Yup, he really is just out to get unions. Good luck to the Wisconsin AFLCIO in their efforts to make sure he fails.

Reza Shahabi, like Mansour and Ebrahim, comes from the Tehran bus workers’ union. He is currently serving a six-year jail sentence on vague charges, but Amnesty maintain he is in prison solely for his peaceful trade union activities. On top of this, Reza is in poor health and not receiving appropriate medical care.

Zabihollah, on the other hand, is a steelworker who was arrested on or about 24 April as he left the Moharakeh Steel Plant in Estahan. His whereabouts are unclear and his family and lawyer have not been granted access to him.

These are not the only trade unionists in jail in Iran, where the regime is backing employers who don’t want independent trade unionists interfering in their exploitation of the workforce – it’s got little to do with religion. So as well as protesting about individual cases, the TUC is working with the International Trade Union Confederaton to raise Iran’s failure to comply with ILO core conventions on freedom of association at this summer’s International Labour Conference.

But in the meantime, please write to the Iranian authorities to help our fellow trade unionists in Iran. Because stronger trade unionists anywhere mean stronger trade unionists everywhere.

Campaigning can be tricky.  You have a position and you want someone else to agree with you.  You try all manner of tactics to press your positions.  Send out press releases and hope that there’s space in your local newspaper.  The trudge can be relentless and sometimes no end in sight.  Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t.  But what happens when the dust has settled and the campaigning is over?  What does it really mean to win or lose? 

In these times, that is the greatest challenge we face.  Whether it is for elections, for a plastic bag free area or for better, more equitable pay and conditions, we need to reorientate our view of success of campaigns to incorporate organising more fully.  By doing that, we move away from gimmicks, from relaunches and branding for its own sake.  To win on the issue is important, but equally so is building a sustainable grassroots who continue to campaign, demand change and build for it.

What am I talking about when I talk about organising?  In the trade union movement, we debate about what it means for us to organise, and I’m not here to be prescriptive on how others view it, but to explain how I view campaigning is also to talk about my approach to organising.  For me, organising is about empowerment and hunger for change; creating a sustainable organisation that can weather success and failure.  To do that, we need to work on the issues that people care about, stand up for our values and, crucially, deploy our resources in the most effective way possible.  Campaigns can rise and fall, but people and their power remains if we organise rather than just campaign.

How do we move from purely campaigning to organising?

• Pick the right issue.  Talk about it in the way that is understandable to a lot of people and relates to our core values.
• Engage and involve people at every step of the campaign.  Think about how you build teams; step back as much as possible and let others take ownership of the campaign.  I can get some press if people are mobilise for the day, but we’re going to change the world if we organise for the long term.
• Be ready to learn.  A key element of our ability to be successful when organising is our readiness to learn from others, to look outside our world and be humbled and to recognise we don’t always have the answers.  The flip side to this is our willingness to share successes and failures with others.

Despite, being an organiser and campaigner for many years, I’m still in a process of learning which is why I’m excited about our conference on 26 May called Grassroots.  It brings together a wide range of organisations and activists who are looking to learn from each other, challenge perceptions and be as effective as we can.  We’re going to hear new approaches to strategy and tactics, good ways to communicate and lastly how we are going to organise meaningfully.

In focussing on organising in our campaigns, I’m going to amend a well known phrase: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, but lets make that small group as big as we can.

Grassroots is being held at the TUC, Congress House, Great Russell St, London on 26 May.  To register go to www.grassrootsuk.org/register-to-come

It’s worth pausing for a moment to just consider what this figure of 6.4 million people belonging to trade unions actually means. In my humble opinion it means that there are still 6.4 million people who see the importance of standing by their fellow workers and the need to represent their personal interests alongside the collective good. Some who want to see the death of the trade union movement will want to portray these figures as the death of the trade union movement. I see these figures, and what lays beneath them as a major opportunity for renewing our movement.

