Paul NowakGreat idea by UNITE members under pressure at Fujitsu. In advance of their industrial action ballot, they decided to hold a ‘practice picket’. You can see the pics here.
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Fancy living in a country where you can exercise power and come together with others to take control your street or town [or workplace?]. Where active voluntary organisations are encouraged and where there will be a revival of ‘civic society’ (of which we were once told there was no such thing).
Sounds good doesn’t it – especially for trade unionists as unions must tick all of those boxes in terms of how we operate, organise and want to achieve.
There may be a slight problem though as these are what some key Tory thinkers believe the new Tory Britain will be like IF they win the next election (although they still want to redistribute wealth to the already wealthy via increasing the threshold at which you pay Inheritance Tax. See here.
Anyone want to take the chance?
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The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Council has just carried a resolution of solidarity with trade unionists in Guinea, where the army has launched a brutal and bloody attack on peaceful opposition forces including unions. Calling for a ‘peace force’ to protect the people of Guinea, the ITUC demands “that the regime release all arrested persons immediately and unconditionaly, hand over the mortal remains of the victims and provide full medical care to all those injured, including raped women.” The General Council heard from Guinean trade union leader and ITUC Vice Chair Rabiatou Diallo, who reported on the harrowing sights on the streets of the capital city, Conakry. The TUC has protested to the Guinean Ambassador to London, and is promoting an Avaaz petition, already signed by 100,000 people worldwide, calling for smart sanctions against the military regime’s leaders.
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It’s been a while, but we’ve now updated the TUC Facebook application, My-Union. When Facebook released their new design, applications that were developed before were banished to the boxes page. Whilst the app still goes there by default now, clicking the little pencil button on its box header now lets you move it to your front page if you’d like.
The application lets you add a little badge for your union to your profile, and currently lists unions from the UK and Ireland, thanks to a link up with the Irish Congress of Trades Unions.
If you already use the application and would like to update your copy to show it on your main profile page, here are some instructions (unfortunately it’s far from simple!):
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New rules come into force today that will help to ensure that many thousands of workers will get a fairer deal on tips they earn whilst at work – representing a notable victory for a great trade union led campaign.
The new rules basically mean that tips can no longer be used by employers to top up wages to meet the National Minimum Wage level. Also, restaurant owners etc. will have to make it clear to customers how tips and service charges are distributed to staff.
A great victory for Unite and of course for the many thousands of workers who will benefit from the changes.
Carl Roper
Owen Tudor
StrongerUnions
