Catching up

Busy over the weekend and yesterday so its a been a good few days since I've blogged (and looking back a good few weeks since I blogged anything interesting!).

On Saturday I was out all day the Midlands TUC Annual Conference, taking part in a panel session on organising, and yesterday I spent most of the day in an informal working session on TUC structures and the support we offer unions.

This afternoon I am helping facilitate a seminar on union finances and resources - which will include a presentation by Paul Willman who has been working on this issue with his colleague Alex Bryson on behalf of the TUC. One of the key things their report will look at is how unions can free up more resources to support organising, and what sort of different approaches unions might take.

Having a short working-week this week, as up to Scotland for my sister-in-law's wedding, (managing to combine this with a few hours at the STUC's 'Organising Unions, Organising Communities' on Friday)...

Thats pretty well much what I'm up too - blog again soon when (if) I have something interesting to say!

Four year old 'Kingpin'

After a day with Amicus helping facilitate a briefing in Bristol for officers yesterday, I took the day off today and spent a bit of time with the kids.

Rain, snow and sleet limited our outside options so went 10-pin bowling - which Frances managed to win by a country mile. I limped in a poor 4th (out of 4), but as I explained to the kids I prefer to concentrate on style rather than scores...

Of course being on Merseyside today I missed the big news story of the day which was the suspension of London's elected Mayor - Ken Livingstone. You can read the TUC's views on this here. Have to say my first instinct is that elected politicians should be held accountable by their electorate not by unelected tribunals - and this is obviously Livingstone's view as well. (mind you I reserve the right to change my mind in a completely unprincipled way on this, depending on the politician concerned - happy for the 'Adjudication Panel' to have a go at George W for example though i'm not sure their remit stretches this far...)

9 million bloggers

On my way up to Newcastle this morning for a meeting with the College regarding the Organising Academy so only time for a quick train blog.

Today the AFL-CIO, which represents 9m workers in the US launches its new blog, which you can read here: www.aflcio.org/blog

The blog marks a major departure for the AFL-CIO, moving away from the straight 'news' content of its main site to an edgier 'views and opinions' approach. Will be interesting to see how it develops.

Should also mention while I'm on the subject of blogs (and the Organising Academy) that the Academy has also launched a new blog (see side bar and www.organisingacademy.blogspot.com).

Work your proper hours day

Its half term this week so in the true spirit of Work Your Proper Hours Day I'll be taking a couple of days leave to look after the kids. Neat little TUC animation you can forward on to your friends and work-mates about WYPHD here. You can also fill in the on-line unpaid overtime calculator here. Let me know how you get on!

Learning to grow

I'm in Washington DC for two days at the moment for meetings with the AFT and the AFL-CIO.

This morning I gave a presentation to the Executive Board of the Albert Shanker Institute about union efforts in the UK to link our work on learning and organising; the key to which is the 12,000 Union Learning Reps that unions have recruited and trained over the last 5 or 6 years.

The Shanker Institute has no real direct counterpart in the UK, which is one reason the TUC is supporting the development of the Union Ideas Network. The aim of the network is to help build sustainable links between unions and supportive academics and policy makers. To sign up to the UIN, which is open to union officers, organisers, activists, academic researchers, policymakers and students, and will be launched in April 2006, click here.

Monkey is back!

"In the world before Monkey, primal chaos reigned. Heaven sought order, but the phoenix can fly only when it's feathers are grown. The four worlds formed again and yet again, as endless aeons wheeled and passed. Time and the pure essences of Heaven all worked upon a certain rock, old as creation. It became magically fertile. The first egg was named "Thought". Tathagata Buddha, the Father Buddha said "With our thoughts, we make the world". Elemental forces caused the egg to hatch. From it came a stone monkey.

The nature of monkey was irrepressible!!"



For a certain type of 30 something (well, me), news that Monkey is back will be greeted with a mixture of excitement and apprehension.

