The (Villa) Real Deal...

Only Villareal now stand between Everton and the group stages of the Champions League.

All the talk in the papers over the last couple of days has focused on the prospect of the Blues meeting that lot over the side of the Park - but the god of football has decreed that we'll get to beat them in the group stages instead!

You can read more here.

30 years on

This afternoon the IRA announced the end of its 'armed campaign' - bringing an end to some 30 years of republican terrorism in both Ireland and the UK. You can read more here.

Of course, as one terrorist chapter closes, another has recently opened in the UK - but perhaps today's announcement shows two things.

Firstly, that terrorism is ultimately futile - alienating both those it purports to speak on behalf of, and those who it seeks to influence. Blowing up the innocent is a sign of weakness, not of strength.

And secondly, that terrorism can't be defeated by clampdowns, a suspension of legal and civil rights or enhanced security alone. Many people, over many years, can take credit for today's announcement by the IRA, but I think unions in both Ireland and the UK can be be proud of their record of helping bridge the sectarian divide and building genuine solidarity between working class people on both sides of the divide. You can read the Irish Congress's statement on today's announcement here.

Last American Post...

Full page feature in FT today about the split in the AFL-CIO.

Union futures?

While unions in the US are sharply debating how best to rebuild the American trade union movement, its clear that unions on this side of the 'pond' have little room for complacency as well.

I spoke at an event today, looking at the first findings from WERS 2004 - a comprehensive survey of employment relations in the UK.

On the good news front, unions have managed to arrest the decline in union recognition in larger workplaces, but the fact is we are still losing ground in smaller workplaces, and struggling to find and support on-site union reps, who for many members are the 'face of the union'.

You can download a copy of the WERS 2004 First Findings here.

Split confirmed

Following on from last post, now appears that both the Teamsters and the SEIU are pulling out of the AFL-CIO. These are the first unions to confirm they are going - will they be the last?

Story here.

Unity is Strength?

Tommorow the AFL-CIO's 50th anniversary convention opens in Chicago - amidst a great deal of rancour and talk of a possible split.

I've posted quite a bit about this before (google AFL-CIO in the google-box at the top of this blog) and you read the AFL-CIO's proposals here. Counter proposals can be found here.

I suppose the key question is 'will a split in the AFL-CIO make the American labour movement stronger or weaker'? Cast your vote in the comments section.

Bala
Posted a couple of weeks ago about our trip to Bala - which we went on a couple of days after the bombs in London on 7/7.

We were back there this weekend (here), and now it seems we weren't the only ones...papers this weekend are carrying a story claiming that some of last week's group attended a whitewater rafting trip (here - a pleasant 5min walk from where we camped the other week) with Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer.

Bala probably isn't anyone's idea of an international terrorist training camp, but I suppose this just shows how utterly banal, and therefore even more terrifying, the problem we are currently facing on the streets of London (and perhaps soon elsewhere?) is. This isn't top level terrorist summits in the wilds of Afghanistan or Pakistan, its young British men meeting in North bloody Wales of all places, to decide how best to kill as many innocent people as possible.

In its own little way this incident shows how ineffective ID cards would be in stopping the sort of attacks we've seen in London over the past few weeks. While ID cards may help prevent people flying in and out of Afghanistan to plan terror - its hard to see how they can help tackle terrorists tootling down the A494.

In London yesterday and today. As you will already know 4 detonators went off yesterday - but thankfully no-one was seriously injured.

You can get updates about the situation in London here.

The pay here is rubbish...

TGWU striker outside the Houses of Parliament today (photo from www.guardian.co.uk)

Its just plain wrong...

Chest hair with your groceries??

Not the biggest or most important problem in the world I know, but I think one of the scariest side-effects of global warming is the likely rise in 'topless' blokes wandering the streets of Britain.

In this case Gary Derbyshire (pictured here in shopping mode) decided to pick up his weekly shopping 'sans-shirt' - and was promptly banned by his local Tesco.. Nice...just make sure you wash that veg when you get home!


Over the last couple of weeks I have been visually assaulted by too many blokes that seem to think the hot weather makes tattoos, obesity and lobster-red skin glistening in sun-cream an attractive combination.

What's the most inappropriate place you've ever spotted the lesser shirted British bloke? My own worst personal experience was watching a shirtless bloke attempt a plate of Spaghetti Bolognese....lovely mental image isn't it? Can you beat that?! Or am I just being over-sensitive?