The massive onslaught against working people that is being waged by this coalition government has certainly helped to write the narrative that lays behind these figures. Many workers delivering public services, for example have been transferred to work for private sector employers. This may help to explain why, after years of decline, private sector union membership rose by 43,000 while public sector membership fell by some 186,000 overall. The difference in the figures I think can largely be explained by the number of workers who have simply lost their jobs because of this vicious attack on the notion of public service by this government.

The union that I work for, UNISON, now has in excess of 100,000 members directly employed by private sector employers. We also have in excess of 60,000 members in the Community and Voluntary Sectors. This is, of course, in addition to the directly employed public sector members who make up the rest of our 1.4 million members.

Within that directly employed public service membership it is also the continued fragmentation of work that is a major challenge to our ability to reach and stay in touch with workers. Many of these workers, such as home care workers, do not even have a traditional workplace where they can, meet, get support from, or just rub shoulders with colleagues. They start off from their homes, visit their clients and, at the end of the day, return home. Reaching these public service workers to convince them that their very isolation and vulnerability is reason enough to join a trade union is tough if we continue to organise with methods that were conceived for workplaces that are becoming a thing of the past.

Workers in traditionally high density areas such as the Police and Criminal Justice Service have seen proposals in recent times, in the West Midlands and Surrey, to privatise the civilian workforce. So as these workers face a new fight and, if we fail to turn back this privatisation, a new employer and, potentially, new attitudes, so we are faced with organising in maintaining membership levels and density in a new environment.

Recruiting and organising workers who only have a partial relationship with the workplace is also a major challenge. In Birmingham, for example, the Council has introduced “super offices” for 5,000 employers but that will only accommodate 3000 at any given time. This means union organisers having to organise workplaces that have a transient population. Again, while our traditional organising methods can help they will not be the whole solution. New more imaginative ways must be found to recruit and organise these workers.

UNISON is looking at ways of providing as many gateways to our union as we possibly can. Not just for us to reach, stay in touch with and organise workers but for them to reach and communicate with us. That’s going to be the only way that we can ensure that we can face up to the sort of challenges that we are now facing in terms of a rapid programme of privatisation, fragmentation of work and the breaking down of the collective workplace.

I genuinely believe that we face a defining moment for our trade union and the rest of the trade union movement. This is the opportunity for renewing our movement and making it not only even more relevant for workers today but actually indispensable if you want to work in a workplace that’s rewarding, fair, just and equal. It’s a challenging time (when has it ever been any different?) but it’s also an exciting time where we can build resistance to this government by getting working people to stand up for each other as the 99% against the 1% of privilege who dominate.

When all said and done all we have as working people is our ability to organise and our steely eyed determination to win in the face of attack. We have shown that when we bring these things together in a union we can bring about monumental change.  We only have each other to rely on. The great writer, poet and activist June Jordan got it right in my opinion – we are the ones we have been waiting for!

Marchers at London's May Day march, 1 May 2012

The ITUC chose the eve of May Day -  international workers’ day – to launch its new enquiry into the impact of the global financial crisis on workers’ rights around the world. Former head of the South African trade union movement Jay Naidoo, former Portuguese Labour Minister and ETUC Deputy General Secretary Maria Helena Andre and the former Prime Minister of Denmark Poul Nyrup Rasmussen will be on the enquiry panel. They will investigate at first hand how the crisis has impacted on workers and their unions in Bulgaria, Greece, Indonesia, Mexico, Portugal and Romania, where the right-wing Government was toppled last week because of its economic and social policies.

This enquiry is part of the growing resistance of workers and unions around the world to austerity policies which often target not only public services and public spending, but workers’  wages (pay and social benefits).

The ITUC argues that elites are using the excuse of the global financial crisis to further erode workers’ living standards and job security, despite the fact that growing inequality between the rich and the rest of us caused the crisis in the first place. 60% of workplace reforms by governments have taken away workers’ rights. 15 out of 25 countries studied by the ITUC have relaxed collective dismissal rights for economic reasons. 65% of workplace reforms have taken away rights from temporary workers.

