2010 September | STRONGER UNIONS

Brussels sprouts green shoots of protest

(Ok, I admit it, the headline is dreadful but….)

Yesterday more than 100,000 trade unionists from across Europe answered the ETUC’s call to march in Brussels to say ‘No’ to the austerity measures currently in vogue across the continent. With co-ordinated protests in 13 European capitals, 10 million on strike in Spain, and campaigning activity up and down the UK (see here, here and here for just a few examples), unions and working people showed the clear frustrations felt by millions of working people across Europe in the face of job losses, pay-freezes and attacks on pensions and terms and conditions.

All this BEFORE the government unveils its plan to take £83bn out economy on October 20. I suspect whatever anger or frustration is out there at the moment is nothing compared to what will be unleashed once the full impact of the CSR starts to be felt. More news on the ETUC demo to come from our correspondents in the field shortly!

Posted on September 30th, 2010 by Paul Nowak filed under: Union campaigns

Owen Tudor

How union members voted for Labour Leader

When Tony Blair stood for Leader of the Labour Party in 1994, only one union nominated him. When their members voted, only two unions’ members backed the nomination their union had made (the then GPMU and ISTC). There was a feeling in Tony Blair’s circles that unions were not representative of their members. Flash forward to 2010, the first contested Labour leadership election in 16 years: nine unions nominated, and in eight cases, the nominee came first in the poll of those unions’ members (in the other, the nominee came second by 25 votes). Affiliated organisations’ results are here.

Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Union news

Owen Tudor

TUC backs Turkish workers at UPS

The Turkish trade union TÜMTIS is facing tough times at global parcel delivery company UPS, and a global solidarity campaign run by ITF won support at the September General Council and then at Congress. Since November 2009, more than 150 employees in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir have been dismissed without any application of the procedures stipulated by Turkish law. All of the dismissed workers are union members or sympathisers. The remaining workers face constant victimisation and harassment in order to dissuade them from joining the union, and some have even been forced to resign. On 2 July, the conflict escalated in Izmir when it was reported that a manager of a sub-contractor pulled out his gun and started shooting in front of a notary. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber has written to the Turkish Ambassador protesting at this attack on workers’ rights, and demanding the government intervene.

Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity, Union campaigns

Carl Roper

Would you believe it? People support the need for unions!

You wouldn’t think it reading much of the coverage of unions provided by most of the media – but a new Harris Interactive poll for Metro has revealed support amongst the public for unions.

In the poll, four out of five people belived that there was still a role for unions and three out of five believed that every workplace should have union representation.

There was mixed news on the union response to the cuts – almost a third felt that unions were right to be talking about taking joint industrial action against the cuts but just over a third were against it. Whether and how this will change when the public starts to actually experience the cuts remains to be seen.

Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Carl Roper filed under: Union futures

Owen Tudor

ACT NOW – join Amnesty campaign for Cambodian union leaders

Several union leaders and activists organising a nationwide strike of garment factory workers in Cambodia are at risk of arrest and legal action. The TUC is supporting Amnesty International’s urgent action calling on the Cambodian government to stop its harassment and to respect freedom of association.

Posted on September 26th, 2010 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity, Union campaigns

Carl Roper

There is a better way

Hat tip to my colleagues at the STUC for their campaign and website “There is a better way”.

The site contains resources for activists as well as as excellent myth buster and Pinocchio Award given to those in the media and politics telling the biggest fibs about the origins of the crisis and how to sort things out.

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

Carl Roper

Our blog crashes the TIGMOO Top 3

Thanks to my excellent colleague at the TUC John Wood for compiling via Tigmoo a list of the of top 25 trade union related bloggers.

This year, Stronger Unions has moved up in the rankings from 7 to 3 which isn”t bad considering the rather ‘niche’ nature of our blog. Thanks too, to regular visitors, and lets hope that as the need to build Stringer Unions becomes ever more important we’ll increase the posts and the profile of the blog will increase.

You can view the full list here.

Posted on September 25th, 2010 by Carl Roper filed under: Unions online