Living on a fiver in London....

Wouldn't like to try it myself but thats the crappy reality for 140 cleaners working at the House of Commons.

Tommorow the cleaners will mount the first ever picket in Parliamentary history outside the Houses of Parliament as MPs arrive for Prime Minister's Questions - you can read more about their campaign here .

Want to know if your MP supports the right for the people that pick up his or her rubbish to get a living wage? You can read the Commons Early Day Motion on the issue (signed by 162 MP's) here.

The Old Market Square in Warsaw.

Belated Polish post
Last week I spent the day in Warsaw (photo's above).

The main aim of my trip was to meet with Krzysztof Zgoda (Organising Director), Andrzej Matla (International Department), and Tomasz Laskowski (National Organiser) of Solidarnosc to discuss a joint project we hope to launch in September.

As part of the project Tomasz will be spending 3 months in Liverpool helping the North West TUC to organise migrant Polish workers in the North West. He'll also be helping unions in the region brief stewards and officers about the key issues facing migrant workers, as well as helping build links with local community organisations.

After our meeting and lunch, we managed to grab an hour or so looking round Warsaw's old town which was completely rebuilt following the war. The incredible story of the Warsaw uprising can be found here.

Walking past the re-constructed Royal Castle in Warsaw with Alan Manning (North West TUC) and Andrzej Matla (Solidarnosc).

‘And if you know your history…’

Yesterday I mentioned my flying visit to meet Solidarnosc in Warsaw, and promised to expand a little about my trip over there. Even the few hours I spent in the city, made me realise how gloriously ignorant I am about my family’s history.

When I was growing up the fact that my grandfather was Polish and had come across to Liverpool during the war barely registered – all I really knew was that ‘Grandad Joe’, who was born in Katowice and was an engineer in the Polish RAF, spoke with a funny accent and gave us funny sweets which may have gone down a treat in Poland but which weren’t much cop for kids up on Spangles.

The things I remember most about my grand-dad Joe are nearly all sad – he used to cry out at night when he slept; he nursed my grandmother when she succumbed to Alzheimer’s, he worked for English Electric for decades and was left with little more to show for it than a radio and watch he was presented with when he retired. My saddest memory is that I didn’t cry when he died – which I've never understood because me and my brother loved him to bits. But I do remember that he was also one of the nicest and truly ‘great’ blokes you could ever hope to meet – and my dad is truly his father’s son.

My other grand-dad, ‘Jimmy’ Tsang, also came over during the war, but from Hong Kong not Eastern Europe. Jimmy was a ship’s cook, life-long gambler, father of 11, and a teller of pretty tall tales (his claim to be the first Chinese guy to pull on a blue short for Everton being one such example – I’ve often wished this were true!). He died nearly two years ago and I spoke at his funeral - mainly because my aunties and uncles were to upset too. As I grew up, got married and had kids I hardly ever saw him, which I hope is something that will never happen with my parents and kids.

Although I know very little about my family’s history, I hope I’ve inherited a little bit of their values – hopefully that's more important than knowing the dates and places.

Maybe that’s what family history is really about? Passing down ideas and values not heirlooms…helping your kids to make the right choices and treat people the right way, rather than slaving over family trees?

Sorry for the maudlin post – think it was probably brought on by the two-minutes silence held earlier in London today, and which I shared with colleagues outside Congress House. A city like London can never be truly quiet, but I’ve never heard Big Ben (some 20 mins walk away at least) chime the hour before, which gives you some sense of how still London was.


Oh – and all this introspection was brought on by my visit to Warsaw, which I promise I actually will blog about tomorrow. Apologies for those of you who clicked onto this blog to actually read about what it says on the tin – ‘unions, politics and more’ – navel gazing will give way to ‘proper stuff’ tomorrow.

Silence

Silence
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

TUC staff and visitors gather outside Congress House to observe the two minute silence for the victims of the London bombings (www.tuc.org.uk)

A little bit about me vol 5.... (maybe vol.6, sorry I've lost count!)

As with most people from my part of the world, my family background is a veritable 'Heinz 57' of nations - with grandfathers from Poland and China (both of whom came to Liverpool during the war), as well as the usual Liverpool-Irish connections.

