Greetings from the unions of the Oregon AFL-CIO!  I’ve been in London for a week now, the first leg of my study tour of the TUCs Green Workplaces Project.  It’s been an exciting week as I’ve begun to learn how unions in the UK are approaching climate change, green job training and member involvement in greening workplaces and communities.

Through my experience in the US, I’ve learned that we’re stronger if we work with our allies.  I’m excited to be addressing the IPPR Green Jobs Summit on June 22 in London, where this challenge will be discussed by labor and community leaders. This is one lesson we’ve learned the hard way in the US.  Pitted against the environmental movement, we’ve lost over and over to the employer agenda.  Working with them, in coalitions like the Apollo Alliance and the Blue-Green Alliance, we’ve made some significant strides.

A few thoughts so far:

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Posted on May 28th, 2010 by Barbara Byrd filed under: Global solidarity, Union campaigns

The Congress of South African Trade Union (COSATU), the main union confederation in South Africa, has recorded a small membership increase between January 2009 and April 2010, its Central Executive heard this week. Although the increase of 18,704 represents only a 0.9% increase, that was against the backdrop of a decline in employment over that period because of the global economic crisis of over a million jobs. Membership of COSATU’s 21 affiliated unions now stands at 2,022,133.

The NUM achieved the biggest growth (15 000) and POPCRU (prison and correctional officers – most like the POA in the UK) the biggest percentage growth (9.3%). Others which have grown are NEHAWU, FAWU, NUMSA, SADTU, CEPPWAWU, SASFU and PAWUSA. The biggest loser was SACTWU, which lost 20 975 members as a result of the massive number of retrenchments in the clothing and textile industry.

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Posted on May 27th, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity

In April I blogged on my scepticism towards the insistence of the Conservative party that on the advice of Sir Peter Gershen they could find £12 billion worth of efficiencies in the public sector.  So imagine my surprise when Nick Robinson of all people, commenting on the £6 billion worth of cuts announced yesterday, said that the government had only been able to find £95 million efficiencies from IT projects instead of the £2 billion predicted by Sir Peter.

Meanwhile the Government’s ’we”re all in this together’ ethos was demonstrated by Ministers giving up their ‘right’ to a dedicated ministerial limo whilst thousands of young unemployed people look set to be denied the chance of work with the axing of the Future Jobs Fund and employees at the soon to be abolished QCA and BECTA face possible redundancy.  You can get a sense of the real effect of the coalitions cuts thanks to my colleagues over at Touchstone.

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Posted on May 25th, 2010 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news

It’s with thanks to my friends at AFT Local 1581 on the island of Guam www.gftunion.com/ that I pass on this piece of news. “After stopping negotiations for three weeks, Port managers have been calling Union Members into closed door meetings to encourage them to quit the Union.  Not only is this specifically against the law and an act of bad faith while negotiating a contract but it is deemed a mortal sin by the Catholic Church.  

A group of Catholic scholars contends that management efforts to break labor unions are a grave breach of the church’s social doctrine and tantamount to committing mortal sin. A statement from Weymouth, Mass.-based Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, released May 1, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, offers a detailed argument that actions to thwart union organizing campaigns, stifle contract talks, unilaterally roll back wages and benefits, and break existing labor agreements are a “grave violation of Catholic social doctrine on labor unions.”

“This violation of Catholic doctrine constitutes material grounds for mortal sin because it stands in grave violation of both the letter and spirit of Catholic social doctrine,” said the document, titled “Union Busting Is a Mortal Sin.” To find out more about this go to http://ncronline.org/news/union-busting-mortal-sin-catholic-scholars-say .

You might also want to send messages of support to the AFT on Guam who do a difficult job operating thousands of miles away from mainland USA. Find out how by going to the above AFT link.

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Posted on May 24th, 2010 by Tom Mellish filed under: Union news

Stronger Unions 2010 – taking place at the TUC, Congress House, London on July 5th- will be an opportunity to consider union responses to the new political environment – particularly in respect of how unions Campaign, Organise, Represent members and Educate reps and activists.

The event will also include workshops run by Unions 21 and Compass and others looking at union campaigning strategies, facility time, the future of union education and organising young workers.

STRONGER UNIONS 21 is FREE TO ATTEND.  To book a place email Debbie Cleary on dcleary@tuc.org.uk 

STRONGER UNIONS 2010 Flyer

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Posted on May 18th, 2010 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news

I’ve just got back from a meeting of the TUC Executive after giving a report on the latest Trade Union membership figures published by BIS.  The figures offer some encouragement but also continue to present challenges to unions and the TUC. 

