Paul Nowak's blog - Unions, politics and more...

2006-05-15T09:06:00.000Z

Thats all folks! (for now...)

Pressures of work and family mean this blog is getting updated very rarely now.

Rather than just let it fade away, I have decided to give myself a sabbatical. In the best tradition of the soaps I'll be leaving this site live just in case I decide to make a come-back!

In the meantime, thanks for reading and for all your comments!

All the best - Paul

2006-05-12T08:15:00.000Z

Vauxhall fears

Vauxhalls' plant in Ellesmere Port is about 10 minutes drive from where I live - and plays a major role in our local economy. People from across Merseyside, North Wales and beyond travel into work at the plant which produces the Astra.

Yesterday workers at the plant walked out spontaneously, amid fears that 1,000 jobs could go as part of GM's restructuring efforts. You can read about yesterday's walk-out, the reasons behind it, and the unions' take on GM's plans here and here.

2006-05-09T12:52:00.000Z

Keep HP British!

I'm not especially patriotic. I won't be cheering on England at the World Cup (too many Liverpool players - Peter Crouch world class? - can't stand the manager and hate the 'Engerland' stuff that accompanies any major championship); don't own a pair of Union Jack shorts; and generally have little truck with any sort of Dambusters/Rule Britannia/Little Englander/St George's flag waving sense of Britishness.

All that said there are some things which are clearly, proudly and uniquely British - and HP Sauce is one of them. The perfect accompaniment to anything from a fry-up to Scouse, roast dinner to plain old beans on toast - HP is the King of Sauces.

So I'm gutted to hear Heinz who own the rights to HP are shipping production of HP to the Netherlands. Not only does this mean that a great British brand will no longer be produced in the UK, but - more seriously - it also means 120 TGWU members will lose their jobs. As usual this announcement comes after Heinz had previously promised that there would be no shift in production. I'm sure Heinz have their reasons - but HP has been produced in the Midlands since the turn of the century and it seems a real shame that a good, loyal workforce producing an iconic product is being let down once again. Lets hope Heinz show a bit of common sense and reverse their decision. In the meantime I will be scouring the supermarkets over the next few weeks to build up a stockpile of Brummy produced brown sauce!

2006-05-08T20:22:00.000Z

Big Dunc bows out

Dixie Dean was a legend; Brian Labone was a legend; Howard Kendall was a legend - both as a manager and as part of the 'Holy Trinity' with Colin Harvey and Alan Ball.

In that sort of company its hard to think of Duncan Ferguson - never a prolific goal scorer; injured as often as he was fit; a player who Joe Royle famously described as 'a legend before he became a player'; as a real Goodison legend. But, of course football is never as straight forward as that.

I was there when the big man scored THAT debut goal against Liverpool, and I was there yesterday for my last ever (well ever for now) match as a Goodison season ticket holder to see him slot home his last goal for the Blues. For the last 10 years Everton have been conspicuously short of heroes, but Duncan fits the bill in my opinion. Goodison legend? Of course and here's five reasons why....

The debut goal against Liverpool - restoring pride to the blue half of Merseyside

Giving a (very) old granny a kiss on her birthday at a 'lunch with the players' do that we went to, and telling her 'No Tongues' (at which she giggled like a teenager)

He's the coolest pigeon fancier this side of the Penines

His goals in the big games - Man U, Liverpool - he didn't score many, but the ones he did were always special

Taking the law into his own hands - What sort of burglar thinks its a good idea to break into his house anyway!?

Post your own Big Dunc best bits in the comments box.

2006-05-05T12:32:00.000Z

A bad night

Every parent works on the basis that their kids are 'very advanced for their age' and I am no exception. So I wasn't surprised that yesterday I had to undergo several rounds of Paxman like under-9 questioning on the subject of the local elections - 'Who are we voting for dad?', 'Why?', 'What does the council do?', 'I thought you said they were rubbish' etc etc.