But as May Day - and other recent developments like the first round of the French Presidential election – have shown, workers are beginning to fight back all over the world. Over 100,000 members of metalworker unions marched in Mexico. They demonstrated against precarious jobs, subcontracting and deunionisation in Istanbul. Public sector unions demonstrated in Kathmandhu in Nepal at Martyrs’ Gate, as well as in Indonesia. And trade unions demonstrated across Africa in one of the most powerful shows of strength for decades, in countries like Cameroon, Mali and Tunisia. There were marches across Europe, in Athens, Lille, London, Madrid, Paris, Turin and elsewhere. In Spanish cities like Barcelona, young people were key parts of the marches; as they were on the New York Occupy May Day march (and a big hello to Occupy LSX who finally did what it says on the tin!)

Statements were issued by the global unions about how to create a sustainable recovery, and the ETUC called for social justice and jobs for the 5.5 million unemployed young people in Europe. Leader of the US trade union movement Rich Trumka said: “America’s working families will continue to stand together in their fight to reestablish fairness and opportunity so everyone can have access to their own American dream.” There will be many more demonstrations this weekend, including in the UK (the Tyne and Wear May Day March and Rally is on Saturday, as is one on the other side of the world, in Melbourne, Australia), and there are many other events and initiatives – like the publication May Day: A Graphic History of Protest.

You can find much more news about May Day protests on 1 May and the days to follow at LabourStart.

Last week I was one of a number of trade union officials and shop stewards who took part in a visit to Germany to look at training and skills. We went with Skills Minister John Hayes MP and representatives of BIS and the UK Commission For Employment and Skills. The delegation visited the Siemens plant in Lincoln, UK and Siemens’ giant training facility and manufacturing site in Berlin.

We were also able to meet officials from a number of German training organisations – and of course trade union representatives from IG Metall, Germany’s biggest union and the TUC equivalent – the DGB. The latter meetings gave us an opportunity to discuss and assess the state of German unions and the overall economic situation in the EU’s powerhouse economy.

First off, the German trade union movement is in good heart. IG Metall the main manufacturing union has launched a campaign for a 6.5% pay increase, for 12 months; permanent positions and protection for agency workers and proposals to create jobs for young people.

Union reps we met, including shop floor comrades, pointed out that the German economy grew by 0.4% in the second quarter of 2012. The German government has also published a positive official growth forecast for 2012.  Unemployment has fallen to a record low of 6.7% and union membership is growing again.

They were also buoyed up by the recent success of the services and skills union Ver.di who won German public sector workers a pay deal of 6.3% albeit over a 24-month period – a deal German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, called  ‘a reasonable outcome’ although it went ‘to the outer limits of what the federal government and communities can afford’.

Overall, wages for nine million German workers are up for negotiation this year. Union members argue rightly that following the years of pay restraint their time has come – and pay increases can be afforded. They also point out that German bosses have been winning big pay deals. Last year the CEOs of Germany’s Top 30 companies saw their pay rise 9% to the highest level for five year.

One thing was also clear to us. Germany is doing better because it was less vulnerable when the financial tsunami hit Europe as it was able to fall back on its rigorous tax system to balance the books without taking an axe social security.

Germany has also boosted exports which injected capital into the economy. The country is ranked eighth in the latest Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index. The UK limps in at 17^th position. That’s because Germany also focuses on medium sized manufacturing firms (known as Mittelstand), providing help to them, and by protecting their interests. Training based on the dual system of education and ongoing training prepares young workers to work – as they say – “in the real world” and develops transferable skills, making workers more adaptable. The system is well supported by German unions.

Of course Germans are taxed more but they have high spending power, and they kept them spending through the economic crisis. The German government have just released figures indicating that purchasing power will rise by 3% this year.

