I am the Walrus (not)

‎Who needs a tusk?

An Elephant? A Walrus?

Well, when it comes to TUSC, the sad answer is, no one.

No one needs this least persuasive, least popular and least convincing of all the unpopular and unsuccessful attempts to launch a socialist electoral alternative to Labour.

In many ways I wish Labour faced a credible electoral challenge to our left. As a Brightonian I almost wish the Greens had emerged as such (as they have not).

However, as a trade unionist I must stare reality back in the eye. And, as I do, I see that there is no other option for a progressive voter than a Labour vote. My friends who are engaged in the (lego-like) construction of a new ("Left Unity") political alternative need to find the courage and confidence to face this harsh reality too.

As a Labour Party member I urge every trade unionist not only to vote Labour but also to join the Party as an individual member, to try to gain a voice about what the Party should do.

Politics is often horrendous, but to make it a little less horrendous is a sound ambition - and to fight for our beliefs even inside today's Labour Party is a worthwhile fight.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.

The love which (in UNISON) can never speak its name...

I do realise that I owe regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Blogger) an apology for the infrequency of my recent blogging.

Sometimes being a lay activist is even busier than other times!

However, I think I must say something now about the love which (in UNISON) must not speak its name.

That is the love of democracy.

For UNISON is a progressive trade union which welcomes us all – yet there are those who purport to speak for UNISON who draw the line at democrats.

Those who think that we others who believe that there should continue to be annual elections for branch and Regional lay officials (and annual Conferences) – we should really remain silent.

Those who think that we others who believe that branch delegates should decide the recommendation to our members on any pay offer from the employers – we should curb our tongues.

Those who think that we others who believe that there should be five yearly elections for our General Secretary – we should take a vow of silence.

Guess what?

No.

I think it is time to return to daily blogging, simply because of the encouragement I have been given by those who have told me not to.

I wish I did not have to spend time upon internal union disputes when we have so many battles to fight with the Government and employers, but trade union democracy is a non-negotiable necessity.

We cannot resist the attacks upon our members unless we do so as a democratic trade union.

So now would be a good time for all those who oppose annual democracy, or the rights of Conference delegates, or the principle of the election of our General Secretary to themselves go away to a very quiet place and never come back.

Local Government Pay - how shall we build the campaign?

UNISON's decision to ballot our local government members (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) for strike action over pay is the most important moment in building trade union opposition to the austerity policies of the Coalition Government since the unions began to move to a (premature) settlement of the pensions dispute in mid-December 2011.

Whilst cynics might see this as little more than a recruitment drive, activists (who must temper our cynicism with commitment) will see an opportunity to halt and reverse the declining living standards not just of the largest bargaining unit in the economy, but of workers generally.

Lambeth Branch Officers have begun to circulate the following two motions (which could be considered by quorate meetings of local government UNISON branches or their Branch Committees) in order to stimulate further debate and discussion. Comments are welcome (and hostile anonymous comments will always be published if they are both literate and witty...)

MOTION ONE - EMERGENCY MOTION FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONFERENCE – LOCAL GOVERNMENT NJC PAY DISPUTE 2014

This Branch welcomes the decision of the National Joint Council (NJC) Committee on 24 April to request approval for a strike ballot in support of the NJC pay claim.

This Branch calls upon all members to vote “YES” for action, and urges all branches to take all practicable steps to maximise turnout before the close of the ballot.

This Branch recognises that the bold decision of the NJC Committee to ballot our members was necessary in view of the rejection by our members of the derisory offer made by the employers. We further recognise that we face a significant task in mobilising our members to take the sustained strike action which will be necessary to secure a worthwhile improvement in that offer.

This Branch believes that it is vital that we engage to the maximum extent with all our members in this pay campaign, and that we demonstrate to our members and potential members, as well as to the employers, that we are serious about securing a decent pay increase for local government workers.

This Branch therefore resolves to submit this motion to our Regional Local Government Committee/Executive (replacing “Branch” with “Regional Local Government Committee” throughout and deleting this sentence.) This Branch further resolves to submit this motion as an Emergency Motion to Local Government Conference, replacing “Branch” with “Conference” throughout, with the following action points (and deleting this paragraph).

Conference therefore resolves, in the event that members vote for industrial action in the current ballot;

1.    To call upon the Service Group Executive (SGE) to work with the National Executive Council (NEC) to ensure that this pay dispute has the highest priority for UNISON, and that the Union’s resources are focused on securing a substantially increased pay offer;

2.    To call upon the SGE to work with other Service Groups and/or sectors in UNISON to coordinate our activities so far as possible and within UNISON Rules;

3.    To urge all other unions in dispute with their employers to seek, as far as possible, to coordinate any planned industrial action with our action in order to maximise its impact;

4.    To call upon all branches and Regions with members involved in this dispute to coordinate with GMB, UNITE and any other unions taking industrial action and to organise joint picket lines, rallies and other lawful activities as appropriate within UNISON Rules;

5.    To call upon the SGE and NJC Committee as appropriate to seek approval from the NEC for further strike all-out national strike action in September, of at least two days’ duration, with a view to announcing the dates of such action before any strike action in July, seeking the support of other unions but acting alone if necessary;

6.    To call upon branches and Regions to organise campaign events and members’ meetings over the summer period in order to maintain the momentum of the dispute;

7.    To request that the NEC authorise the convening of a Special Service Group Conference to consider and make a recommendation on any improved offer from the employers before this is put to members;

8.    To instruct the SGE that, if any improved offer is put to members, it must make a positive recommendation either to accept or to reject the offer;

9.    To further instruct the SGE that it must not recommend the acceptance of any improved offer short of the original trade union side claim without the approval of Service Group Conference.