End result: the kids know we vote Labour for the same reason we support Everton - because we do, and err well that's that. Because they were all born post '97 they also know that its a long time - well in their time-frame anyway- since Labour and Everton actually won a great deal*. I suspect they also can't quite understand why Dad (who according to the laws of parenthood should be pretty much infallible and the font of all knowledge) seems to have the unfailing knack of backing losers.

Of course, none of this is new. I went through exactly the same experience in the early 80's - a pretty bleak time for a young Evertonian, from a labour voting family, with a Dad who worked in Cammell Lairds. Yes those were great years for Labour voting Blues who worked in ship-yards! Its character-building anyway...

On the serious side, its clear that in large parts of the country the Labour vote simply stayed at home. More damagingly a very small, but still worrying, number of traditional Labour voters decided to take a punt on the BNP - landing them 15 seats. What little good news there was came relatively local to me - with Labour making small gains in both Manchester and Liverpool; and both cities, along with Newcastle, staying Conservative free zones.

How did Labour do in your part of the country? Did you even vote - or were you part of the 67% who stayed at home?

* Yes I know, 3 terms and all that but I'm trying to make a slightly stretched point here!

2006-04-28T13:31:00.000Z

Why cities matter

I don't remember much from my University (Poly) days - not because of the usual student excesses, but because I was actually a pretty rubbish student and was far busier running round doing union and Labour Party work than I was studying.

I remember very few of the books I had to read during my three year Urban Studies degree (sorry no link, they closed the programme down the year after I graduated), but I do remember 'Cities and the Wealth of Nations' by Jane Jacobs, who sadly died earlier this week. You can read her Guardian obituary here.

From what I remember of her work she was a passionate believer in the city as a crucial economic and social entity - an idea which has been (partially) revived in the emerging interest in 'city regions' in the UK.

However, I suspect that most of the recent urban 'regeneration' we've seen in the UK (which seems to be based on the holy trinity of faux loft/warehouse apartments, new build office space which looks dated and tired before the concretes even set and making stag nights and hen parties the focal point of your economic strategy) would have profoundly depressed her. It profoundly depresses me anyway.

2006-04-25T21:07:00.000Z

The Last of the Corinthians

Just got a call off my brother to tell me that Brian Labone died last night (I've been away so hadn't seen the local papers this morning).

I obviously never got to see him play, but he was a true Everton legend, and I did get the chance to have a few words with him some years back when we me and my brother got chatting to him (after a few pints) after a 'Meet the players' type do. He was great bloke and a blue through and through.

You can read the official EFC tribute to Brian here.

2006-04-25T20:27:00.000Z

Left foot forwards!

Next Monday thousands of people will be gathering in London to show their support for better working rights.

To find out more - and to have a go on the TUC's snappy new 'left foot forwards' web-game click here.

2006-04-24T04:56:00.000Z

Union Ideas Network is go!

Back in London today for, amongst other things, the launch of the Union Ideas Network.

Its taken nearly a year since I first talked about this project at the BUIRA conference in Newcastle, but hopefully it'll have been worth the wait!

2006-04-07T08:38:00.000Z

Labour Party effort to 'engage'*...

I've been a Labour Party member for the best part of 14 years, but as a rule I don't tend to respond to the various e-mails I get from them asking for further funding.

But how can you say 'No' to a direct order from Cpt Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise?

Patrick Stewart is almost 'Clooney-esque' in his all round good blokeness - 'that' voice, good looking, sophisticated and a Labour Party member to boot. My only gripe is that I only meet one of those criteria!

* apologies for lame 'headline' - possible alternatives were 'Labour Party Enterprise' or 'Party encourages supporters to Klingon' - any other equally feeble suggestions in comments please.

Labour Party Supporters Network

2006-04-04T08:05:00.000Z

My friends in the North

Back in London, after spending the weekend in Newcastle to speak at the Northern TUC Annual Conference. The 'proper' guest speakers included Mark Serwotka and Elias Santana, from FENACLE in Ecuador.

