Battling against anti-union laws

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Battling against anti-union laws

(Monday 22 September 2008)

LOUISE NOUSRATPOUR hears the activists voicing their anger at the restrictions on the right to strike.







Trade union activists are defying the anti-union laws by organising joint committees in the workplaces and linking up locally to co-ordinate action against spiralling wage cuts and job losses resulting from the economic crisis.

During an inspiring session on Where Now for the Unions? on Sunday, activists expressed anger and frustration at the legal restrictions on their right to take action to defend themselves.

Labour Representation Committee member Pete Firmin complained that strikes were organised in an "extremely regimented" fashion and often did not have the impact that they should.

As well as the anti-union laws, he blamed "trade union bureaucracy" for this.

Institute for Employment Rights director Carolyn Jones urged the convention to back the Trade Union Freedom Bill to repeal the anti-union laws, warning: "Otherwise, union membership will continue to decline.
"The Bill, although mild, modest and moderate, will put the collective back into our legal rights," she said.

PCS vice-president Sue Bond put forward key proposals on how to strengthen the role of unions in the workplace and minimise the impact of the economic crisis on working people.

"Unions must encourage joint workplace meetings and link up locally to strengthen rank-and-file organisation and unity," she stressed.

"It is also important to have political discussions about why there are cuts in the public services when billions are spent on war and why workers are forced to take a pay cut when their companies make massive profits."

Ms Bond described the co-ordinated action by public-sector unions in recent months as the "first small green shoots of unity in action and there is potential for much more."

In the first 11 months of Gordon Brown's premiership, there were 900,000 strike dates, even excluding the massive strikes in July and August, conference heard.

"In some unions, the bureaucracy don't like to come out of their comfort zone, but all unions are subject to pressure from below and this is where the left can play a vital role," Ms Bond added.

In addition to the anti-union laws, campaigners discussed electoral and organisational issues, with some calling for a break with Labour in favour of a new workers' party.

Others argued that this ran the risk of creating a divided movement.
Labour MP John McDonnell said: "I believe that this will be resolved through organisation and unity around key issues. To try and jump that fence will only split the movement and set us back."

He added: "We need to agree a common manifesto that we can take back to our communities and develop creative and effective strategies for co-ordinated action in the workplaces and in politics."

CWU delegate to the Labour conference Maria Exall told the convention that the left must offer a "working-class solution" to the economic crisis.

Speaking in a personal capacity, she said: "This is the time to make the argument for collective ownership when the US and Britain are breaking their own 'no state intervention' rule to rescue the bankers.

"It is tax-dodging big business that must pay for the crisis they have created, not the tax-paying working class."

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Assault on union rights condemned

(Thursday 09 October 2008)

by PAUL HASTE






EMPLOYMENT rights lawyers hit back on Thursday at attacks on union rights for Birmingham's council workers by one of the city's Liberal Democrat councillors.


Councillor Martin Mullaney told a local newspaper that paying the wages of public-sector workers while they carried out official union duties was "too expensive."

"Why are we paying these people out of public money?" he asked, declaring that the cost of offices, phone calls and stationery provided to union reps was "alarming."

He lamented the fact that workers were permitted union representation and added: "I'm not saying there is no role for union officials, but do we need this many and should the council be paying their wages?"

Institute of Employment Rights director Carolyn Jones slammed Mr Mullaney's comments as "another assault on workers' rights.

"These politicians who are no friends of the unions want to deny people the chance to protect themselves from abusive employers."

Ms Jones pointed out that the right of union reps to represent their colleagues at work was a legal right, enshrined in the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations Act.

The council's opposition Labour leader Albert Bore also dismissed Mr Mullaney's attack.

"The fact is the council has had full-time union officials for many, many, years. Birmingham City Council has just 106 union representatives who are needed in order to work on negotiations and these critics know this full well," he said.

Mr Mullaney's outburst is the latest attack in a series of assaults on the authority's 40,000 workers by the ruling Tory-Lib Dem coalition.

The workers went on strike earlier this year in a regrading dispute after council bosses imposed massive pay cuts on staff, threatening redundancies if they were not accepted.

A Unite union member working in the council's highway maintenance department, who did not wish to be named for fear of repercussions, said that Mr Mullaney had been "spending too much time with his Tory friends.
"It is a bit rich that he wants to criticise our union reps when everyone knows the councillors take thousands of pounds in expenses for themselves," he pointed out.

At least £15,000 a year is available to each councillor in Birmingham to cover their expenses.

Committee chairmen can also receive a separate "special responsibility allowance" of more than £1,000 a week.

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