MOTION TWO - REQUISITION OF SPECIAL SERVICE GROUP CONFERENCE TO CONSIDER ANY REVISED OR IMPROVED PAY OFFER FROM THE NJC EMPLOYERS’ SIDE

This Branch believes that our Local Government Service Group Conference should make a recommendation to members on any revised or improved offer made by the employers’ side of the National Joint Council (NJC). We therefore resolve to submit the following requisition to the National Head of Local Government, no earlier than 17 June 2014, in accordance with Rule D.3.4.11;

“This branch requisitions a Special Local Government Service Group Conference to consider, and make a recommendation upon, any further offer from the employers’ side of the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services in respect of Pay 2014, where the UNISON NJC Committee considers the offer worthy of consideration.”

English weather, disco lovers and racists

The rain fell on the just and the unjust on Brighton seafront this afternoon as thousands of local people turned out to oppose a few dozen far-right knuckle-draggers of the “March for England.” I was very pleased to find myself alongside the English Disco Lovers – the real EDL, and to be among family and friends protesting at the unwelcome intrusion of hatred on to the streets of our town.

The pitiably small number of pitiable fascists who walked up and down the sea front behind rows of police and vans could see at every turn that they were outnumbered and outclassed. Not only was the anti-Nazi protest clearly much more fun, but enterprising locals ensured that – whether by banners from windows or a trombonist on a rooftop, the message that racist hatred has no place in Brighton was drummed home.

As their numbers have fallen, so the openly Nazi politics of the supposed “patriots” have become increasingly clear. These racist diehards will keep coming for a while yet – and we’ll have to keep turning out to show them that they don’t belong here.

PCS - transfer engagements with care...

http://www.iansunitesite.org.uk/2014/04/report-from-unite-special-executive.html?m=1

Having spent my evening between different leftwing fringe meetings at the Conference of the National Union of Teachers, my mind is on the state of our movement.

Hence my interest in the link above, which reports upon the possibility of UNITE taking on PCS with no change to the (less democratic) structures of UNITE and no ("UNISONesque") compromise on Labour Party affiliation.

It seems to me that our trade union movement is at a crossroads (or possibly a "T-junction", I don't drive so am easily confused by road layout). We either respond to the current crisis by accelerating our struggles, or we find ways to retreat and retrench.

Just as UNISON Health Conference this week agreed to ballot for industrial action, so it is clear that the NUT will tomorrow agree to call further action in their current dispute (the only issue being how much action and when). It is equally clear that the local government unions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will embark upon a ballot for national action.

Regular readers of this blog (Sid and Doris Blogger) will be cynical about the motivation of trade union leaders - but should not allow such cynicism to distract from support for the coordination of strike action on the widest scale possible. It is through such a fighting response to the crisis affecting our members that we can rebuild our movement.

I have the very greatest respect for the leadership of PCS, who have led their members in more strike action than any other union - not just under this Government but under New Labour (which seemed to have a pathological hostility to civil servants and their trade union). Mark Serwotka is the outstanding trade union General Secretary of his generation.

However, I cannot see the suggestion that PCS would surrender it's lay democracy and political tradition in order to be swallowed by UNITE as anything other than an expression of exhaustion and despair. Apart from anything else, if PCS members wanted to "transfer their engagements" there is an alternative which has annual Conferences and a dual political fund structure!

In a period of decline, defensive mergers between trade unions are an unavoidable reality. No UNISON member can lecture PCS activists on the question of leading a struggle, and I do not seek to do so.

I can't help feeling though that a "transfer of engagements" of PCS members into UNITE will leave us with a weaker and less democratic trade union movement - albeit I accept that it has been the internal politics of UNISON which have for years prevented the obvious, beneficial merger between two unions whose members have so much in common. However, no fight has ever been fought with rank and file members of UNISON and PCS in favour of the larger, stronger public service union we could be (or have been) together.

I remain encouraged by my experience over recent days of speaking with delegates to the Conferences of UNISON's Health Service Group and of the National Union of Teachers. All trade unionists should turn outwards to the necessary struggles against the Government and employers - and should be cautious about a focus on internal questions (whether they are restricting democracy in UNISON or abandoning it in PCS).

And friends in UNISON need to reflect upon why no other union (since BAOT) ever wants to consider merging with us...

‎

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.

UNISON must focus on the fight against the pay freeze

With consultation on the employers’ miserly pay offer to local government workers formally drawing to a close today in many branches it is clear that there will be a large majority to reject the offer and that we have no choice but to press ahead with a ballot for strike action. As I have argued in the past, it is only through national strike action that local government workers ever reverse the tendency for our earnings to fall behind the average increases across the economy.

The turnout in the consultative ballot will be lower than we would wish, and will highlight the enormous organising and campaigning challenge with which we will present ourselves by embarking upon the unavoidable strike ballot. It is to these challenges which activists must turn our attention, as we must consider how to use the elections taking place in many local authorities to our advantage.

It’s also vitally important that our Health Conference voted for an industrial action ballot. Health workers face a wholly unacceptable attack on living standards which compounds the impact upon their working lives of inadequate funding and impossible workloads. It’s good to hear that delegates at Health Conference were   united in their support for action – and we need to consider the possibility of coordinated action between our two largest sectors (in health and local government).

My dear friends and comrades at the UNISON Active blog give a fair report of the debate, marred only by knee-jerk hostility to those they describe as the “ultra-left” who “embroiled the Conference in a row with the Standing Orders Committee.” From what I saw from the gallery on Monday afternoon, it was the large majority of health delegates who disagreed with their Standing Orders Committee (SOC), and who then showed the wisdom not to pursue this disagreement. The role of our SOCs must be to facilitate our democracy and listen to our delegates.

We need a focus on the fight to defeat the Tory pay freeze rather than internal squabbling – but the choice about this is in the hands of those fair-weather friends of trade union democracy who like to demonise dissent and mistake critical thinking for disloyalty. Drop all this nonsense about biennial Conferences and branch elections comrades and focus our fire on the Tories and the fight against the pay freeze!

