The recruitment process for entry into Year 13 of the TUC Organising Academy Trainee Organiser Programme will start in September.

As an Academy Organiser you will spend a tough, but rewarding year with a sponsoring union undergoing a comprehensive training programme, and applying your skills as an organiser in the workplace.

We are looking for people who are positive, able to develop new and imaginative ideas, who remain upbeat in the face of difficulties and setbacks, are able to handle conflict, pressure and competing priorities, self motivated, have excellent communication and problem solving skills and the ability to work alone or as part of a team. Above all, we want people who are quick and enthusiastic to learn, and eager to play their part in the rejuvenation of the trade union movement.

We look for applicants who have a proven track record of organising for the trade union movement or who can bring experience from organising for community and voluntary organisations, student unions, anti-racist campaigns or similar campaigning groups.

The Organising Academy Recruitment process has 3 stages:

Regional Development Centres – these are open to all who are interested in unions and organising and those who are interested in becoming an Organising Academy Trainee Organiser. Development Centres are an opportunity to learn new skills related to organising but are also used to select applicants to go forward to the next stage of the recruitment process. Development Centres will this year be held in September and October (dates below).

Interview – applicants successful at the Development Centres are invited to an interview with the TUC. Those successful at this stage go forward into the Organising Academy candidate pool.

Candidate Pool – this is the group of applicants from which those unions who are offering Organising Academy Trainee Organiser placement sponsorships will select. Candidates in the pool may be asked to attend a further interview with a sponsoring union.

This year the Development Centres will take place on the following dates;

• September 25 & 26 in Exeter
• October 2 & 3 in London
• October 9 & 10 in Birmingham and Cardiff
• October 16 & 17 in Glasgow
• October 23 & 24 in Liverpool

If you are interested in becoming an Academy Organiser email organisingacademy@tuc.org.uk or call 020 7467 1361 to register for a Development Centre and/or receive an information pack.

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Posted on July 30th, 2010 by Carl Roper filed under: Union organising, Union reps

Priti Patel, the new Conservative MP for Witham clearly has her finger on the nations pulse.  How else to explain the 67 Parliamentary questions that she’s submitted on the costs to government departments of trade union facility time – the time away from work duties that union reps get so that they can help their colleagues and negotiate with management.

This is a line of questioning that fits with attempts by some of the more extreme wings of what we’ll call ‘Conservative’ thinking, to use the reaction to the financial crisis and recession as an opportunity to realise long held ideological objectives in respect of the size and role of the state and public services.  The questioning and critique of employer provided facilities to union representatives that we’ve seen over recent months in the press and from groups such as the Tax Payers Alliance (which we must of course always remember is NOT actually an alliance of taxpayers) forms part of this,

Anyway, back to Priti Patel’s 67 questions.  The answers to most of them will be published in September when Parliament returns from its summer break, however from the answers received so far, if Priti’s concern about facility time is based on the cost to the tax payer then she can relax.

For instance the Department of Energy and Climate Change spent between £35k and £41k on the salary costs of a full time trade union side secretary out of total departmental expenditure of £2.1 billion.   Similarly small proportions of total expenditure are spent in Local Government where for example, an authority like Hammersmith and Fulham spent £300K on facility time out of a total expenditure of £198million.

What of course Priti Patel didn’t ask about was the value of the work that union reps do and the benefits that accrue for union members and employers.  If she had, she would have discovered that the benefits far outweigh the costs as evidenced in both the TUC’s ‘Recovery from the Recession’ Touchstone Pamphlet and ‘Reps in Action’ a publication highlighting the value of union reps published jointly by the TUC and the CBI.

Finally, the final cost to the tax payer of answering Priti’s 67 questions – which, given that union reps in workplaces were there is a recognised union are legally entitled to facility time, were essentially about how government departments comply with the law – will come out at around £10,000 (nearly £150 a question).

Carl Roper is TUC National Organiser

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Posted on July 29th, 2010 by Carl Roper filed under: Rights at work, Union campaigns, Union organising, Union reps

 There are just 2 weeks left to send in your entries to the TUC 60 second Ad contest. We have received some great entries so far, the competition is absolutely open to everyone, and there are some great prizes to be won. So, if you think that you have a great idea that encourages people to join a trade union, why not show us how.

Check out the brief, listen to the experts, and find out how to get involved. Log on to www.tuc60seconds.org.uk. And don’t forget to vote for your winning ad.

Closing Date: Midnight, GMT, 9th August 2010.

Prizes

There are some fabulous prizes to be won, including a £1000 cash prize plus a day on a film set, as well as tickets to the Premiere of ‘Made in Dagenham’ (in cinemas from October 1^st) starring Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Miranda Richardson and Rosamund Pike http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jul/25/sally-hawkins-made-in-dagenham. There will be the added bonus of watching your winning ad at a special screening of the film. There are some great prizes for the runners up too. And please don’t worry, if needed, we’ll work with you to bring your ad up to broadcast quality. The winning ad will be seen by thousands of people across the world… including showings at the Geneva Labour film festival and the Washington DC Labour film festival.

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Posted on July 28th, 2010 by Anna filed under: Union news

It’s good news for once, but it’s not all good news. Saeed Torabian, the Publicity Director of the Vahed Bus Workers’ Union in Tehran, has been freed after 42 days in jail on trumped up charges of acting against national security and making public expressions against the regime. Here’s where we reported on his arrest and asked you to take action – thanks for doing so!

But fellow union leaders Mansour Osanloo, Ebrahim Madadi and Reza Shahabi (the latter arrested at the same time as Saeed) are still in jail.

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Posted on July 25th, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity

The laws that Saddam Hussein used to repress Iraqi trade unions are still being used today to prevent working people defending and promoting their rights. On 21 July, the new Electricity Minister, Hussain al-Shahristani, ordered his Ministry’s police force to storm union offices, list and seize all their property, and close them down – the order was put into action the very next day. Anyone protesting is to be considered a terrorist, which is a vicious slur, bcecause the unions in the industry have stood up to the terrorists since Saddam fell. Al-Shahristani is using Saddam’s law that banned trade unions in the public sector, a law that, unlike so many of Saddam’s laws, has never been repealed. The TUC has protested to the Iraqi Government and called on the British Government to intervene, as well as co-ordinating international protests with the International Chemical, Energy and Mining global union federation (ICEM) and the International Trade Union Confederation. You can take action too – please spread the word among fellow activists, and help these brave trade unionists in Iraq, who have suffered so much, withstand this latest assault.

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Posted on July 23rd, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity

Today I was part of a delegation to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as part of a global day of action for press freedom in the Gambia, and it taught me a lesson about how worthwhile our global solidarity campaigns can be – on a really personal level.

Coming the week after we celebrated once again what was probably the first ever global solidarity success – the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival – it was a salutary reminder that solidarity works.

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Posted on July 22nd, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity, Union campaigns

And whilst we’re commenting on matters Australian, welcome to Ged Kearney, the new President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, who succeeds Sharan Burrow – off to become General Secretary of the ITUC. Ged, former Federal Secretary of the Australian Nurses Federation, will be working with existing ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence. Both posts are full-time. The full leadership of the ACTU is here.

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Posted on July 22nd, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity