Carl Roper's Archive

Carl Roper

Carl Roper is the TUC National Organiser

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http://www.strongerunions.org

Carl Roper
Enjoy the silence (of the Taxpayers Alliance)

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I had a short article published yesterday over at Union News reflecting on the deafening silence from the so-called Taxpayers Alliance in relation to the use of public funds for Baroness Thatcher’s funeral.

The article wasn’t a comment on the appropriateness of the State paying for the send off of a former Prime Minister, but an observation that a group that quite regularly issues apoplectic press releases drawing attention to whatever it regards as an inappropriate use of ‘taxpayers’ money (almost everything in case you’re wondering) appeared to have nothing to say about how the costs of the late Lady Thatcher’s funeral were being met.

So a hat tip is due therefore to journalist Ally Fogg who yesterday produced the following list of things the TPA has, and hasn’t, commented on since April 1st this year. It makes the point about the farce that is the TPA’s supposed political independence much more powerfully than my article could ever have hoped to. Let’s just hope the media, and the BBC in particular, are paying attention.

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Posted on April 17th, 2013 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news
Carl Roper
Unions: Still here and needed more than ever

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Union members march in Cheltenham in 1989 in protest at the union ban for workers at GCHQ.

Reading the tributes to the late Baroness Thatcher, it doesn’t take long to get to what her supporters clearly regard as one of her main achievements; standing up to and ‘defeating’ the trades unions.

If you were unbiased and went purely on the statistics you might agree that’s exactly what she did. Union membership in 1979 stood at around 12 million and more than half of the workforce was in a union. Today, there are half the number of unions members that there were when Mrs Thatcher moved into Number 10, and union density is now around 26%.

But if you took a broader view and asked if she succeeded in creating a country where unions no long existed or were even needed then you might come to a different conclusion.

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Posted on April 10th, 2013 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news
Carl Roper
Support the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign

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A policeman hits out at a protestor at Orgreave in 1984. Photo John Harris, via TUC Library Collections

The TUC is supporting an E-Petition, set up by The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign, which is seeking truth and justice for all miners victimised by the police at the Orgreave Coking Plant, South Yorkshire, on June 18th 1984.

The petition says that Orgreave is part of a pattern of cover ups by the police from many different forces, which are now being exposed. A similar petition formed part of the campaign which led to the truth about Hillsborough finally being revealed last year.

The Orgreave petition calls for a full public inquiry into the policing and subsequent statements recorded by the police at the time, to be held as soon as possible.

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Posted on April 4th, 2013 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news
Carl Roper
TUC Young Workers call for jobs, fair pay and a future that works

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Jane Warburton (PCS) former Vice Chair of the Young Members Forum speaks at the Conference

Over 100 young trade unionists came together in London at the weekend for the annual TUC Young Members Conference.

In a week in which it was announced that youth unemployment had increased and is again nearing 1 million, the conference was dominated by the impact of the government’s austerity polices on young people. In addition to youth unemployment, motions on fair pay for young workers, housing, pensions and access to quality work experience were also debated.

As well as discussing motions submitted by TUC unions, delegates at the conference also attended workshops on effective local campaigning, working with Student Unions and Credit Unions.

Delegates also heard about plans to put the TUC Young Members Forum on a campaign footing and also make the way it operates the work it does more inclusive. Future meetings of the Young Workers Forum (as it will be called after ratification by the TUC General Council) will be held in TUC regions and will be open to all young workers, regardless of whether they are in a union.

You can read about the Young Members Conference as it was tweeted here. And see a great report from the conference by UnionNews here

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Posted on March 27th, 2013 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news
Carl Roper
Defend facility time with new resources from the TUC

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Union reps in the public sector will need no reminding from me of the blatant politically motivated attack on the ability of reps to represent members individually and collectively. A direct link can be made between the attacks from shady right wing front groups such as the Tax Payers Alliance and the Trade Union Reform campaign and the recent Cabinet Office attack on facility time in the civil service.

Unions and the TUC have pushed back against these attacks by rebutting the figures published in the Taxpayers Alliance dodgy dossiers and demonstrating the valuable contribution that union reps make in modern workplaces; one that benefits both employees and employers in the public AND private sectors.

To help reps become even more effective in their efforts to retain the ability to represent members and play a full and meaningful part in workplace industrial relations and the life of their union, the TUC has developed a new on-line training and briefing resource.

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Posted on March 20th, 2013 by Carl Roper filed under: Union reps
Carl Roper
Stronger Unions make work and society fairer. Period!

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This was my contribution to the Unions21 Fair Work Commission first report

This short contribution has one aim; to clearly and unequivocally make the case for the ability of strong and effective trade unions to make work, and indeed society in general, fairer.

This is a case that needs to be made because worryingly amongst certain parts of the ‘progressive’ policy making community there is something of a cultural cringe about trade unions that prevents their full potential being talked about, let alone given serious consideration.

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Posted on March 11th, 2013 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news
Carl Roper
Changes to strike ballot rules: the new campaign against democracy

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I don’t know if Conservatives hate or fear unions. It could even be both. How else to explain the latest planned attack on workplace democracy as reported in the Independent on Friday? We know that lots of people on the political right can’t cope with the fact that workers aren’t always inclined to put up with attacks on their jobs, terms and conditions and sometimes want to fight back.

That’s why its hardly surprising that the union haters on the Tory benches in Parliament and who populate the right wing fringe groups posing as think tanks want to make it more difficult for workers to go on strike by subverting the basic principles of democracy. The plan is apparently to introduce turnout thresholds in strike ballots either in relation to the overall turnout or the percentage voting for a strike.

The political intent of this is demonstrated by the fact that those calling for thresholds for industrial action ballots seem quite happy to grant legitimacy to other elections where there’s been less that popular support for the winner.

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Posted on February 24th, 2013 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news