Overall union density (the proportion of employees who are in  a union) remained unchanged at 27.4 per cent.  Also remaining relatively stable was collective bargaining coverage (the proportion of employees whose pay and conditions are negotiated between a union and their employer) at 32.7 per cent.  Union members continue to be better paid than non-members; based on their average hourly earnings, union members are paid over 15 per cent more than non-members.

Union membership remains concentrated in the public sector where density is over 56 per cent compared to just 15 per cent in the private sector.  Unions are present in nine out of ten public sector workplaces compared to just three out of ten in the private sector.  For the eighth consecutive year, density amongst women was higher than amongst men (29.5 per cent to 25.2 per cent). 

It should be a source of some relative comfort that through 2008 and 2009 – the two years that have borne the full force of the recession – union density has remained steady with only a 0.6 per cent fall recorded.  Whilst this was largely due to union membership falling at the same rate as employment – credit should also be given to union strategies on organising and recruitment and work with employers to mitigate against the worst aspects of the recession.  The longer term trend is also more stable.  In the ten years from 1989 to 1999, union membership fell by 9.3 per cent but between 1999 and 2009 the rate of decline was 2.3 per cent.

However, this years figures also show that there was no breakthrough by unions into new sectors and a there remains a pressing need for unions to re-double their efforts in expanding where they already have a presence.

Looking forward, pressure on trade union membership and density is most likely to come from; a contraction in employment in sectors where union density is relatively high (obviously including the public sector) and where (and when) it does occur – employment growth in sectors where unions currently have limited presence such as business services and retail; Also an increase in the number of workers in part-time and temporary positions – amongst whom density is traditionally lower compared to employees in full time and permanent jobs.

The TUC continues to support unions on organising and recruitment via both the Organising Academy and the Activist Academy.  In addition to this in October 2010 the TUC with unionlearn will be launching a new development programme for senior lay leaders.  The TUC Lay-Leadership Development programme will be based on the TUC Leading Change course for senior union officers and will be a 6-day accredited programme of learning, discussion and support covering issues such as; strategies for union growth, using union resources effectively, developing effective campaigns and organising globally.  The programme will be delivered by Ruskin College.  If you are intested in this programme please email me at croper@tuc.org.uk

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Posted on May 18th, 2010 by Carl Roper filed under: Union futures

Have just returned from a week in the states which included attending AFSME leadership training.  The training was hosted by Harvard and delivered by Marshall Ganz.   One method was using narrative to capture and develop leadership potential.  I have to quantify this by pointing out that this is a very simplistic summary of a very complex and thought provoking method. 

The telling of the story, the narrative, breaks down into different parts but the most important consideration is that it has to be our story, told as it happens and equally important it has to be relevant and it has to have urgency.  Hence the complexity.  Here’s an attempt at a real example…

I have been (as have some of you I’m sure) watching the unfolding political events of the last few weeks and it felt a little like the end of a Dr Who episode where you hide because you know its going to be scary but you can’t help watching at the same time.  I have also noticed a change in how the PM contenders approached the election and I saw a different campaign, did you?  I saw spreads in Hello! magazine,  interviews on Piers Morgan as well asthose live debates.  Through this I feel I have heard some of their story. The final outcome is still unknown, a bit like those maths formulas: xy2=sum of conservative + liberal democrat. 

One unknown quantity is still guaranteed in all of the papers and news reports.  Our economy (meaning our jobs and income and the tax we pay across all of our workplaces providing all of the services we do for each other) still needs some work.  Now we have two people making our decisions, maybe two heads are better than one but which one gets the final say?  The value of us making sure that we have some say in what happens in every one of our workplaces is critical today because when have you or I ever faced this in our society? 

The time to get our friends and family to join our unions and be active in our workplaces around the country is never more urgent than now. We have to make sure that all decisions affecting us and our jobs and income and taxes and services are influenced by us.  So, I am going to go and make sure my friends and family are all in unions, will you?

This method works better spoken than written, and you will see that there is always room for improvement. The lessons learned from our american friends will be developed into a training course which the TUC Orgainising Academy will be running in the autumn, keep a watch on our website for further details.

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Posted on May 18th, 2010 by Liz filed under: Union organising