A healthy Conference

I was pleased to have the opportunity to attend UNISON Health Conference as a visitor, however briefly, to hear the debate on staffing numbers. It is a disgrace that committed health workers are being put in the position of caring for more patients than it is safe for them to care for, and I was pleased to hear our Head of Nursing express UNISON’s full support for members who refuse to tolerate this danger to staff and patients.

I won’t be around for the fringe meeting of the 4:1 campaigntoday, where that debate may very well continue. I was very pleased to be able to attend a fringe meeting to mark thirty years of work by Health Emergencyand to hear John Lister express the absolute urgency of getting this Tory led Government out before they can complete their destruction of our health service – a discussion to which delegates may return at the Labour Representation Committee fringe meetingthis evening.

It was good to hear of the constructive work done in the past between Health Emergency and UNISON, including in the Greater London Region – and to see an old friend, Geoff Martin, whose presence was a reminder of what our Region has achieved.

This morning the delegates at Conference will be debating pay (if they can resolve a difference of opinion between the floor of the Conference and the Standing Orders Committee (SOC), who were referred back more than once to consider a “grouped” debate between motions which (according to SOC) are counterposed). I hope that  delegates at our Health Conference are enabled to make a strong statement of opposition to the pay freeze. 

Good luck and best wishes to all delegates at Health Conference!

Defend UNISON Democracy

‎Below is the text of a statement being circulated by a number of members of UNISON's National Executive Council (NEC) in order to encourage branches to respond to an urgent process of consultation agreed last week by the NEC.

Defend UNISON democracy.

 

We, the undersigned NEC ‎members, oppose a series of Rule Amendments which have been proposed for discussion at our Conference in June as we believe they would undermine UNISON democracy.

 

The Rule Amendments in question are numbers 4, 7, 8, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 27 and 28. All of these rule amendments seek to reduce the frequency of aspects of our trade union democracy (at national, regional and branch level) from annually to biennially (every two years).

 

We recognise that branches need support to enable the attendance of delegates at Conferences. We believe that it is important that there is no reduction in the frequency with which UNISON members can hold to account those elected to represent our interest.

 

The majority of our NEC colleagues have agreed to defer taking a policy position on these motions to allow for (very swift) consultation with Regions and Service Groups. 

 

We believe that this year's UNISON Conference should focus on mobilising our members to fight the Government and employers on pay, jobs and conditions - and not on a destructive internal argument provoked by an attack on our union democracy.

 

So that our NEC colleagues can be persuaded to take the positive step of opposing these reactionary, right-wing rule amendments (to enable our Conference to focus positively on the interests of our members and the organisation of our Union) we call upon all branches of UNISON to agree motions along the following lines for submission to their Region and Service Group (copied to appropriate NEC members);

 

"UNISON Democracy

 

This branch opposes any suggestion that any aspect of our trade union democracy should be moved to a less frequent cycle. This should be addressed by the branch funding review.

 

We believe that the democratic accountability of UNISON representatives at every level is essential to the effectiveness of our elected representatives, and that any reduction of the frequency with which such accountability takes place would weaken our trade union.

 

We also believe that in 2014 our priority should be to mobilise and coordinate our members to fight for their interests, and that our Conference should be dominated by this issue and not internal issues.

 

We therefore call upon the NEC to oppose any suggestion that there should be any reduction in frequency (from annually to biennially) of Conferences or of Regional or branch level elections."

 

April Ashley, Dave Auger, Tomasa Bullen, Helen Davies, Suzy Franklin, Bernie Gallagher, Paul Holmes, Helen Jenner, Diana Leach, Vicky Perrin, Jon Rogers, Tony Wilson

 

The choice facing UNISON

‎I'll blog a full report from today's meeting of the UNISON National Executive Council (NEC) shortly but my immediate reaction to today's interesting discussions are that we face a clear choice of direction, which will very much determine the nature of our forthcoming Conference in Brighton in June.

There is a positive choice which could be made.

And another choice.

The positive choice would be to focus on mobilising and uniting our members to take action against the attacks we face, including - crucially - the attacks on our living standards through below inflation pay increases.

With our Health Conference set to consider an emergency motion from their Service Group Executive (SGE) recommending action against the Government's response to the already intolerably inadequate recommendation of the Pay Review Body, whilst our local government membership are being recommended to reject an equally inadequate offer, we have the opportunity for UNISON to lead the defence of workers' interests.

If we make the seizing of this opp‎ortunity the focus of our Conference we will not only assume our rightful leadership of the opposition to the Coalition Government, we will also take the course most likely to sustain, and grow, the membership and strength of our Union.

Because, although we are recruiting hand over fist and surviving better than many other trade unions, the trend of our membership (and income) is down rather than up. There is a coincidence of interest between those whose first priority is to sustain the organisation and those of us whose first instinct is to fight to defend members' interests.

We share an interest in taking the positive choice.

‎The other choice - when facing the potential of decline - is to retrench. This other choice is reflected in particular in a series of Rule Amendments from branches who feel defeated and demoralised and who propose moving our Conferences, and our Regional and Branch elections, from an annual to a biennial cycle.

These expressions of despair from elements of the rank and file who feel isolated and exhausted have been seized upon by members of the National Executive who have long hankered after the less frequent accountability which is the experience of members of less democratic trade unions.

Lacking the confidence of their anti-democratic convictions, these individuals argued for the NEC to "defer" taking a policy decision on these proposals in order to consult within the Union. This seemingly democratic proposition won the honest support of others against the opposition of a minority.

If this rushed "consultation" suggests any support for reducing the frequency of any element of our trade union democracy, those NEC members who did not admit today their preference for a less democratic trade union will emerge from the shadows to argue that the NEC should support these reactionary proposals.

If this happens our Conference - which must inevitably spend some of its time on internal matters (such as branch funding) - will become a monumental exercise in navel-gazing, dominated by a set-piece battle between supporters of democracy and those prepared to use a potential financial crisis as an excuse to weaken democratic oversight with which they were never comfortable.