Some of this blogs many readers (ahem) may know that I was the TUC's regional secretary in the North East & Cumbria prior to doing this job, so I always enjoy going back to Newcastle; its a good chance to meet up with old friends and comrades. Only low point to the weekend was Everton dropping 2 points to Sunderland at home...

2006-03-30T21:50:00.000Z

Believe in free, independent, effective unions?

Then ask your MP to sign this Early Day Motion about the Trade Union Freedom Bill.

2006-03-30T10:37:00.000Z

Success at Work

The DTI have today published their long awaited labour market strategy paper, 'Success at Work'.

The TUC have welcomed this as, 'a recognition by government that a significant minority of the UK workforce faces real exploitation at work', and I am really glad to see a few lines in there committing the Government to a review of how union reps can carry out their role - with a view to seeing 'their contribution maximised'.

You can read the whole paper here.

The title of the strategy paper reminded me of my (short and very unsuccessful) tenure as a budding estate agent many years ago. Our manager at that time decided to do a little staff development, which involved 5 of us huddling round a flip-chart in an upstairs office in Chester. I knew the session was doomed when he opened up with the immortal words

'Who here thinks I am a success? Come on, who thinks I am a success?' - glances round room and checks who has been embarrassed into raising their hand, 'Well, today I'm going to show you how you can be as successful as me'...

This was a good 10 years before 'The Office', but the 'Brent-meister' would have been very, very proud!

Any similar examples of excrutiating work-place behaviour from a 'high-flying' boss?

2006-03-28T18:03:00.000Z

Quiet day today...

Nothing much happened today...oh except 1 million plus local governmemt workers took strike action to defend their pensions.

And just to show that anything we can do they can do tres-bon the French had a general strike.

You can read more about the joint union action today here.

2006-03-27T20:38:00.000Z

Reasons to be slightly worried about the state of the planet, the future of humanity and all that...(no 1 in an occasional series)

Pilot: 'Sorry for the slight delay ladies and gentleman - just waiting for our load data to come through. Because of the increased load we are carrying tonight we'll either have to wait for a space on the other [longer] runway. Alternatively we'll have to wait another 10 minutes or so while we burn off some fuel...'

10 minutes later - 'Quick update ladies and gentlemen. Over the last 5-10 minutes we've managed to burn off some 1000-2000 litres of fuel so we are able to take off in the next few moments...'

Energy crisis? What energy crisis?

Take one of the Earth's most precious (and unrenewable) natural resources; expend a huge amount of financial resource getting it out of the ground (not to mention the environmental costs of extraction); ship it half-way round the world (more financial and environmental costs); refine it (few nasty chemicals I'm afraid); slap it in a road-tanker for a few hundred miles; pump it into the plane and then...ermm burn it off because you packed a few extra suitcases....it makes perfect sense doesn't it?

All of a sudden my little pile of newspapers and cans in the corner of the kitchen seem a bit pathetic!

Unions and the Internet at Harvard

2006-03-25T12:40:00.000Z

Unions and the Internet at Harvard
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

2006-03-24T21:27:00.000Z

The future of unions and the internet

Eric Lee from LabourStart kicked off today's first session - speaking about some of the successes (and potential pitfalls) of on-line campaigning.

LabourStart now has over 37,000 subscribers - supported by 400 volunteer correspondents, posting 250 labour stories a day in 21 languages. Most importantly it is actively supporting (and helping win!) a whole range of international labour campaigns - in a whole range of countries including New Zealand, Indonesia and the USA.

Other speakers today included Arthur B Shostak, John Hogan, Peter Nolan, Eszter Hargiattai and Richard B Freeman - so its be a long (but interesting) day.

I spoke briefly as well - which I reckon means I'm the first Urban Studies graduate from Liverpool Poly to ever speak at Harvard Law School!

2006-03-23T22:17:00.000Z

Using the web to build unions

In Boston for two days to participate in a seminar organised by the Harvard Labor and Worklife Program looking at how unions can best use the web and new technologyto organise and represent the next generation of union members.

Tomorrow I'll be talking about two TUC supported initiaitives to support the development of on-line communities - UnionReps and the Union Ideas Network.

