Today, the TUC releases new research that shows the significant benefits that workplace union reps produce for employers and taxpayers.  The report also reveals serious inaccuracies in figures used by the so-called Taxpayers Alliance relating to the cost of paid time off.

“Facility Time for union reps – separating fact from fiction” not only updates the value of the savings to employers and the taxpayer that result from the work that reps do, but also reveals a significant return on investment in relation to the cost of the paid time off that reps receive.

The research, conducted for the TUC by the University of Hertfordshire’s Work and Employment Research Unit found that the total savings for employers and therefore the tax payer that result from the work union reps carry out in the PUBLIC sector equate to a value of up £586 million per annum.  This means that for every £1 spent on paid time off for union reps in the public sector (using even the disputed TPA cost estimate of £113m pa) between £2 and £5 is return in accrued benefits: a significant return on investment.

The research also reveals serious flaws in the methodology used by the so-called TPA and other organisations to estimate the alleged cost of facility time.

For example, you may have thought that those great unions such as APEX, ASTMS and MSF no longer existed? You’d be correct of course, but alleged payments to them are included in the figure calculated by the TPA.

You may be aware of the good works undertaken by organisations such as the General Medical Council, the British Orthodontic Society and the Alliance of Charters Towers State Schools. If you are, you’ll no doubt be surprised to hear them described as trade unions.  They aren’t of course, but they are included in the TPA’s dodgy figures.

And if you’ve ever heard of any of these organisations – NMC SHA, HTCC and GAB – let alone think that they’re trade unions, then you join a very small group of people (yes that’s right, the TPA).

Here at the TUC, we are trying hard NOT to believe the rumour that the TPA’s original draft also listed organisations called TTFN, OMG and LOL. 

If you strip out the alleged payments to these organisations and other inaccuracies (yes there are more) then the true “cost” of paid time off for workplace union reps comes to around £80m pa.  This increases the return on investment figure to between £3 and £9 for every £1 spent.  A return you’d struggle to get from many FTSE250 companies.

There is a serious point to this.  It appears that the TPA and their fellow travellers in TURC are so desperate to hide their ideological hatred of unions that they appear prepared to cobble together any old figures and call it research to gloss over their prejudice.

It’s a shame that the government has to waste time dealing with such people.  Instead, they should listen to employers who are of course are fully aware of the value of workplace union reps.  That’s why you will rarely, if ever, hear the TPA or TURC mention them.  But we’re happy to give the final word (for now at least) to three senior managers, all of whom (probably unlike anyone connected with the TPA and TURC) have real day to day experience of working with workplace union reps.

‘We value the partnership working that has been developed with our unions and believe that it is important staff get time to participate fully in the partnership and in staff representation roles. As a result we have been able to develop a range of effective policies, managed workforce reductions without recourse to compulsory redundancies and reduced workplace conflict’.

Nick Parker, Head of Human Resources, Airedale NHS Foundation Trust

“We greatly value the contribution made by workplace union reps at Merseytravel and the relationship that managers have with them.  We regard the cost of paid time off as an investment on which the organisation has had a significant return, reducing sickness and grievances, supporting succession planning and improvements to customer care.”

Liz Chandler, Director of Corporate Development, Merseytravel

“Newcastle City Council has sustained excellent industrial relations through an extended period of unprecedented change.  The full support of trade Unions and the involvement of workers from across the organisation has been instrumental in helping us achieve budget savings of £44m in the current financial and to develop proposal to save a further £30m next year. Many of these proposals arise from the innovation and ideas of our staff, and the contribution of Trade Union workplace reps has been an important part of that success”.

Barry Rowland, Chief Executive, Newcastle City Council

You can access the full report (pdf) here.

Such is the deep seated antipathy towards unions felt by the likes of Mr Norman and the determination of the Taxpayers Alliance and TURC to persecute workplace reps that I’m certain that this wont be the end of their attacks. For now though we should celebrate this small victory for workplace reps, employees and employers.

Jesse Norman MP. Cartoon © Alex Hughes

If I was to tell you that today, a former employee of an industry that in 2009 received a bailout from the taxpayer amounting to over £1 TRILLION (and that still owes over £450 BILLION) was to move a motion attacking volunteer workplace union reps and demanding that unions should be forced to repay employers for the time they have negotiated that allows workplace reps to represent employees and negotiate with employers, you would think I’d taken leave of my senses.