UNISON activists who want our Union to make a positive choice in favour of organisation, activity and growth (rather than a choice to descend into purposeless internal strife) can use the "consultation" which will now take place on the reactionary, right-wing proposals to reduce our democracy to impress upon the NEC majority the sheer idiocy of supporting such wanton defeatism.

Those of my NEC colleagues who honestly and sincerely supported the decision to defer taking a position on these catastrophic rule amendments need to wake up to the choice we face, and to the motives of some of those who seek to steer them.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.

UNISON Health Conference - time to fight on pay?

We’re now past the deadline for Emergency Motions for UNISON Health Conference.

I understand that the Service Group Executive (SGE) are rightly proposing an emergency motion on pay following the Government’s decision not even equitably to apply the real terms pay cut recommended by the Pay Review Body.

I don’t have the wording of the SGE motion (and I’m not sure that in this respect I am necessarily in a different position from all SGE members) but it is clear that UNISON’s Health Conference needs to take a strong position in opposition to the declining living standards of health workers and that this topic warrants debate at Health Conference.

Health activists in UNISON, as much as any other activists, need a network organised independently of (though not in opposition to) our official structures if we are to mobilise our members when we must.

Watch this space.

UNISON National Delegate Conference - what motions should activists prioritise?

It’s ten years since UNISON realised the problems with making the preliminary agenda for UNISON National Delegate Conference available freely online (when a particularly far-sighted South London branch sensibly called for the resignation of then Prime Minister Tony Blair). Nowadays you have to log on as a UNISON member to read the Preliminary Agenda.

It’s important to read the preliminary agenda for several reasons. First, it shows you (to some extent) the 44 submissions ruled out of order, as well as the 159 motions and rule amendments which together made it to the agenda. Only the branches (or other UNISON bodies) moving the “ruled out” business can appeal – and I shall refrain from comment on various issues pending consideration of several appeals.

The preliminary agenda is also the basis for the all-important prioritisation process which I won’t explain in detail as I have done so before. From an activist point of view, prioritisation is absolutely not about simply choosing and prioritising the most important issues.

As I explained back in 2007;

“The most important point to bear in mind about the prioritisation process is that only motions which attract at least one “vote” stand any chance of being debated at Conference. Each Region, the Self-Organised Groups, the NEC etc. get to “vote” for their top twelve motions and top six Rule Amendments.

The top priority is given 12 points, down to the twelfth which gets one point, and then the order of business at Conference is decided by the Standing Orders Committee broadly in line with these preferences. Motions lower down the order of business are available for “reprioritisation” for discussion on Friday afternoon (subject to the Conference not being closed early in error of course!) The reprioritisation process is one of the most democratic features of the Conference (which is why many people in UNISON devoted considerable energy in a doomed attempt to do away with it and are now trying to squeeze it out of existence by timetabling other business on Friday afternoon).

Motions which attract no support from anywhere in the prioritisation process are not available for reprioritisation and so will not be debated (the NEC will determine UNISON policy on any that are not withdrawn after Conference). Just because a motion gets some support in the prioritisation process that is no guarantee that it will be debated (which is why there is a reprioritisation process) – however missing out at this stage ruins the chances that a motion can be debated at all

Where motions have been proposed by Regions, National Self-Organised Groups or the National Executive Council, it is a pretty fair bet that those bodies will be prioritising those motions, so it is only worth branches giving added support to these motions in the prioritisation process either to make a particularly important point, or to try to nudge the issue up the order of business.”

What this means is that it makes little sense for branches to give our top priority to the most important of all motions (say Motion 5 on “Organising in the Fragmented Workforce”) because we can be reasonably certain the NEC will give it a high priority (and can be equally certain that there are many branches who will follow suit).

We need to consider prioritising motions such as Motion 53 on “Defending Trade Union Activists” from the London Metropolitan University Branch, which focuses on the case of my comrade Max Watson (and his fellow UNISON member Jawad Botmeh, and UCU member Steve Jeffreys) – also, in the key debate on branch funding, I would (of course) put in a bid for prioritisation of Lambeth’s Motion 118 which makes the key point that the Union needs to shift resources to its branches.

The life of our trade union is in the rank and file and the branches, and it is there that we are in the front line of attacks from the employer (such as those being experienced by comrades in Barnet). UNISON must be transformed from a national organisation with branches into an organisation of members organised locally from the bottom up, with our UNISON Centre understanding its role as the servant of the local activists who will sustain and develop our trade union over coming years.

What UNISON activists need is a network independent of (though not in opposition to) our formal official structures (hidebound as they are) so that we can share our views on democratic questions such as the prioritisation of Conference motions.

Watch this space.

The appeal on employment tribunal fees

http://www.unison.org.uk/news/unison-announces-appeal-over-employment-tribunal-fees

‎

It's good news that UNISON's appeal against the judgment dismissing our attack on the introduction of employment tribunal fees has been lodged.

The original judgment all but begged for such an appeal if official statistics bore out fears that the imposition of fees would choke off tribunal claims - and then those statistics showed that such fears had (if anything) been understated.

The ability to bring a claim before an employment tribunal is a poor and inadequate opportunity to seek redress for injustice in the workplace. It is, however, the opportunity which workers have.

To put in the way of tribunal complaints fees which are simply prohibitive for many workers was always no more than a transparent attempt to discourage workers from seeking justice.

Win or lose, UNISON's appeal is made on behalf of all workers and, however much we should have no illusions in the efficacy of tribunals in remedying injustice, we must all wish it well.

Lambeth College - no attacks on workers' contracts!

Full respect to members of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) at Lambeth College for a solid strike on Tuesday.

The dispute (of which UNISON is also very much a part) concerns the employers’ attempts to drive down conditions of service (initially for new starters).