Over the next 2 days I'll be posting links and reports from the seminar, so watch this space for more info.

2006-03-22T23:02:00.000Z

Why football doesn't work anymore

Great Martin Samuel article in the Times today about the G14 clubs in European football.

The G14 is made up of some 18 self-styled 'elite clubs', including such world beaters as Bayer Leverkeusen - who as Samuel points out are included in the G14 neither on grounds of support or past achievements but because they have won an incredible '...two trophies (the 1993 German Cup and the 1988 Uefa Cup) and were quite good five years ago' - and Paris St Germain (one French title in 20 years).

The G14 is not about improving the standard of European football, or delivering a better game for the paying punters, its about money - pure and simple. More than that, its about making sure the select few who pulled up the ladder being themselves, aren't inconvenienced by outsiders taking a slice of their TV revenues. As Samuel puts it,

'This racket is necessary to shield the inadequacies of the self-appointed elite. Without a freak set of circumstances, Everton would have taken Liverpool's Champions League place last year [I'll declare an interest here naturally!] and there is still time for Bolton to nip ahead of Arsenal over the next two months. This would be a financial disaster for any big club. So the G14 cartel is not truly about the desire to progress, but the need to thwart that progress in others. The well-run small club must be shut out: in the qualification process, at the draw, by rearranging the format to the benefit of the select few.'

The end result? Falling attendances across Europe as crowds get bored of watching the same old faces play the same old faces; and threats to the integrity of international football (one of the G14's aims is to get national FA's to pick up the wage costs of players on international duty).

Am I simply being old codgerous about this; am I the only one who feels football has lost its way? Let me know in the comments section.

2006-03-22T10:54:00.000Z

How much does your Company's top dog earn?

And more to the point how much faster has his (and he probably is a he) pay risen in comparison to yours over the last few years?

You can find the answers to these questions and many more using WorkSmart's new super-clever 'My Company' feature, which includes information about hundreds of thousands of UK companies.

Why not have a go - and let me know in the comments section if any interesting factoids pop up about your particular place of work.

2006-03-21T16:47:00.000Z

The end of history (again.....)

Part of the problem with the ever expanding Sunday newspapers is that I rarely get through them (if at all) until the middle of the week. The only exception to this rule is Michael Winner's restaurant reviews in the Sunday Times 'Review' (Winner's Dinners), which I read with the same feeling of self-loathing with which I watch 'The Apprentice'...

Anyway, ploughing through the Sunday Times this week I saw this interview with Neocon fellow traveller Frances Fukuyama. Fukuyama was the academic in the late 1980's/early 90's who claimed, to widespread acclaim, that humanity had reached the end point of history with liberal democracy as "final form of human government". Of course such claims had been made regularly before - "Yes sire, feudalism is the absolute apogee of human government. The peasants with the torches and pitchforks? Oh I wouldn't worry about them..." - but that didn't stop his "The End of History" selling by the proverbial bucket-load.

Anyway, thought this interview - one of a number to coincide with the launch of his new book "After the Neocons" - was interesting for a number of reasons including:

Fukuyama is no longer a supporter of the war in Iraq - "wrong in theory and in practice" - which is a bit of a volte face for a man who wrote to Clinton in 1998 urging Saddam Hussein's overthrow, and who in 2001 "wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal noting that the fall of Saddam was 'justly celebrated' ".

He is terribly disappointed by Bush's record on foreign policy, which too be fair is a bit like being terribly disappointed that you really haven't won £50,000 in a Readers Digest prize-draw which you never actually entered - if your hopes were really that high you probably weren't starting with a full shovel.

He's actually a Marxist, "in the sense that I believe in a general process of economic and social modernisation", which from a lay-man's perspective seems a bit like saying "in the sense that I'm actually not really"

Also some pretty fascinating stuff in there about the rise of the Neocons and their roots in the US Trotskyist movement - and about the some of the raging debates in fashionable US academic circles. which gave me , and I am sure anyone who has any experience of left politics, a certain sense of deja vu ("You're a Leninist", "No, you're a Leninist", "No you are" ad infinitum, etc etc ).

