Unions

How unions can give more people the power they need to get what they want

The latest figures on Trade Union membership released at the end of April were sobering reading for trade unionists and the wider labour and progressive movement.

Amongst other things, the figures revealed that the impact of the government’s cuts programme on trade union membership is becoming apparent. In a year when the size of public sector workforce shrank by over 250,000, union membership in the sector fell by 180,000. Overall density, that is the proportion of employees who are members of a union, fell slightly to 26% and membership by 143,0000 to 6.4 million.

Arguably a more accurate way of assessing union influence is looking at the proportion of employees that unions collectively bargain on behalf of. Today in the UK just 30% of workers have their pay and conditions negotiated collectively by a trade union – in the private sector just 1 in 5 workers are included in collective bargaining arrangements.

Posted on May 24th, 2012 by Carl Roper filed under: Union organising

Owen Tudor

International Workers’ Day 2012: resistance is growing

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).

Posted on May 1st, 2012 by Owen Tudor filed under: Global solidarity

Tony Burke

Much to learn from Germany on industry and skills

Zukunft und Perspektiven fuer die junge Generation

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.

Posted on May 1st, 2012 by Tony Burke filed under: Union learning

Becky Wright

2011 trade union membership figures released

Yesterday, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) released their annual report on trade union membership which is taken from the annual Labour Force Survey (LFS) in the final quarter of 2011. Carl blogged about the 2010 release here.

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

Posted on April 26th, 2012 by Becky Wright filed under: Union news

Richard Blakeley

Wakefield takes me ‘back to the future’

The group visiting Park Dale When the opportunity came for me to return to my home town of Wakefield I couldn’t resist. My colleagues in UCATT had raved about the work that Wakefield District Housing (WDH) had done to deliver low carbon housing developments, train their workforce and deliver for their communities in the process.

‘Seeing is believing’ as the saying goes. Wakefield people wouldn’t go that far, but seeing certainly lends greater understanding. This is a point Denis Doody (UCATT rep at WDH) was keen to impress upon the visiting party which included new UCATT General Secretary Steve Murphy and unionlearn Yorkshire regional manager, Alan Roe.

Park Dale is a brand new zero carbon (code 6, for those in the know) housing estate of 91 homes in Castleford which also includes a union learning centre with a difference.

Posted on March 29th, 2012 by Richard Blakeley filed under: Union learning

Ben Moxham

Egypt’s new labour movement comes of age

On the desert-battered outskirts of Cairo, in a kitsch marble convention centre, the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (EFITU) has just announced to Egypt and the world that it has come of age. EFITU was born in the inspiration and chaos of Tahrir square, exactly 12 months to the day. Since then they have been organising, organising and organising. Today was a chance to show the results and I was blown away.

Posted on January 30th, 2012 by Ben Moxham filed under: Global solidarity

Ben Moxham

Are workers now free in Burma?

Burma has seen many dramatic moves toward democracy and respect for human rights over the past six months. Most political prisoners have been released, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy are about to contest by-elections, and there’s been some progress in ending the government’s bloody repression of ethnic groups. But has Burma improved its terrible labour rights record? And should foreign investors – long discouraged or barred under sanctions – be booking their air tickets to Rangoon? Not yet, and not yet.

Posted on January 27th, 2012 by Ben Moxham filed under: Global solidarity