Lambeth College management apparently fancy themselves as the shock troops for a national assault on conditions of service in the Further Education sector.

It is a crying shame they don’t choose instead to reflect the best traditions of one of the very best localities – and build better public services by working with their workforce (rather than against them).

Trade unionists in Lambeth will always be available to deal pragmatically with employers – but never on the basis of concession bargaining which reduces living standards in an area of great social need.

Senior managers at Lambeth College could seek to build reputations by embarking on a fight which will destroy them – or they could step back and work with the elected representatives of their workforce to really improve education in the borough.

The challenge for them is whether they are all about themselves as individuals or whether (like their workforce) they really care about Lambeth and its people.

Conciliate early. Conciliate often.

Having overcome the trauma of envelope stuffing for the consultative ballot on the local government pay offer (of which more later) I can snatch some moments to blog – and to consider next week’s launch of the new early conciliation from ACAS.

In many ways there is nothing new about pre-claim conciliation, it has been a sensible (and free) step available to employers and employees for the quarter century that I have been using it (and before).

Asking ACAS to help resolve a dispute keeps the work of dispute resolution in the public sector, saves the employer the £350 plus VAT which solicitors charge to tell workers about the rights which a Compromise Agreement signs away and (for UNISON branch activists) avoids the needless form filling associated with a Compromise Agreement.

As of Sunday however, there will be an added benefit to seeking ACAS involvement – if the act from which a tribunal deadline is calculated (such as dismissal) has already taken place then involving ACAS will “stop the clock” for up to 28 days whilst a conciliated settlement is sought.

By the time you get to this point, a conciliated settlement is almost always going to be in the worker’s interests. Trade unions were not created, and do not exist, to give individuals their “day in court” but to organise, and achieve justice, for workers. (“Almost” always because sometimes we are fighting for principles – but usually we’re fighting for recompense).

Of course a conciliated settlement depends upon a realistic offer from the employer – and so “stopping the clock” on a tribunal deadline can helpfully add to the pressure on the employer for such an offer (particularly by keeping them guessing about whether there will be legal support for an eventual tribunal claim).

A shortcoming of our current (unavoidable) approach to tribunal representation (about which I have blogged before ad nauseam) is that it has become easy for experienced employers to work out when we won’t take a claim all the way, with all that implies for their bargaining position in that case.

With early conciliation, from Sunday, if – when you initiate early conciliation – you are within one month of a tribunal deadline the clock doesn’t simply stop. When it starts again you have 28 days to the deadline (even if you had less than that when conciliation started).

UNISON activists will recognise that this is exactly the same minimum period before a deadline by which we are (now) required to get all papers to our Regional office so that support for a tribunal complaint can be considered. At the worst, early conciliation buys time to get the papers in order.

Much better though is the opportunity to negotiate a settlement on the best possible terms before the lawyers tell you that the case won’t be supported. Remember that the employers get the same cautious advice that we do – and are often more afraid of a tribunal claim than you would think if you relied only upon the cautious advice the worker had received.

Lay activists who know the employer with whom they are negotiating are often best placed to get the best deal for members, better than a paid union employee without that continuing relationship, and better than a lawyer constrained to view each case on its individual legal merits, outside of that continuing relationship.

ACAS early conciliation cannot take us back to the 90s, when we were free to take cases on a pragmatic (rather than legalistic) view – but, properly used and understood by confident lay activists with a broad view of our role, it can empower us to do better for workers than we have been doing for some time.

What UNISON activists need is a network independent of (though not in opposition to) our formal official structures (hidebound as they are) so that we can share our practical experience of early conciliation and how to use it to benefit workers.

Watch this space.

Barnet - Not an April Fool

‎Not everything which happens at the start of the "cruellest month" is an April Fool.

In particular, the assault upon Barnet UNISON is no joke.

A madcap Tory-right administration obsessed with privatisation (and facing the possibility of losing control) is lashing out at its most effective opponents.

The imposition of unworkable, ideologically driven, reductions in trade union "facility time" (as advocated by the failed "Trade Union Reform Campaign" on the wilder reaches of the political right) isn't the half of it.

The employer has focused it's attack upon the leadership of Barnet's vibrant and effective UNISON branch (and it must be shaming for the senior officials who are allowing themselves to be used as political tools in this way).

As of tomorrow, in what may be the last weeks of Tory Barnet, the attack moves up a gear - the response to this attack from our movement also needs to step up.

This is a test we must not fail.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.

Local government pay - reject 1%

http://www.unison.org.uk/news/unison-to-consult-members-over-meagre-pay-offer

The 1% pay offer to local government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was entirely predictable (as were the modest additional increases on the lowest pay spine points to keep ahead of the minimum wage).

UNISON has to give a clear lead to members to reject this further real terms pay cut if we are to stand a chance of securing the support of our members ‎for the action which is necessary to force a decent pay rise out of the employers. 

‎

The run up to the 2011 pensions strike demonstrated the capacity of our Union, acting together, to mobilise members for action. ‎We need similar well-resourced determination if we are serious about ending the pay freeze that has been holding down the living standards of our members for years now.

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the EE network.

Breaking the Taboo - the failed war on drugs is an issue for the labour movement

http://www.breakingthetaboo.info/

I was pleased recently to see the excellent film, "Breaking the Taboo" which exposes the comprehensive and total failure of the "war on drugs" declared by Richard Nixon and still being fought in spite of overwhelming evidence of its futility.

The showing of the film (which you can find on YouTube and which I thoroughly recommend, was followed by a panel discussion at Komedia in Brighton, in which Green MP Caroline Lucas reported on the success of an e-petition which will now lead to a debate in Parliament‎ on the entirely sensible proposition that the Government should gather and consider evidence on the effectiveness of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act.

The failed policy of prohibition criminalises those with a health problem (addiction), underpins the business model of organised crime and ruins (and ends) lives. Many UNISON members - and other trade unionists - see the devastating social consequences of the continuing failure of a misconceived policy of repression both in our union work and our working lives.

