Owen TudorThe latest figures from the USA show that trade union membership is up over the last year, despite the difficult economic conditions, continuing anti-union activism by the Republicans, and – and this is perhaps the most interesting element of the statistics - a decline in the number of trade union members in the public sector. As well as the increase in union numbers in the private sector, union density in the public sector has gone up despite the number of members going down – a result of the reduction in public sector jobs.
Owen Tudor's Archive
Owen Tudor
I’ve been the Head of the TUC’s European Union and International Relations Department since 2003 and have worked at the TUC since 1984. I’ve been a member of the Health and Safety Commission, the Civil Justice Council, the Social Security Advisory Committee and the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council and now I’m on the Wilton Park Advisory Council. I’m particularly interested in the trade union movements of Australia, Iran and Iraq, the Middle East and the USA, and I’m interested in migration, trade, and building trade union capacity. I’m the Secretary of TUC Aid, the TUC’s charitable union development arm and on the Robin Hood Tax campaign steering committee.
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Handing in the million signature petition to recall Gov Walker. Photo: Wisconsin AFL-CIO
Unions in Wisconsin, a year into their titanic battle with Republican Governor Scott Walker over the scrapping of collective bargaining rights for public sector workers, were celebrating today as they handed in over a million signatures on a recall petition demanding a new election for the Governorship. Under Wisconsin law, they only needed 540,000, but the final count showed that over a million Wisconsin voters want Walker out. What’s really incredible about this is that there are only 3.2 million people registered to vote in the state, and at the last gubernatorial election, only just over a million voted for Governor Walker. The summer recall election – in a state that voted Democrat in 2008 but Republican in 2010 – will be a key indicator of how the Presidential election will go. At the same time, recall petitions on three Republican state senators were also handed in.
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The national trade union centres of Nigeria (NLC and NTUC) have ended their general strike over the unilateral removal of the government oil subsidy after eight days of consistent popular support led to direct talks with the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan. Those talks on Sunday night produced movement that the unions felt represented satisfactory progress.
The Government has reinstated part of the subsidy so that a litre of petrol will be reduced from the N141 price (57p) imposed on 1 January to N97 (39p). This is more than the original N65 (26p) price per litre, and the unions made clear it was still a unilateral decision rather than an agreement between unions and Government. But together with pledges to act against corruption in the oil sector, and reduce the governance costs of the energy sector, the unions decided that further protests could endanger their supporters, and that enough had been secured. Nigeria has a history of military coups, and there were worrying signs that the dispute could lead to even more loss of life.
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Members and supporters of Greek energy union GENOP/DEI march in Athens in 2011. Photo GENOP/DEI
The Greek trade unionists facing jail for protesting against austerity will be back in court on Friday 20 January, so there is still time to send the Greek Prime Minister an online protest, urging him to drop the case as demanded by the TUC’s sister trade union confederation in Greece, the GSEE, who have called a further strike against austerity on Tuesday 24 January. As reported here on the first day of the trial, 5000 people worldwide had taken action to defend Nikos Photopoulos and his colleagues who were accused of trying to prevent energy company PPC adding the hated new property tax to people’s energy bills and cutting off those who don’t pay, regardless of circumstance.
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Nigeria’s five-day old General Strike - called by unions over the unilateral withdrawal of the petrol subsidy which is all ordinary Nigerians see of the country’s massive oil wealth – has forced the Government into negotiations described by unions as ‘fruitful’, despite the deaths of several protesters. Unions suspended the General Strike for talks over the weekend, but have warned that if progress is not made it will be back on from Monday, with oil workers now threatening to halt crude production, which would intensify the impact on the Nigerian economy, put so far at $3bn. The General Strike has paralysed the country, demonstrating the enormous support for the trade unions’ campaign, and significantly damaging the reputation of President Jonathan Goodluck.
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Union recall protest, Nov 2011. Photo Karen Hickey / Wisconsin AFLCIO
Today the Associated Press has reported that Wisconsin trade unionists have secured enough signatures to force a recall election on the Republican State Governor, Scott Walker, who led the fight to strip Wisconsin public sector unions of their collective bargaining rights last year and cost two Republicans their seats in the state legislature in recall elections last year. Unions have already collected over half a million signatures in the state (population: 5.7m, so that’s nearly 10% of the entire population), which is the cut-off point, although, as with last summer’s recall campaigns, they plan to gather more. A recall election would pit Governor Walker against a Democratic opponent committed to restoring union rights.
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Nikos Photopoulos (front left) leads a GENOP/DEI protest march last summer. Photo: GENOP/DEI
As the total number of people sending a protest to the Greek Prime Minister about the trial of trade unionists for opposing austerity hit 5,000, the leader of the accused, GENOP President Nikos Photopoulos, sent us this message of thanks:
It is with feelings of great joy and emotion that I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the thousands of our colleagues and co-fighters around the world for their support and solidarity. By standing at our side you give us hope and courage. The flood of your messages shows that the Greek people are not alone in these grim times of injustice.
As the president of GENOP/DEI, a trade union committed to defend workers and their rights, I reiterate our engagement to never compromise, never bend and never lower the banner of the fight for a society of humanity and justice.
There’s still time to send your protest and encourage colleagues to do so, because Nikos and his colleagues are not due in court until 9am (local time) on Tuesday. Since the appeal was launched on Friday morning, over 1,000 people in the UK have sent the Greek PM a protest email.
Send a protest message via Labourstart now