Anyway if anyone does bother to read the book (and I know I will at some stage when I'm stuck in the WH Smiths at Newcastle station and its a choice between that and '15 steps to managing in a highly effective and not at all patronising manner" or the latest Andy McNabb). then please feel free to post a review in the comments section. Go on Steve you know you want to!

Back home

2006-03-17T18:20:00.000Z

On my way back to Liverpool after a couple of days in London for the final module of this year's 'Leading Change' programme.

Had a great couple of days - looking at issues around union resources, mergers, and how unions influence the political process (was more interesting than it sounds, promise!!).

2006-03-14T14:33:00.000Z

Why union membership is worth £72 a week

You can read the TUC's take on the 'Trade Union Membership 2005' figures published today by the DTI here.

The figures are a bit of a mixed bag - but on the positive side, they show an increase in union density for only the second time since 1989. They also show that union members earn 18% more an hour than non-union workers, which is worth some £72 over a 40 hour week (roughly 30 pints of Warsteiner on the 'RCI', or Rose and Crown Index to give it it's full technical title) ...

2006-03-10T13:39:00.000Z

City short-sightedness leaves us all short-changed

Here's Guardian article based on the TUC's 'Investment Chains' report which shows that city 'short-termism' is having detrimental effect on both businesses and employees.

Chasing a quick buck often means UK companies don't invest in research and development, and make the wrong long-term investment decisions - with potential negative impacts on employment, and the sort of investor behaviour which saw the collapse of the new technology bubble in the late 90's.

You can read a TUC statement on the report here.

2006-03-08T22:10:00.000Z

Back to the Blog

Pressures of work, home and everything else mean I've been neglecting this blog over the last couple of months. As I'm now reading the diaries of Samuel Pepys, I'm resolved to get back into the groove for posterity's sake- though I'm not sure that they'll still be selling copies of these posts in 400 years time, but worth a try! (If you haven't read Pepys by the way you should. Shows you how much, and how little, things have changed in 400 years - this is a man who went to Church for the express purpose of checking out the women in the congregation, and who constantly complains about his inability to fart...). Those of you who still read this blog can be assured that I'm not intending to keep you up to date on the state of my bowels.

While I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front there's been lots of interesting stuff on the unions front - including this article (and ripostes by Tony Woodley and Peter Kenyon) in the FT. One of the immediate points that jumped out of me when I read the original article was the claim that '[union]membership halved in the last 25 years'. While this is factually true, the reality is that membership nearly halved between '79 and the mid-90's, and has in fact since then been fairly static. This may seem a small point but its a significant one, because its simply not true to try and characterize trade union membership in such negative terms. The LFS survey figures out next week are again likely to show that union density is at last beginning to stabilise - an achievement in itself after year on year decline. Of course this doesn't mean that unions can relax or have any room for complacency - but I think its does mean we can have a bit more grounds for optimism than the Coats and Milburn article suggests. (I'm also not sure you can connect membership revival with breaking the union/Labour link - but maybe that's one for another day.)

All this matters because I think that just as its important for trade unionists not to walk round in rose tinted specs, its equally important that we don't talk ourselves into a sense of despair. Yesterday I was in Taunton for the latest B2O briefing with a group of 3o or so union officers, organisers, reps and stewards from across a range of TUC affiliated unions - all working day in day out, doing what they can to make things better for their colleagues and work-mates. While everyone at the briefing was well aware that unions face challenges (not least about how we reach out to younger workers and into the private sector) I didn't pick up any sense of 'doom or gloom' or that unions are somehow fated to decline.

6.5m people still think we have a job to do - and I agree with them.

2006-03-03T09:58:00.000Z

Joanne Delaney - back to work

A few weeks back I blogged about Joanne Delaney, the MANDATE shop steward sacked by Dunnes Stores for the heinous crime of wearing a union badge to work.