If we are to shift the United Kingdom in the direction of a progressive policy on drugs we need to move the Labour Party in that direction. I suggest that trade union activists watch the film - and reflect upon what we can do in that cause.

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Defend UNISON in Carmarthenshire!

It’s bad enough when Barnet’s madcap Tory right-wing extremists attack our trade union – but it’s a disgrace that Labour Carmarthenshire is following suit.

UNISON Cymru/Wales has publicly condemned Carmarthenshire Council's decision to remove the current and long standing trade union facility time secondments.

It appears that the Council are responding to robust criticism from UNISON which – if this local blog is to be believed – would appear to be justified.

Sign the online petition to support UNISON’s campaign to force Carmarthenshire to see sense.

Brixton needs a college - not a free school

There being no rest for the wicked, following an early start, I am now on my way home from a meeting to discuss the campaign to save further education on the Brixton site of Lambeth College.

The College management having decided to sell the site (whilst retaining perhaps a third of the site of the site for a continuing presence for further education) there was substantial local opposition to the suggestion that the site would provide (luxury) residential accommodation.

Michael Gove therefore stepped in and the Government have offered to buy the site to accommodate a secondary “free school” with a Catholic ethos, for which there is no demand locally and which is supported neither by the local authority nor the Catholic Church.

As public servants we are used to hearing that there is no money – but Michael Gove found millions (of our cash) to offer to buy some prime inner London real estate in order to play school with taxpayers’ cash. If those resources are available then they can be invested in further education for local people in Brixton.

The campaign to defend Lambeth College’s Brixton site (formerly the site of Brixton College before the merger which created Lambeth College prior to the incorporation (privatisation) of further education in 1992) has the potential to succeed if it can build the alliances which are there to be built.

The struggle never ends

http://lampag.org/

I was honoured today to be invited to speak to the Annual General Meeting of the Lambeth Pensioners Action Group (LAMPAG) following Dot Gibson, General Secretary of the National Pensioners Convention. 

LAMPAG has been organising older people (or - as was persuasively argued today - "retired workers") for thirty five years now - and is an active and effective organisation and a vital part of the local working class movement.

Given that the key struggle of the early years of this Parliament was in defence of occupational pensions, it was a humbling experience to be in a meeting of people who understood that our goal should be an adequate state pension - and that we need to defend the principle of universalism. 

‎I haven't blogged anything about the death of Tony Benn - because I couldn't match what many others have said about one of the greatest inspirations of my lifetime. I was exceptionally pleased to be at a meeting which began expressing respect for Benn and Bob Crow, and to be able to finish my contribution by quoting Benn in relation to the progressive policies of the pensioners' movement.

"It's always the same with progress. First they ignore you. Then they say you're mad. Then they say you're dangerous. Then there's a pause. Then you can't find anyone who ever disagreed with you."‎

‎

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No justice for workers

I have been worried for several years about the way in which the trade unions handle employment tribunal litigation and how we have contributed to the declining utility of the tribunals to defend workers’ rights. However, the Coalition Government have excelled themselves in undermining employment tribunals through the introduction of fees payable by claimants last summer.

Official statistics reveal the sheer scale of the weakening of the employment tribunals by the current Government. In employment tribunals, the number of claims received in October to December 2013 was 9,801 – 79% fewer than in the same period of 2012, and 75% fewer than last quarter. This is a phenomenal decline, which is clearly attributable, in large part, to the introduction of tribunal fees.

This represents the undermining of a system year for recompensing workers who are victims of (unlawful) injustice which was already weak and flawed – as a Government survey (which looked into whether tribunal awards were paid)  last year found; “Overall, around half (49%) of claimants had been paid in full, and a further 16% had been paid in part. This amounts to 64% of all claimants, and leaves 35% who had not received any money at all.” The problem with this is that tribunal awards amount merely to a debt which then has to be enforced.

Individual (or even collective) litigation is rarely likely to be the best way to secure good employee relations for the benefit of workers. However, where workers have no option but to pursue a legal avenue, we ought to have easy access to an effective remedy. Labour’s manifesto for the next General Election ought not only to pledge to remove tribunal fees, but also to make tribunal awards directly enforceable. 

As the Crow flies...

http://www.unison.org.uk/news/unison-chief-great-shock-at-death-of-rmt-leader-bob-crow

I think that Dave Prentis (in the link above) strikes precisely the right note in acknowledging that the untimely death of Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT union, is a loss to our movement as a whole.

In the years before the office successfully clamped down upon the attendance at the annual Trades Union Congress of all members of our National Executive Council I sat through Congress on numerous occasions.

The annual "Parliament of the organised working class" has not been an exciting experience in my time - but the hall awoke when Bob got up to speak. Always.

And the only excitement was often offered by the question of whether other unions (motivated either by politics or jealousy - or both) had managed to bump Bob off the General Council.

Bob Crow was a character in a movement which too often lacks character. Like many socialists I did not agree with him on every question (and feel that the best tribute that the "No2EU" candidates could make would be to abandon their bizarre and ill-advised political project) - however Bob Crow stood out as a trade union leader who was both effective and inspirational.

The RMT faces an enormous challenge in replacing such a towering figure. The movement as a whole will be watching this important choice.

‎

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Solidarity in the struggle against low pay

I finished a long day at work today (which had begun with leafleting members about the local government pay dispute) by attending the first hour and ‎a half of a useful meeting, attended by a couple of dozen trade unionists and activists, addressing the need to show solidarity with the fight against low pay.

UNISON - of course - needs to fight for the living wage (and more!) for all our own members. However, we are also part of a wider movement - and solidarity doesn't depend upon which union card a worker holds.