Today I visited Poland (which I suppose is partly the land of my fathers, or at least my father's fathers) for the first time ever. It was a bit of flying visit to meet up with colleagues from Solidarnosc about a joint project we are hoping to run starting in September, hence no blogging today. Will post more about my trip to Warsaw tomorrow - just got home, so right now I'm off for a quick beer!

For those in London on Thursday - London United.

Bala Boys 

Bala Babe! 

Consultants of the world unite!

Hey ho...you couldn't make it up really. This story speaks for itself, but in a nutshell former Amicus official Rory Murphy (transformed by Personnel Today into 'Top UK trade unionist') has left the union, to 'look after' employee interests by er...becoming a consultant with outsourcing specialists Morgan Chambers.

Back to work

Down in London today for the first time since Thursday.

Haven't updated this blog since then as there was really only one I thing I could have blogged about, and frankly that would have left me feeling pretty low so didn't even attempt it.

Instead I did something much better for my state of mind, and took the kids away here for the weekend. Haven't been to Bala since I was a kid, and had forgotten how beautiful this country can be at times, (and how much I actually enjoy being with the kids when I make the time to be something approaching a half-way decent parent).

Anyway - blog back to normal now...

Was on my way into London this morning by train - but thankfully we got stopped at Stafford and told best not to make the journey in.

Hard to comprehend how frightened everyone affected by the explosions this morning, and their friends and family, must feel. Even harder to comprehend how those responsible can honestly believe that indiscriminately killing innocent people progresses their cause one inch.

BBC's breaking news from London is here.

Posting from the train so just a quickie...

As well as awarding London the 2012 Olympic Games the IOC is also debating which of its current sports should be given the boot in favour of new 'candidate sports' ('roller sports' is one of the mooted new categories - think Starlight Express and medals ).

Glad though I am (in a slightly churlish northern way) that London has won the games, I'm not really sure that synchronised diving honestly qualifies as an integral part of the 'greatest show on earth'.

So what olympic sport would you dump and why? And what new sports should claim their space in the Olympic pantheon (darts? Snooker? Or a broader 'pub sports' set of events?)

In London today for an event to launch the first findings from WERS.

Headlines for unions were that although the percentage of all workplaces with recognised unions fell since 1998, this decline was restricted to the smallest workplaces (those with less than 25 employees). In larger workplaces the rate of recognition has leveled off after having fallen continually throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

With half of all employees covered by union recognition, there is clearly lots of scope for unions to grow just by mopping up non-members in 'organised' workplaces. Evidence for this can be found in an article in today's Guardian, which reports that the TGWU has organised 14,000 new workers, mainly on the back of its 100% campaign to prioritise 'in-fill recruitment'.

Union officers and activists interested in finding out more about WERS can attend a TUC event being held on 26 July. I'm one of the speakers but please don't let that put you off!

'Kim Jong Il...ronery' 

Completely politically incorrect, but probably the best cinematic take yet on the 'war against terror', Team America World Police - the movie is brilliant!

Its been out on DVD for months, but I only got round to watching it last night. Its the best (well, only) film I've ever seen which somehow manages to weave together satire, Kim Jong Il, and puppet love scenes...oh, and Michael Moore blows himself up inside Mt Rushmore as well. What more could you ask for?

'Marks and Sparks' going union?

What has TESCO, Britain's most successful retailer, got that the ailing M & S hasn't? Answer: a recognised trade union for its staff.

But all that might be about to change, because USDAW, the union which organises TESCO staff, yesterday launched a drive for union recognition in 'Marksies'. The campaign is supported by a new web-site which you can find here.

With union density standing at about 11% across the retail sector in the UK its good to see unions beginning to grasp the nettle a bit and start taking on some of the high street giants. M & S was always seen as a bit of a prestige employer - which paid above the sector average, and had lower staff turnover than its rivals. But in recent years, faced with falling profits due in a large part to sluggish management, M & S has decided to try and turn round its fortunes by penalising its most important resource - its staff (Funny how most corporate recovery strategies focus on squeezing costs of out the workforce isn't it!).

The Spirit of Trade Unionism

The Spirit of Trade Unionism
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

The Spirit of Trade unionism statue which stands outside Congress House - the TUC's headquarters in London - helping make poverty history.

www.tuc.org.uk/international/index.cfm?mins=406