Put People First T-shirts from Philosophy Football, now available – get them quick for 28 March!

Platform member Philosophy Football has produced a special souvenir T-shirt for the Put People First march, available from www.philosophyfootball.com. The ‘Put People First’ T-shirt is of course made of Fairtrade and organic cotton, and comes in sizes S-XXL plus women’s ‘skinny-rib’ with all profits to the campaign.

The T-shirt comes in at £14.99 and will be delivered to you within 48 hours, so you’ll have it in good time for when messrs Obama, Merkel, Sarkozy are in town.

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Posted on March 24th, 2009 by John Wood filed under: Union news

• Organising for Safety
  John Park MSP's take on Community' campaign in book-makers.
  (tags: organising unions bookies)

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Posted on March 23rd, 2009 by StrongerUnions filed under: Web links

• John Lewis Partnership – socialism in action « Rebellion Sucks! = a blog for socialism & self-determination
  Interesting post on the John Lewis Partnership – perhaps now is the time for new (or indeed old!) types of company ownership to come to the fore?
• TUC and London 2012 in partnership to ensure fair working conditions for Games workforce
  Report about the groundbreaking deal between the TUC and London 2012 about the delivery of the 2012 Olympic games, which among other things will mean every member of the Games workforce will be given information about unions and that organizers will have site access.
  (tags: organising unions olympics)

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Posted on March 21st, 2009 by StrongerUnions filed under: Web links

Battlestar Galactica is great – a fact confirmed in today’s Guardian.

Ok, perhaps this isn’t the most obvious way to start a post on the Stronger Unions blog, but stick with me, I’ll get there soon.  There are lots of reasons for BSG’s greatness, which I won’t go into detail about here, but one is the way in which it covers issues that no other US (or UK) TV series would go near in the same way: the war on terror, suicide bombings, and (here we get to the reason for my post) unions.

In series 3 Chief Tyrol (soon to be outed as a…no I won’t spoil it), becomes a fiery union activist, and the ‘Dirty Hands’ episode, shows that it doesn’t matter if you work on-board a starship, when you get treated like dirt by your employer you organise!

What’s almost unique about BSG (especially considering its made in the US where private sector union density is 8%) is that unions are actually shown as part of day to day life. The West Wing also tips a few nods in this direction, but its hard to think of a UK TV programme that does so in the same way – the days of Bobby Grant the union activist on Brookie, or Ivy Tilsley as shop steward for the ‘girls’ in Corrie are long gone. UK television (and other broadcast media) does not reflect the fact that 7m viewers are members of unions, its like we don’t exist. All of which i think reinforces the need for us to think strategically about how we begin to permeate back into the national consciousness. How do we get unions back into plot-lines, or back onto mainstream TV (like this example about Tolpuddle on this week’s ‘One Show’- look 23 mins in).

Any ideas on all this? Am I wrong and unions are in fact all over the telly? Examples in the comments section please!

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Posted on March 19th, 2009 by Paul Nowak filed under: Union organising, Unions online

Are you considering applying for union recognition with a new employer?

Are you interested in finding out how to use the statutory process to build union capacity?

Have you had to withdraw a previous application?

Then we have a course for you running on the 1 and 2 April 2009 in London

Despite the obvious concerns we have about industry and employment in the UK there remain somewhere in the region of 18million workers who are not a member of any trade union, nor do unions have relationships with their employers.  We still need to unionise these workers and ensure that basic employment standards are maintained in this time of recession.

One method for doing this is using the statutory CAC application route governed by ERA 1999 (and amendments)

A recent recognition success was achieved by members of PCS employed by the Security Industry Authority, and the campaign was led by an Organising Academy graduate, Kat Dyer.  Whilst Kat was delighted with the achievement, more importantly she believes that the 100% yes vote in the ballot will now lead to a meaningful relationship between the employer and PCS reps on site.

This Organising Academy Advanced course provides attendees with an overview of current trends in applications for recognition together with an update on the legislation. It will also give the opportunity to consider best practice when pursuing an application through the Central Arbitration Committee. Guest speakers include Hannah Reed, Senior Policy Officer, TUC and Simon Gouldstone, Director of Policy and Operations, CAC.

Delegates are invited to attend this 2 day Advanced Organising Course running from 10.30am on Wednesday 1 April 2009 through to 4.30pm on Thursday 2nd April 2009 at Congress House in London. Attendance is FREE and refreshments will be provided.

To find out more about the CAC then please visit their website www.cac.gov.uk, or read their most recent annual report http://www.cac.gov.uk/cac_2_annual_report/Final%20CAC%20Annual%20Report%2007-08.pdf

To secure your place then please email your details to jadams@tuc.org.uk

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Posted on March 17th, 2009 by Liz filed under: Rights at work

• Reps responding to the recession
  Last 3 TUC 'Dealing with the Downturn' briefings for reps are taking oplace in the first week in April. Please pass on to reps and encourage them to sign up.
  (tags: recession, reps, unions)
• Labour and Capital on EFCA
  Short piece from Tom P re EFCA. Last sentence spot on and pertinent point, '..an organisation called the Financial Services Roundtable (which includes representatives of UK-listed banks) has also been lobbying against [EFCA]. Surely this is something that responsible investors ought to have a look at?
  (tags: organising union busting US unions)
• New TUC 'Stronger Unions' bulletin, out now!
  Please subscribe if you don't already get this! http://www.tuc.org.uk/newsroom/register.cfm
  (tags: stronger unions organising TUC)

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Posted on March 11th, 2009 by StrongerUnions filed under: Web links

• Dutch frontrunner for Royal Mail accused of bullying workforce
  Is there literally anyone outside of Westminster who thinks that privatising the Royal Mail is a good idea? Pay cuts, bullying, a little bit of ‘blackmail’ thrown in – all the hallmarks of a modern, successful, essential public service…
  (tags: CWU Royal Mail privatisation)
• Tebbit admits pit closure programme went too far
  Twenty-five years to develop a conscience! What next? George W Bush to admit the ‘War on Terror’ got a ‘bit out of hand’? Fred Goodwin to admit his pension was a ‘bit OTT’?!
  (tags: NUM miners strike Tories)

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Posted on March 10th, 2009 by StrongerUnions filed under: Web links