It was good to hear, first of all, from a BECTU activist from the Ritzy Cinema, where the heavily unionised workforce are about to embark upon a ballot for strike action in support of their campaign for the London Living Wage. The Ritzy - in the heart of Brixton - has a clientele which includes many who may be sympathetic to the workers' cause.‎ 

The Ritzy's multinational owners are probably as clear as the workers about the potential significance of this dispute for a cinema industry which profits from the super-exploitation of a largely unorganised workforce. This means that trade unionists and Labour Party members in Brixton bear a heavy responsibility to bring solidarity to a struggle brewing (quite literally) on the doorstep of Lambeth Town‎ Hall.

In particular, in the run up to May's local elections, this dispute offers an unparalleled opportunity for those seeking election to Lambeth Council to take the side of the one force which can really address the "cost of living crisis" - trade union organisation. The Ritzy dispute will be a key feature of Lambeth politics from now until the workers win.

The second speaker at the meeting was from the IWGB ("The Independent Workers of Great Britain" - an offshoot of the IWW "Independent Workers of the World" - which now organisers those workers who left UNISON in frustration at the conduct of branch elections in our Senate House branch last year).

Our UNISON branch in Lambeth has -quite rightly - expressed our solidarity with the workers at the University of London who are fighting for equal leave, sick pay and pensions for privatised workers (the same struggle as is being waged by UNISON members in the SOAS Branch). That solidarity is in no way diminished ‎by their decision to leave UNISON - though I stand by the criticism I made this evening of that decision. That the new priority of the IWGB is to secure recognition - when their numbers would clearly enable an approach based upon joining the recognised trade union (UNISON) - illustrates the wrongheadedness of their approach. "Red and Black" trade unionism has no more future than "Red trade unionism" and there are no short cuts in the fight within our movement.

There is no road forward to fight for the fair treatment of all public service workers in this country (including the hundreds of thousands in the private sector) which does not run through UNISON and require that we make from UNISON the fighting and democratic trade union which it has the potential to be. The departure from UNISON of the workers at Senate House was as pleasing to those whose conduct provoked it as was (for example) the departure of good activists in the Greenwich and Bromley local government branches.

I deal regularly with circumstances in which good lay UNISON activists are - at the least - dispirited by what is done "officially" in our name and would (and do) plead with such activists to contact NEC members before abandoning the union we need to transform.‎ Those of us who stick with UNISON in spite of quite disgraceful attacks from reactionary forces within our own trade union are not fools. We grasp the importance of changing our movement - and occasional impatience with those who seek a more convivial environment elsewhere is excusable.

Nevertheless, we must not turn our backs on workers in struggle who have made the (sometimes understandable) mistake of putting themselves outside our ranks as a result of their rage at the unfortunate conduct that sometimes takes place in our name. 

It is certainly no good reason to refuse to support the IWGB that it is not an affiliate of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) - when in the comments on this very blog I have myself been taken to task for criticising the minority union for UNISON employees (the Society of Union Executives - SUE) for not being a TUC affiliate.

(Although I am not sure how convivial relations between SUE and the IWGB are - and believe that rumours of a merger are almost certainly misplaced...)

All UNISON activists should show solidarity with the outsourced workers fighting for justice at Senate House under the banner of the IWGB in exactly the same way as we must show solidarity to the UNISON members at SOAS waging the same fight.

What is also clear - and this is something which I think is clearly recognised in an important motion from our National Executive Council (NEC) to National Delegate Conference‎ (NDC) - is that we need to be prepared to change how we organise in order to mobilise the fragmented public service workforce of which the workers who left us at Senate House are clearly part.

That motion is available for amendment on the Conference agenda and is certain to be prioritised for debate.

I trust that regular readers (Sid and Doris Conference-Anorak) can work out what to do with this information...

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Justice 4 Cleaners at SOAS - an important dispute for UNISON

http://criticallegalthinking.com/2014/03/03/another-planet-justice-4-cleaners-campaign-struggle-recognition/

The link above is to an excellent interview with three of the UNISON members, employed as cleaners at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) by private contractor ISS, who are striking today‎ and tomorrow as part of their continuing campaign for equality with the conditions of in-house staff.

The story of how those who clean the offices of public service workers with decent sick pay and pensions do not enjoy such conditions themselves is painfully familiar across all the sectors in which UNISON organises.

In local government (for example) our "achievement" of single status was a hollow victory the fruits of which were denied to many (particularly low paid) workers whose jobs were outsourced before any pay and grading review‎.

The supposed "benefits" of "diversity of service provision" and bringing in "private sector expertise"‎ are all essentially about driving down the pay and conditions of the workforce in a crude attempt to generate a saving at the expense of already low paid workers which can then be shared between the contractor (profits) and the client (budget savings).

It's a poor use of English ever to describe this process as more "efficient" than what came before - it's simply more exploitative. An added benefit for employers from contracting out is that (thanks to the impact of the UK's restrictive trade union legislation - and the compliance of the trade unions with those restrictions) the obstacles in the way of showing solidarity from the rest of the workforce to outsourced workers ‎are considerable.

Contracting out of low paid jobs produces, at the level of the organisation as a whole, a segmented labour market, in which a (relatively) protected "core" workforce enjoy (relatively) greater security and stability, whilst a "peripheral" workforce (working for external contractors or employed through agencies) have far worse and more precarious working lives.

Because it is easier to organise the more stable and secure "core" workforce (where the employer generally recognises unions, has developed procedures etc.) there is a trap for our movement, which we fall into if we prioritise the "core" over the "periphery." In that case we could become the guardians of the (relative) privelige of the more stable and secure sector of the workforce, rather than reaching out to organise the workforce as a whole.

‎In the long run, such an approach, reinforcing division and inequality, offers no worthwhile future for trade unionism. That's why we need to be organising workers on the precarious periphery of our public services - and helping them to take up the issues which are of concern to them.

The strike today and tomorrow by the SOAS cleaners is an important moment in turning UNISON outward to the workers we need to organise if we are to grow in the twenty first century.