The original TV series, with its amazing opening sequence, brilliant characters, dodgy kung fu and even dodgier jokes, will be hard to beat. I bought a DVD of the old series about 18 months ago (for the kids you understand) - but this has had to be hidden as it unearthed psychotic tendencies in small children that gentler fare such as 'Aunty Mabel' helps subdue!

All we need now is a new series of Blakes 7 and my televisual life will be complete!

The cost of union busting

ASDA, part of the multinational retail chain Walmart, has been found guilty of trying to illegally induce employees to ditch their union in exchange for short term hikes in terms and conditions.

You can read the GMB's statement on the findings here.

I'm not certain but I reckon the settlement costs to the company of over 3/4 million pounds must be pretty much unprecedented in the UK. 'Union busting' is pretty much routine in the US, but its still relatively rare (though increasingly prevalent) in the UK. Lets hope this case sends a clear message to employers who may be tempted to pursue Walmarts example - union busting doesn't pay!

2050: A very different world

Fascinating Guardian article based on a report by the Chinese Academy Of Sciences, which looks at prospects for China's development by 2050.

The 'China Modernisation Report 2006' predicts that by 2050, 500m rural Chinese would have moved into the cities; that average incomes will have risen to more than 10 times their current levels; and that 750m Chinese will be able to afford cars and overseas travel.

All this is predicated on China maintaining its current growth rate of about 9% for the next 40+ years.

I'm hardly qualified to comment on all this, but if there's one thing I know its that the real world rarely moves or develops in straight lines.

Factors such as the rate of foreign investment; ever-increasing numbers of professional, engineering and scientific graduates; and, growing militancy amongst Chinese workers (and the possible if not yet realised, development of effective, free trade unions), could end up making these growth estimates meaningless.

The growing contradictions posed by China's booming economy, and its rigid political structures, are also unlikely to be left unresolved in the next four decades.

Whatever happens, the one certainty is that the consequences will not be confined to China itself. Life in 2050, whatever it holds, is likely to be very different than it is today.

Use the comments button to leave your sensible, and not so sensible, predictions for life in 2050...

Here's 3 from me:

China replaces the US as the world's most important super-power

Everton win the Champions League (entry to which will be open to the top 18 placed clubs in the Premiership by then!)

Union membership, ahem, 'takes off'...

Last week I reported that the GMB had 'secured' (geddit?) a deal to represent Group 4 Securicor workers - this week I'm equally pleased to blog about the TGWU's success in gaining union recognition at easyJet's call centre. This isn't a deal which just 'fell from the sky' (Ok, I'll stop the lame puns now), but one which was built on some pretty impressive and sustained organising work by the TGWU and its activists in the call centre.

Most importantly this win isn't just a one-off but is part of a concerted, and long-term, effort by the TGWU to organise the low-cost airlines sector.

It also shows that employers in this sector are not obliged to take the sort of medieval union-bashing' stance taken by companies such as Ryanair - which has, as well as making its employees pay to charge their mobile phones, 'attracted criticism for making employees pay for uniforms, withdrawing free crew refreshments and actively discouraging union membership.'

You can read more about BALPA's efforts to give Ryanair pilots an independent, collective voice here.

Wins for the blue boys!

Even better than Everton's 1-0 win over Man City on Saturday, was my eldest Joe making his debut for Eastham Rangers JFC on Sunday.

For the record he scored (albeit a bit unwittingly!) in a 2-0 win - think I was more emotional than he was!

The BNP, those cartoons, and threats of a new 7/7

Reading the papers on Friday was a pretty depressing experience.

First of all there was the sickening spectacle of Griffin & Collet standing outside court posing as the voice of 'decent working people'and hailing a "tremendous victory for freedom"; just as sickening was the sight of Islamic militants burning Danish and other European flags (and subsequently storming the Danish Embassy in Damascus) as part of a wave of protests against the publication of cartoons depicting Muhammed.