Now thanks to the efforts of MANDATE, and an international campaign built with the support of LabourStart, Joanne has been offered her job back. Proof positive that there still is 'power in the union'!

You can read about Joanne's reinstatement here.

2006-03-02T08:20:00.000Z

Did you know there are 6 million cat owners in the UK?

If you didn't you obviously didn't watch the television car-crash that is 'The Apprentice' last night.

Last night pharmacist Nargis was 'fired' after her team failed to sell as many charity calendars as their male rivals 'Invicta' (think of the worst golf-club bar you can think of, and then multiply this by a factor of 10 and you will have some idea of the sheer awfulness of the Invicta 'guys').

It perhaps wasn't surprising that Nargis and her team lost this particular challenge - asked to design a calendar for world famous childrens' hospital Great Ormond Street, they decided to give their calendar a 'cute kitten' theme...errm, yes the connection obvious isn't it? Childrens hospital, kittens, geddit?! No,. neither could anyone else either, but Nargis's team ploughed ahead no doubt mindful of the old team-working adage that 'None of us is as dumb as all of us'.

Of course, 'The Apprentice' is pretty monstrous TV, with absolutely no redeeming features or greater worth - I shall therefore be watching avidly for the next couple of months!

2006-02-28T08:59:00.000Z

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!

2006-02-24T19:01:00.000Z

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

2006-02-21T08:27:00.000Z

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).

2006-02-20T10:04:00.000Z

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!

2006-02-16T20:19:00.000Z

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.

2006-02-15T11:11:00.000Z

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!

2006-02-11T20:33:00.000Z

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!

2006-02-10T16:49:00.000Z

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!)

2006-02-07T17:12:00.000Z

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.

2006-02-06T12:11:00.000Z

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!

2006-02-05T09:18:00.000Z

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

2006-02-03T08:24:00.000Z

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.

2006-02-01T18:55:00.000Z

Well that turned out alright then...

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

Hat-tip to Bloggers4Labour for this.

You are a
Social Liberal
(70% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(13% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

2006-02-01T17:48:00.000Z

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.

2006-02-01T09:58:00.000Z

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.

We pay more on our side of the tracks

2006-01-26T07:46:00.000Z

Daily Telegraph article below, which was flagged up to me by the RMT Bristol branch e-newsletter.

Apparently Britons pay more per mile for their rail journeys than anyone else in Europe. Whereas £10 will buy you just 38 miles on the train in the UK, it'll buy you 3 times that in France, 200 miles in Italy and 100 miles in Spain.

On my way to Glasgow at the moment on 'Branson Rail' so will be keeping an eye on the 'meter'!

2006-01-25T21:02:00.000Z

Fight (or you can just march if you want too) for your rights

Think its wrong that people at work in the UK enjoy fewer rights than most people in the rest of Europe? If so you can actually do something about it.

On May Day the TUC and the TUC and Britain's unions are marching for a Trade Union Freedom bill .

See you there!

2006-01-23T11:38:00.000Z

Thanks for helping us win the war....now go home

Fascinating Daily Post article about the 5,000 Chinese merchant seaman forcibly repatriated back to China from Liverpool at the end of the war.

Despite the fact that many of the men had settled in Liverpool - marrying and starting families - the Government rushed through a special directive which altered their 'landing rights' and, as a result, hundreds were 'rounded up' by Special Branch snatch squads and shipped back to China. The men left behind at least 450 children, many of whom grew up thinking their fathers were dead, or had abandoned them.

This story is of special interest to me as my grandad ('Jimmy' Tsang), who died some 2 1/2 years ago, was a Chinese merchant seaman who came to Liverpool during the war, and ended up marrying a Liverpool girl. He and my grandmother raised 11 children in a flat on Pitt Street, just off China Town in Liverpool. His brother, Man Suk, also settled in Liverpool (and still lives there today).

Looking at this article it looks like they were the lucky ones. The Government's stated aim was to reduce Liverpool's Chinese population from 2,000 or so to its pre-war level of around 300. The whole story has faint echoes of the dispute around the right of Ghurkas who have fought in the British army to claim British citizenship. It seems that as a country we are often quite happy for people to die on our behalf, but we don't necessarily want them to live alongside us.