One other key factor is that German workers are informed and consulted about company plans and performance through the structure of works councils. German unions are listened to and as the crisis engulfed the world, the German unions were publicly consulted as by Chancellor Angela Merkel. As one DGB officials said: “A smart move – the discussions were very public – it’s showed that unions are respected”.

All this was in contrast to the UK experience (which our German hosts wanted to discuss at length!) of a one trick pony coalition with one mantra – austerity, austerity and more austerity – and bash the workers into the bargain.

We have much to learn!

GUEST POST: Tony Burke is Assistant General Secretary of Unite the Union.

Given the huge labour market turmoil we’ve experienced in 2011, I’m immediately struck by the remarkable stability in the key indicators relating to total union membership and density compared with 2010. Of course, there’s no denying the current Government policies have created a more challenging environment. But they have also created opportunities for us to make our case for fair treatment and, perhaps for some, the first realisation of why they need a union.

We certainly haven’t seen the private sector areas that Prospect represents expand to take up the slack of public sector job losses – so I’ve no doubt that the overall membership increase of 43,000 has been hard won. However, my own view is that we need to focus attention on the bigger challenges posed by the 16.9% bargaining coverage, rather than the 0.1% marginal decline in density.   

All of the evidence I’ve seen suggests that we need to do more to demonstrate relevance and value, particularly to younger workers and those in the private sector. I’d like to suggest 5 ideas for wider debate.

1. Strongly promote the case for good economic growth across the UK, based on high quality employment with decent terms and conditions and opportunities for progression. There is common ground to be made here with decent employers and service users.
2. Demonstrate that unions are the best way to deliver fairness at work and that collective bargaining underpins fair treatment. There is a perception that it is dominated by those with the loudest voices or who know best how to get issues on the union agenda. However much we may disagree with this view, it needs to be rigorously addressed.
3. Show that there are individual benefits too. For example, the paring back of employment rights and proposed fees regime for Employment Tribunals make all new starters much more vulnerable, and few will be able to afford to fund legal processes for themselves.
4. Emphasise that unions are for people who want to get on at work and that joining in with union activities can support career aspirations, for instance through development of transferable skills and access to a range of experiences that would not be available in day-to-day employment.
5. Make it easier for people to join and get involved gradually. The plain fact is that many private sector workers simply have no knowledge or experience of unions. There are some interesting initiatives from the US and New Zealand facilitating support for community campaigning as a precursor to full membership. Whilst such an approaches may not provide an easy answer, we cannot ignore the need to find alternative routes to membership.

 There is one further point to consider, and that’s about the language we use to communicate and who does it for us. On 30 November last year, union views were very ably and powerfully articulated by a range of activists – young and old, women and men, white and BME. We all accept that ‘like recruits like’ but perhaps we don’t always do enough to publicly demonstrate our diversity.

So, what were the figures and what do they mean for trade unions?

Headline figures

• Across the whole workforce, union membership fell by 143,000 despite an increase in private sector membership (up by 43,000), and now stands at 6.4 million.  Union density (the percentage of workers who are union members) fell by 0.6% to 26%.
• 31.2 % of all employees were covered by a collective bargaining arrangement, up from 30.8% and unions are now present in 44.9% of workplaces , down from 46%.

Getting a bigger break down in terms of private/public sector, the figures look more like this:

• In the public sector, despite a membership fall of 186,000, union denisty rose by 0.2% to 56.5%; bargaining coverage rose by 3.3% to 67.8% and the amount of public sector workplaces where there is a trade union presence rose to 87.1% from 85.8%.
• In the private sector, membership rose by 43,000 but density fell by 0.1%; bargaining coverage has been maintained, staying steady at 16.9% and union presence in workplaces fell to 28.5% from 29.6%.
• In the male/female split, density remains higher amongst women employees (28.7%) than amongst male employees (23.4%).