But that’s exactly what is going to happen today when Jesse Norman MP, a former Barclays Investment banker stands up and moves a 10 Minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons.

As he moves the motion Mr Norman will no doubt quote the dodgy figures provided for him by the so-called Taxpayers Alliance.  If he’s consistent in pushing the spurious narrative of the Trade Union Reform Campaign, he’ll make no mention of the benefits that result from the work undertaken by workplace reps.

Next week, the TUC will publish the results of research that will prove that paid time off for union reps is an investment not a cost and will set out the significant benefits that accrue to employers and society. The research will also explain just why the figures used by Mr Norman and the TPA shouldn’t be taken seriously.  We’ll also be highlifghting via a series of case studies the work that reps do, not just in representing employees but working with employers.

For the time being, we can only watch on in amazement at Mr Norman’s outrageous chutzpah!

One of the more spurious yet central reasons why right wing front groups hate union reps getting paid time to represent employees and negotiate with employers is because they’ve convinced themselves that this frees up cash that unions (or at least the minority of them that affiliate) can then give to the Labour party.  And a union trying to influence public policy is the thing they hate the most – apart from unions themselves obviously!

But wait – what’s this? It seems that unions aren’t the only groups that give cash to political parties.

A recent analysis by the FT of official electoral commission data found out that one group of people has been particularly generous to the Conservative party.  Over the last 10 years hedge fund managers have donated more than £14 million to the party, including more than £2million since the general election.

Now you may think that this a bit dodgy given the Tories’ opposition to things such as a Robin Hood Tax and apparent support for lowering the 50p tax rate; but no, it’s ok.  That’s because when asked if such donations influence party and therefore government policy, Conservative HQ said;

“There is no question of individuals either influencing policy or gaining unfair advantage by virtue of their financial contributions.”

So there you have it. Anyone (and I’d assume any organisation) who makes a donation to a political party in the hope that it will buy influence is clearly wasting their money.

Maybe now the members of the aforementioned right wing front groups can stop accusing humble TUC staffers of “running money laundering operations for the Labour party” and chill out a bit.

I’m writing this post having just returned from the Liverpool TUC March and Rally for Pensions Justice so you may have to excuse some post march euphoria.  However it’s clear that in terms of the support the Day of Action has received from public sector workers, it has been an enormous success.

My Twitter feed is filled with reports about attendance at afternoon marches and rallies all over the country.  We might have expected the huge turnouts at rallies in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, London and Glasgow, but we also saw 5000 in Chester, 2000 in Cambridge, 2000 in Gloucester, 1200 in Lancaster.

As well as a  reflection of the genuine anger felt by public sector workers about the almost daily attacks on their pay and conditions by the Coalition government, this is also a sign of a movement regaining its confidence and finding a voice to speak on behalf of all workers regardless of which sector they work in.

I’m proud that this year the trade union movement and its members have been the focal point of the opposition to the Coalitions cuts programme. In the Spring we put half a million on the streets of London to demonstrate opposition to the cuts and support for an alternative. In the Summer the  June 30 strike shifted the terms of the pensions debate and in the Autumn the TUC and unions organised mass lobbies of both the Tory and Lib Dem party conferences.

In 2012 the government will launch an attack on the employment rights of all workers.  They won’t discriminate between public and private sector.  If the government succeeds the jobs of all workers will be less secure and they will  face increased risk of injury or illness at work.

Its clear that to be effective in opposing these cuts, unions will not only have to speak up for, but also reach out to workers in the private sector.  As we fight on so many fronts, finding the time and resources to do this won’t be easy but its work that is vital for the movement and the people we represent now and hope to in the future.

The TUC is pleased to announce the launch of a new set of on-line resources for union reps to help them organise, campaign and build stronger unions – unionreps ACTION!

We believe that these are the most comprehensive set of on-line resources of their kind available to reps in the UK. They include everything needed to build the union and campaign to win.

unionreps ACTION! contains the following sections;

• Know your workplace
• Planning to organise
• Recruiting new members
• Getting members active
• Organising a campaign
• Communicating with members
• Campaigning with others
• Using new media to organise
• Organising around Health and Safety
• Get the time to organise

unionreps ACTION! is exclusively available to registered users of the TUC’s unionreps.org.uk website – so, if you haven’t done so already, you’ll need to register to access them.

Don’t let this put you off, all we need are a few details about where you live, work and what union you’re a rep for. Registering will also give you access to a host of other resources on the site and you’ll also receive the unionreps monthly newsletter.