Today a plaque remembering the contribution of Liverpool's Chinese sailors during the war, and the families that many were forced to leave behind is unveiled at the Pierhead in the city.

The plaque in English and Chinese and reads:

"To the Chinese merchant seamen who served this country well during both world wars. For those who gave their lives for this country. Thank you. To the many Chinese merchant seamen who after both world wars were required to leave. For their wives and partners who were left in ignorance of what had happened to their men. For the children who never knew their fathers. This is a small reminder of what took place. We hope nothing like it will ever happen again. For your memory."

2006-01-20T21:13:00.000Z

Confused Evertonian seeks advice...

Does this make sense to you?

1) In summer 2005 you refuse to give a long-standing defender a two year contract on the grounds that he's getting on a bit

2) Sign a young Danish international for £5m to take his place

3) Start the aforementioned Danish player once

4) Sell Danish player for £2m less than you bought him for six months ago (are you keeping up here?)

5) Replace him with 34 year old player you let go a few months previously

Only at Everton...worth £2m less than he was 6 months ago.

2006-01-19T14:31:00.000Z

Off-shoring is becoming passé

That's according to this Business Week article flagged up to me by Dave Whalin who is based in the US.

The article looks at the rise of so called 'Home-shoring'; people (mainly women) working from home covering call-centre style functions.

Of course homeworking is nothing new in the UK. According to the National Group on Homeworking (NGH) there are over 1m industrial homeworkers in the UK already, and their isolation, uncertain employment status and reliance on 'middle-men' mean they are often vulnerable to exploitation and abuse from employers.

As a trade unionist my first reaction is to cry foul and bemoan the rise of home-working and home-shoring; but my experience of working with the NGH a couple of years ago made me realise that as uncomfortable a truth as it may be, some women -particularly those with caring responsibilities - see this sort of pattern of working as a godsend. The problem isn't homeworking itself, the problem is that employment and health and safety legislation (in both the US and UK) just isn't robust enough to protect these workers.

Unions too have struggled (for good reason - its not an easy or straightforward task) to organise these workers, or more to the point, to help these workers organise themselves. However according to the NGH four out of ten 10 homeworkers would actively welcome some sort of trade union involvement, with only 5% of those surveyed feeling that unions have nothing to offer them. Indeed, there is some international experience, most notably that of TCFUA in Australia, which shows that unions can effectively organise and represent this group of workers.

These sort of trends pose a lot of hard questions for unions. Can we stand Canute-like and try to reverse these sorts of trends in employment, or do we instead try and develop flexible models of trade unionism which ensure that workers, wherever or however they are employed get respect at work. On the other hand is this sort of approach the thin end of dangerous wedge?

Any thoughts or opinions on this?

2006-01-19T09:56:00.000Z

There are some good employers...

And then there are employers like Irish retailers Dunnes.

In November of last year Dunnes sacked a young woman (and union steward) with 4 years service. The reason? Wearing a union badge on the job! This sort of crude union bashing is probably what Irish union organisers have in mind when they refer to Dunnes as the 'Wal-Mart of Ireland'...

You can show your support for Joanne Delaney, and her union Mandate, by taking part in LabourStart's on-line campaign to secure her reinstatement.

Food for thought....(any bids for a lamer pun?)

2006-01-18T13:30:00.000Z

Leading Change - Jan 2006
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

Over the last couple of days I've been helping facilitate the TUC's Leading Change programme.

Will Hutton joined the group for dinner last night, and we had quite an involved and interesting discussion on a whole range of issues from the emergence of China, the future of public service reform and crucially, what more unions can do to organise the 19m or so people at work who aren't members of a union.

You can tell we were working as they is definitely more water on the table than wine in this photo.

2006-01-17T18:08:00.000Z

Is anyone still out there?

Things have been a bit quiet on the blogging front for me over the last week or so.