Analysis

These figures represent a mixed picture of decline and increase from the figures for 2010.  And the points I’d raise on the initial analysis of the figures are:

1. We are seeing a continued fall in total union membership.  While the rise in private sector membership is welcome, total union membership continues to fall.  However, unlike the 1980s and 1990s, this fall is much shallower and the differentials in decline are much less pronounced.  The large decrease in membership should also be taken into the wider context of an overall loss of public sector jobs (369,000) in the same period.
2. Decline in presence should be of concern for unions. 
3. The picture on union density is mixed.  In 2011, overall density fell by 0.6% which is the norm since 1995 (it fell in all but three years).  However, public sector density rose slightly which is the first increase since 2000 and even in the private sector, which saw a fall of 0.1%, saw its smallest decline since 2000.
4. Collective bargaining has risen.  The area where we had a real concern, saw a slight reversal of trend with the first increase in workers covered by collective agreements since 1998.  This is great news but we need to keep this trend going up to have an impact on worker wages. 

A mixed picture for us then with some positives which we didn’t have in 2010, but still one that shows that we need to work hard to continue to organise and unionise.  Look out for postings over the next week from our union contributors to see what it means for their sectors and unions.

Hasan’s release followed a two-week long online campaign by LabourStart which generated nearly 8,000 messages to the Serbian government. Jyrki Raina, General Secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation, said:

“Worldwide mobilisation, including the immediate reaction of LabourStart activists and unions pressing the Serbian government through the EU, embassies and other diplomatic channels has clearly been decisive in winning Hasan’s release.”

It is always said that you should never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and while we might expect that of some tabloids, what about when it is politicians? Today the health and safety Minister, Chris Grayling is making a speech to the Policy Exchange where it’s reported he will say:

“It baffles me that at a time when we face a huge jobs challenge across Europe, that someone thinks it is sensible for the EU to be spending time legislating to ban high-heeled shoes in a hairdressers.”

Now the implication of this is that the EU is planning legislation on this. Well that is news to me, and it is news to the European Commission.

What is happening is that discussions are taking place between the employers’ and workers’ representatives at European level through the organisations Coiffure EU and UNI Europa Hair & Beauty over proposals that they want to put to the European Commission on improving the appalling occupational health issues in this industry. So what we have is employers asking for minimum standards to protect their staff. Pretty responsible I would say.

These proposals have not gone to the Commission yet and there is no suggestion from them that they plan any kind of legislation. Also the proposals do not mention high heels. They do mention preventing skin disorders, musculoskeletal diseases and the needs of pregnant workers. Having read the proposals they make some genuinely positive proposals around issues like substituting dangerous chemicals and protective equipment. The nearest it gets to high heels is a suggestion that:

“Workers shall wear suitable clothes for their activities or workwear clothing and, in particular, shoes with non-slip soles.”

I first saw this story when it appeared in the Daily Mail last week. It also got picked up by The Sun. That was when I decided to check it out and within five minutes found out it was rubbish. Now you would have thought that the Health and Safety Minister, with a whole Government department at his disposal could have done the same. In fact you would have thought that, as health and safety minister, he would have known what legislation was currently being considered by the European Commission, so either he has not got a clue what is going on in his own area, or he know that this story was just made up by the tabloid press yet decided to run with it anyway.

I am not sure which is worse.

At a time when we are seeing huge attacks on health and safety in the media, and when workers are facing increased risks and pressures in the workplace we need a minister who is going to stand up for the area he is meant to be protecting. I have no problem with politicians, or anyone else criticising stupid decisions when they happen, but they also have a responsibility to take on the press when they make up these stories as a form of entertainment.

The problem is not that health and safety has gone mad, it is that employers are able to destroy the health of their workers with impunity because those who are meant to be protecting us are no longer willing to stand up for us. As a result, when sensible groups of employers, like those in hairdressing, are prepared to put their head above the parapet and say that they want to do something about it they will be far less likely to do so in the future for fear of getting ridiculed.