You can register now at www.unionreps.org.uk – If you’re already a member, go straight to www.unionreps.org.uk/action_centre log-in and start organising!

The guide contains sections on the essential skills for organising, how to carry out effective research, building an organising team, putting together a campaign plan, campaigning with others beyond the workplace and evaluating your campaign activity.

We’re making the guide available via an interactive PDF, which you can download here, and hard copies which are available from the TUC Organising Team at Congress House.  Email organisingacademy@tuc.org.uk  if you’d like a copy.

We want to hear from people who can make the most of a challenging and exciting opportunity to work with unions, union activists and members of the community to support and and develop local campaign activity.  The closing date for applications is November 11th and selection is via an Assessment Centre and interview.

Additional details, including job description, person specification and application form are available from the TUC website

Poster at Occupy LSX. Photo: victoriaintheworld

It’s not unusual when the TUC’s Leading Change group visits the US each year for the trip to coincide with a significant event that provides a context for the discussions we have.

In 2005 the US Labour movement had split just a few months before we arrived and in 2008 the trip came in the initial aftermath of the financial meltdown and just days before the election of Barack Obama. The context to our visit to Harvard University last week was provided by the Occupy Wall Street and other similar protests in what now amounts to around 900 cities across the globe.

All week, alongside the presentations and discussions on strategies for trade union revival, a debate took place on what, if anything, was the significance of the ‘Occupy’ protests for the anti cuts movement and trade unions and what it would be appropriate for unions to do to provide support.

Fortunately, in addition to the groups own individual and collective knowledge and experience some great minds from the US labor movement were on hand to inform the discussion.

In addition to our host, Elaine Bernard from the Harvard University Labor and Work Life Programme, we had David Weil of Boston University speaking about capacity and leverage; Kris Rondeau, pioneer of what’s been called “relational organising” and the lead organiser of the the campaign that successfully organised workers at Harvard University; Damon Silvers a senior advisor to the President of the AFL-CIO and Marshall Ganz who has devoted his life to organising, worked with Ceasar Chavez organising farm workers in the 60s, developed the Camp Obama activist training and who now teaches organising at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

The discussions took place all week both within and outside the formal sessions and what follows are the conclusions that I drew from them that I considered to be the most significant in relation to the work of unions in the UK as we fight the cuts and campaign for an alternative economy.

1. That the ‘Occupy’ protests are significant if only because they represent a nascent social movement for social justice.
2. That they have created an opportunity for all progressive movements to which trade unions can and must respond.
3. That whilst they have been successful in raising awareness they haven’t yet created a crisis of power. They (up to now at least) lack coherent demands and as such have no obvious target.
4. That unions must be respectful of this movement’s structures (or lack of) and that whilst our reaction so far has been better than to similar movements in the past, we must be careful not kill it with kindness.
5. That we can give practical and policy support and advice in three ways. Firstly, we have resources such as cash, buildings and people (such as our own activists) that the movement could use. Secondly we can assist in the process of bringing coherence to their demands whether these be in relation to taxation, regulation of banks and/or key issues such as unemployment and housing. And finally we can help in getting them to think about end games. Put simply, how does the campaign develop so that it can begin to apply real and effective pressure on those who can give them what they want?

Whilst I believe that unions have much to learn from the ‘Occupy’ movement and others such as UK Uncut, neither am I one of those trade unionists who believes that their development gives cause for us to enter into a period of self loathing where we question everything about ourselves.

I like the way that they are totally issue focused and the easy entry points for participation in their actions. But we have much to offer them not least, given that we’ve been around for a couple of hundred years, a few tips about sustainability.

I’ve said previously on these pages that the current period of crisis is the major organising moment for our generation of trade unionists. Our job, now increasingly working with the ‘Occupy’ protests and others is to turn the anger into hope and then effective and decisive action.

Locked out workers and supporters demonstrate at Sotheby's New York

Art Handlers at Sotheby’s Auction House in New York were locked out by the company after they refused to sign new contracts that would have lead to the breaking of their union contract and half of them being replaced by outsourced temporary workers.

So determined are Sotheby’s, a company that makes huge profits and last year doubled the pay of it’s CEO to almost $6 million, to break the union that they are using Jackson Lewis, the notorious union busting firm Jackson Lewis.

ACTION: You can send an email to Sotheby’s senior managment in the UK, asking them to pressure their US colleagues to negotiate fairly – Take action here.