions that take years to heal.  Delegates need to remember that the union comes first. When that happens, the spirit of internationalism will survive whoever gets the most votes.