To top it all a small group of protestors in London, convened by Hizb ut-Tahri, thought it would be constructive to demonstrate while carrying placards 'glorifying' 9/11 and 7/7...

The 'left' seems to be all over the place on these events - on the one hand people are obviously worried about the ability of extreme elements of one religious community to effectively censor the press - on the other, people feel uncomfortable about criticising those who burn flags because they risk ending up looking like they're on the same side of the fence as Griffin and his bunch of lumpen Neanderthals.

For what its worth here's 3 quick bullets re my personal take on the issues:

1) The Cartoons: Yes they may be offensive, but provided they are printed within the proper context, I support the right of the press and media to print/broadcast them (a view shared by the NUJ). Lets not kid ourselves - the bulk of those editors who have recently reprinted the cartoons are more focused on boosting circulation than they are 'press freedom', but I can't see how anyone can make a considered judgment on this issue without having first seen the cartoons. We can't simply be happy with being told they are unacceptable or offensive - we need the means to make that decision ourselves, and that means allowing publication.

2) The response of some Islamic groups to the cartoons: Burning flags, threatening terrorist acts and storming Embassies...should we accept this as a legitimate response by any section of any group or community? I don't think so. Neither do the majority of Muslims themselves.

3) The BNP: Do we really think its useful for the CPS to pursue a re-trial of Griffin & Collett? As the verdict last week showed the judicial system is not infallible. Griffin was acquitted of 'race hate' charge last week.Does this mean he's 'innocent'? Does it mean he's not a racist?Of course not, but I'm not convinced a re-trial would give any other verdict.

Even if it did, Griffin would love playing the 'martyr' every bit as much as he loves playing the underdog overturning the establishment. The law alone is not enough to shut down the BNP - lets make sure every public and private organisation that lets them hire a venue for their meetings is put under pressure; that when they take to the streets during election campaigns we are there in larger numbers; and that we constantly challenge the BNP's 'right' to be heard in the media as a legitimate voice - these racists and fascists don't have the 'right to free speech' (a right, incidentally, that they'd be quick enough to deny others if they ever got their paws on a bit of power.) That old line about what to do with a fascist when you meet one, - 'Acquaint their head with the pavement ' - comes to mind...

Any thoughts on this and related issues?

B2O

On my way up to Newcastle today to help present a briefing on the TUC's Bargaining to Organise (B2O) campaign.

We kicked off the campaign back in October last year and its 2 key aims are to try to encourage unions to use bargaining as a focus to organise new members and activists, and to promote the role of union reps - making sure they have the training, facilities and time-off they need to do their job properly.

If you fancy finding out more about the campaign you can attend one of the forthcoming briefings (Taunton and Manchester in March) - check out www.tuc.org.uk/B2O for more details.

Well that turned out alright then...

Yes I know these sorts of things are inane, but still...

Hat-tip to Bloggers4Labour for this.

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Union 'secures' major agreement...

Sorry for the pun, they're getting worse I know, but thought I'd quickly blog about this new agreement between the GMB and Group 4 Securicor.

Its significant for a number of reasons - but primarily because it potentially covers some 15,500 staff across the UK, and equally importantly its another example of unions making (vital) in-roads into the private service sector.

The Last Post?

At the beginning of the year the Government ended the 346 year postal monopoly held by Royal Mail, and already the first 'TNT' mail has dropped on my mat...

In the name of 'liberalisation' Postcomm are risking letting private sector entrants into the postal market 'cream-off' the best and most profitable parts of the sector such as intra city post, mass direct-mail and business post - leaving Royal Mail to pick up the cost of subsidising personal letters, rural deliveries etc etc - basically all those parts of the postal market which are never going to be profitable. In the long-run its not hard to how 'competition' could easily have a detrimental effect on our current universal postal service.

To mark the demise of the postal monopoly the CWU recently held a 'memorial service' outside Postcomms offices (see picture) - and you can get more information about the union's 'Your Mail, Not For Sale' campaign here, and EDM 548 here.