In the United States this is the original “fair trade” purchasing, as labour organised campaigns to get people to buy union made goods (similar to the UK company Ethical Threads. Also pleasing to note that Barrack Obama used trade union only made goods for his election campaign).

In the late 1970s, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) took this to the modern media age and made a series of commercials encouraging people to look for the union label. Here’s one of them. Weren’t the 1970′s great!

hat tip: Labornerd

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Posted on April 30th, 2009 by Anna filed under: Union news

Congress House has been nominated for the ‘Stirling of Stirlings’ architecture prize – a prestigious one-off award being run by RIBA, the Royal Institute of British Architects.  We’re shortlisted in the section covering 1934-1958. We’re up against the Royal Festival Hall, so we need all the votes we can get. You can vote for Congress House here: www.ribajournal.com/index.php/feature/article/stirling_of_stirlings and you might want to tell your friends and contacts to do the same.

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Posted on April 30th, 2009 by Anna filed under: Union news

• TUC – Manchester downturn briefing for union officers and organisers
  Activists, organisers and officers are in the front line of union efforts to represent members in these challenging times of recession, redundancy and restructuring.

  This TUC briefing aims to give practical help on a range of issues.

  (tags: recession , unions, downturn)
• PM ackowledges vital role of union safety reps
  Union safety reps = safer, healthier workplaces.
  (tags: safety reps unions Gordon Brown)

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Posted on April 28th, 2009 by StrongerUnions filed under: Web links

• Viral fraternalism: Why trades unions have the most to gain from social media tools | Memeserver
  (tags: social networking, unions)
• Blacklisting in publishing
  Not shocking or surprising news, but shows you how widespread this problem might be and why Government needs to act!
  (tags: union busting, blacklisting, unions)

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Posted on April 27th, 2009 by StrongerUnions filed under: Web links

We’re hearing plenty at the moment about how we are in a new age of austerity.  As with many things, the impact of this on groups and individuals depends on who you are, where you are from and what you do.

Driving along in the car on Sunday I was listening to Radio 5 Live’s coverage of the Bahrain Grand Prix and in particular an interview with the former F1 driver Johnny Herbert.  During this, the BBC interviewer somewhat breathlessly asked Jonny how he felt after missing out by a couple of tenths of a second on a prize of HALF A MILLION DOLLARS in one of the warm up races.  In response, Johnny gamely explained that it was just one of those things but the exorbitant nature of the prize on offer wasn’t commented on either by the interviewer, Johnny or any of the other presenters, although I guess $500K is pocket money in the world of F1.

There was certainly no chance of anyone contrasting this with the average monthly wage of a migrant construction worker in Bahrain – $398, or the brave strike by the workers concerned to try and secure a pay increase or the steps taken by the employers and the government to force them back to work.  If you’re interested to can read about it here.

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Posted on April 27th, 2009 by Carl Roper filed under: Rights at work

Last week I posted on the challenges faced by UK teacher unions in reviving and rebuilding activity and activism in the face of profound changes to how schools in the UK are managed and organised.

Last Saturday’s Guardian featured an interview with the Conservative Party Education spokesperson Michael Gove in which he announced that the Tory’s next manifesto would be likely to feature proposals to extend the Academy schools programme to primary schools.  You can read the interview here.

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Posted on April 27th, 2009 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news

Earlier this week I blogged about car delivery firm Autologic’s efforts to de-recognise UNITE.

I’m glad to say that UNITE members at Autologic have proven there is still life in the old chestnut that the ‘workers united will never be defeated’ – Autologic have now backed down! You can read more here.

PS Why has only the Daily Mail carried this story? As Barry F pointed out in the comments section of the original post, if this case was flipped over and was about a union threatening non-members who didn’t join it would be on the front pages not tucked away in the business section or in the specialist HR press. Where are the Guardian and Mirror?

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Posted on April 26th, 2009 by Paul Nowak filed under: Union news