Union news

Becky Wright
Netroots UK North West

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Saturday 18th February sees the return of Netroots UK. Manchester will play host to activists from across the online (and hopefully offline) community engage in approaches to how we can effectively campaign in a digital world.

I’ve been asked to be in one of the sessions entitled ‘Campaigning Strategies‘ which is looking at understanding how change happens and what motivates people to support your campaign,and better ways to plan your campaigns. I’m still in the process of trying to hone down all the theory and knowledge of the Organising Academy down into ten minutes (!) but I’m thinking of focusing on the mistakes that we commonly make when running campaigns.

I have yet to come across a campaigner or organiser that hasn’t, at some point, made a mistake. We all do, it’s human nature. The important part is to recognise that we need to learn from them, and crucially, share that learning.

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Posted on February 14th, 2012 by Becky Wright filed under: Union news
Carl Roper
Attack on union reps defeated

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Earlier today I blogged about MP and former investment banker Jesse Norman’s 10 Minute Rule Bill attacking union reps. I’m pleased to report that Mr Norman’s motion was defeated by 79 votes. You can read Jesse Norman’s speech introducing the Bill, and John Healey’s response on TheyWorkForYou.

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.

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Posted on January 11th, 2012 by Carl Roper filed under: Union news, Union reps
Tim Lezard
UnionNews: from news values to our values

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As a journalist and activist I’ve spent more years than I care to remember promoting trade unions, so it’s rather nice to have the compliment returned and having trade unions promoting my own latest venture – the on-line news service for trade unionists, UnionNews.

In last Sunday’s Observer, three general secretaries very neatly pinpointed why there is a need for projects like UnionNews. There was Len McCluskey from Unite saying: ‘When anything’s reported, it’s strikes and disruption, even though 90-odd% of the time we’re involved with companies and organisations, it’s helping, adding value.”

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Posted on September 11th, 2011 by Tim Lezard filed under: Union news
StrongerUnions
25 years on from the Wapping strikes

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With a heightened interest in Rupert Murdoch and his empire, it’s handy the TUC are currently hosting a new exhibition: ‘News International Wapping – 25 Years on’ – The strike that made the modern media.

The Wapping dispute marked the beginning of the end of Fleet Street, it was a turning point for the British press and for the already controversial Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch had been making crippling demands on his papers’ print workers, including the right for management to change T&Cs whenever and however they wanted, the end of closed shops, and a ban on all industrial action. A strike began on 24^th January 1986, and Murdoch switched production to a new facility in Wapping, undermining the unionised workers.

The exhibition takes you through it all, offering historical context to the current turbulent fortunes of Murdoch’s media empire. The origins of Fleet Street and Murdoch’s rise, through the start of the strike, the boycotts and the police riots, on to where the unions are today. It finishes with the question; is Murdoch really unstoppable?

The exhibition is produced by the Marx Memorial Library. It’s free to view and can been seen in the foyer of Congress House (Great Russell Street, London) until August 12^th.

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Posted on July 28th, 2011 by StrongerUnions filed under: Union news
Chris Wright
Collective bargaining and the case for “the alternative”

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The enormous turnout at the March for the Alternative on Saturday showed the TUC’s capacity to mobilise opposition against the government’s cuts agenda. The next obvious step is to mobilise support for an economic alternative, and I would argue that a stronger system of collective bargaining needs to be prominent in the case that unions make.

At last week’s TUC/ESRC roundtable, we heard from a number of speakers on the negative outcomes that followed from the decline in collective bargaining coverage over recent decades, for instance the rise of low-paid work and the growth in latent conflict between workers and managers.

There was also consensus among participants that unions can help to address some of the economic problems facing Britain, such as rising living costs and falling consumer demand, by making the case for stronger collective bargaining regulation. I’ve echoed some of these arguments in a post on Left Foot Forward today, where I say that collective bargaining can help to boost wages and consumer spending, which would facilitate economic growth.

But a number of speakers also made the point that unions need to find innovative ways to organise in order to extend collective bargaining coverage. We heard some interesting presentations on the various tools available to unions to increase their organising presence. Steve Murphy (UCATT’s Midlands Regional Secretary) spoke about how UCATT have used framework agreements with large companies to improve pay, conditions and union access among their sub-contractors and suppliers, and Annie Watson (the ETI Trade Union Coordinator) told us of the organising opportunities available through the Ethical Trading Initiative and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises.

Keep an eye out for the next Unions, Collective Bargaining and Employment Relations Project Research Bulletin for a full report from the roundtable.

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Posted on March 28th, 2011 by Chris Wright filed under: Union news, Union organising
Owen Tudor
Playfair 2012 speaker tour: playing by the rules on workers’ rights

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It would take a Sri Lankan sportswear worker 14,000 years to earn the Nike CEO’s £8m pot for 2010. While Adidas, the official sportswear sponsor for London 2012, can afford £100m in sponsorship fees, it is less sure about being able to pay workers making its products a living wage. Nirosha Priyadarshini Manakanda Dewage, co-President, Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Trade Union, Sri Lanka, will be touring Britain in April to provide an insight into working conditions in sportswear supply chains and its impacts on the everyday lives of workers and their families. And he will tell us more about how workers are mobilising to win better pay and conditions.

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Posted on March 27th, 2011 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity, Rights at work, Union news
Amandatattersall
What happens after the rally? Four ideas for strengthening the campaign against the cuts

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Politics in the UK is at a crossroads. The government has presented its vision of a radical overhaul to public spending. A community-based movement involving unions and community organisations is building opposition to this agenda, with the major rally on Saturday 26 March.

But like all coalitions between different community-based organisations, the challenge is how a coalition like this can go from holding a one-off mobilisation into a sustained movement that builds an alternative vision for how the United Kingdom should be governed.

As I argue in Power in Coalition, there is a series of strategies is needed for building strong coalitions. These lessons are based on the experiences of three long-term coalitions in the Canada, US and Australia. Here, four useful lessons are identified for those keen to develop and achieve a people-centred vision for the UK.

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Posted on March 24th, 2011 by Amandatattersall filed under: Union campaigns, Union news