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A loss to our movement

‎I was saddened today to learn the news of the untimely death of UNISON Regional Organiser Stuart Barber.

Stuart, 63, had worked for UNISON (and before that NUPE) for more than 30 years and ‎was the most recent official to have faced the challenge of working with the Lambeth Branch (for many years).

Before I worked with Stuart as "our" Regional official/organiser I was aware of his work - as an effective enthusiast for challenging race discrimination in the employment tribunals, and as a diligent Secretary to lay bodies at Regional level.

Stuart brought to his work decades of experience and a commitment undimmed by the passing years. It was unremarkable to receive emails from Stuart as he worked through cases on a Sunday and his advice (whether or not it was welcomed by members or their local representatives) was founded on experience and intelligence which commanded respect.

I could not say that I always saw eye to eye with Stuart (and would challenge anyone to say that they did!) However, Stuart was someone with whom one could disagree robustly on the basis of mutual respect - and always, in my experience, a solid ally when confronting employers.

Stuart represents a generation of union officials tested in past fires who were able to carry out the impossibly wide-ranging role which we expected twenty years ago. His knowledge of employment law and tribunal representation matched his skill as a negotiator and his commitment to our movement.

‎Stuart Barber is literally irreplaceable.

Ave atque vale.

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On Activism

As a member ‎of UNISON's National Executive Council (NEC) I am very aware of how many of our branches struggle forward with too few activists.

Indeed, as I write, I can almost hear one respected Branch Secretary colleague explaining how she "writes the theme tune, sings the theme tune"...

I am acutely aware of how many of my fellow UNISON Branch Secretaries long for a few more active trade unionists to help share the burden of the work that has to be done.

I realise therefore that, in many ways, I am in a fortunate position even to be able to differentiate between activists and "activists".

Nevertheless, since it is essential to the survival of our union movement in the twenty first century (and hence to the future of humanity) that we encourage, nurture and develop activism, I think it worth sharing a few views about the difference between activism ‎and it's simulacrum ("activism").

The thing about activism is that it is a noun derived from a verb. To be an activist is to be active.

For example, this evening I was proud to lead a UNISON deputation to Lambeth Council to address Councillors about the budget cuts they were about to make. Those who accompanied me, in the deputation or in the gallery, were activists.

Other activists couldn't be there as they had other commitments. That's always understood.‎ One of the things activists are familiar with is being double-booked!

"Activists" on the other hand are those who go to the pub rather than show support for members of their own trade union branch expressing, to their main employer, opposition to further cuts in jobs and services.

"Activists" are often to the fore when criticising fellow trade unionists for not being sufficiently forthright, or militant. Yet when the occasion for forthright militancy in fact presents itself that is the moment at which reality sorts out the difference between (real) activists and "activists".

Earlier this afternoon I was honoured to be amongst activists at a joint UCU/UNISON meeting at Lambeth College - where rank and file workers discussed and agreed tactics in a fight against utterly unreasonable proposals from their employer. Among those members were activists whom I am proud to call comrade.

I have the great privilege of being one of the Branch Secretaries of a trade union branch with a proud tradition of activism going back (at least) to the 1980s. The genuine activism which I saw this afternoon at Lambeth College and this evening among the deputation at Lambeth Town Hall continues this proud tradition.

Regrettably I have also had recent experience of "activism" (as opposed to activism) and therefore of the conduct of those who are radical in word rather than deed. I fear that those who announce their being "activists" without bothering actually to demonstrate activism are no real friends to trade unionists nor assets to the struggle for the emancipation of humanity.

I look forward ‎to continuing to work with activists - and to hearing less and less from "activists" whose deeds never match their words.

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To be strong together we have to be together!

‎I'm on my way back to the branch following the Annual General Meeting of the UNISON Greater London Regional Council, and congratulate the Regional Council Officers who were re-elected (and offer my commiserations to the candidates who were not successful!)

The Council heard from Maureen LeMarinel, our President and from Sadiq Khan for the London Labour Party and agreed a number of motions, two of which (yet to be announced) will be submitted to National Delegate Conference. The Regional Secretary reported that the Region had notified the Standing Orders Committee (SOC) that the Region would narrowly miss today's noon deadline for submission of Conference motions (because the tube strike had forced a delay) and hoped for sympathetic consideration of our submissions in the circumstances.

Some new speakers spoke well about the need for unity to take on the Tory Government and the pay freeze. Regional Council delegates can make such words good by turning up in sufficient numbers at the Regional Council meetings on Tuesday 20 May and Wednesday 22 October, so that London's UNISON members, across all Service Groups, have the opportunity to demonstrate the unity which we supported earlier today.

The Regional Committee (using its powers under Rule F) can monitor the use of UNISON resources (including staffing resources) deployed in our Region, in order to ensure that these resources are being used effectively to promote UNISON's objectives. These objectives clearly include delivering quorate meetings of our Regional Council in this crucial year and I hope that our re-elected Regional lay leadership will lead the Regional Committee in taking its responsibility seriously.

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Hope from an unexpected quarter

http://www.leftfutures.org/2014/02/shock-as-young-labour-rejects-collins-reforms-and-votes-to-defend-the-link/

Although the trade unions (having - not quite - convinced ourselves that we have defended the principle of collective affiliation) will not defeat the foolish Party Leader on Saturday at the wholly unnecessary Special Conference, Young Labour's 25,000 votes will be cast against the Collins proposals to loosen the ties which bind the Party and unions.

As we head in to a future in which the forces of "Progress" will confront truly progressive forces in the Party with an agenda to expel collective working class organisation from politics, it is encouraging that the young activists who are the future of the Party recognise the dangers in the Collins proposals from which union General Secretaries are politely averting their gaze.

‎

‎Congratulations are due to all the comrades who secured this outcome last Saturday in Bradford. There is still hope that we could have a Party of the left in this country.

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