Partly this is because I've been really busy (Liverpool, London, Newcastle & Birmingham last week alone - oh the sheer glamour of it), and partly its because in the 'post-Galloway pretending to be cat world' (purr, purr), I've decided that sometimes the real world defies description by mere blogging mortals such as myself.

Anyway - hope to get the blog back on track over the next few days, so please stick with me.

PS - One thing I meant to blog about during the last week was this BBC report on growing calls for soldiers to be allowed to set up a 'trade union like' organisation. One of the paradoxes about the current situation unions find themselves in, is that while our traditional membership base declines more and more 'unusual' groups of workers are seeking a union voice - from squaddies to football managers in the health service, bouncers to vicars.

2006-01-06T10:28:00.000Z

Galloway loses Respect?

Do I really have to say anything more about this other than 'Oh dear'.....?

2006-01-05T14:12:00.000Z

Murder Incorporated

Thanks to the marvels of Freeview I got to watch The Corporation the other night.

Pretty long and at times over-worthy, but still quite a powerful film; and a good reminder of the impact that global capitalism has on some of the world's poorest people. The film featured interviews with, among others, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Elaine Bernard, (all of whom lectured at the HTUP which I attended this time last year), as well as some real beauts (step forward Milton Friedman et al), who would have made excellent pantomime villains apart from the fact that they play that role in the real world with such consummate ease.

Thought one of the film's strongest points was the section showing how companies 'externalise costs'; or to put it another way, leave it to you, me and anyone other than themselves to pick up the tab for pollution/poverty pay/unsafe working etc etc.

Why pay a decent living wage when the state will subsidise low pay through the benefits system; why make products safely when its cheaper to pollute and let the tax-payer pay for cleaning up afterwards? Why put the interests of the wider community first when your over-riding legal responsibility is to maximize profit for your shareholders?

This article in yesterday's FT reinforces these points - companies are happy to pay out paltry fines to retain their 'right' to pollute or work unsafely, simply because it makes economic sense for them to do so. According to the article, "The average fine for breaking health and safety laws is less than £10,000" - and when you factor out the small number of larger fines, it actually breaks out nearer to £6000. Not the sort of figures which cause CEO's of multi-national companies to lose much sleep at night.

And they say crime doesn't pay!

2006-01-04T12:40:00.000Z

How much do you owe after this Christmas?

Good feature in yesterday's Independent looking at the scale of personal debt in the UK.

Apparently 2/3rd of the EU's credit card debt is British, and collectively we owe a staggering £1.13 trillion - 1/5th of which is unsecured.

This debt mountain has helped keep the UK economy relatively buoyant, supporting increased consumer spending, but you don't have to be a Nobel prize winning economist to be a little bit worried about how sustainable all this is.

On an individual level the The Independent points out that, "In 2005, an estimated 110,000 people reached the haven of bankruptcy, sequestration, a CCCS debt management plan or insolvency. That compares with 71,000 in 2004 and 54,000 in 2003 - a doubling in three years." Any significant increases in interest rates would presumably see this figure increase further.

Of course one reason why we are so addicted to cheap credit in the UK is the fact that property prices are so out of kilter with the rest of the economy that many people have seen the 'value' of their chief asset soar. Of course, the reality is that spiraling property prices create not a jot of additional 'wealth' - but they do allow us to borrow increasing amounts of cheap credit. Presumably any significant fall in the housing market would leave lots of people exposed to negative equity (again). Mortgage repossessions are already up "by 66% in the 3rd quarter of last year".

All this doom and gloom and the Christmas credit card bills haven't even arrived yet...Warned you I was going to get back to the boring/worthy stuff after the Christmas break!

2006-01-02T22:09:00.000Z

Back to reality....

Back to work tomorrow, and back to some proper blogging as well. Hasn't been much in the way of 'Unions and Politics' on this blog over the last couple of weeks - they've taken a bit of a festive back seat to the 'and more' stuff instead, but back to business as usual this week.

But before that I thought I'd give you a bit of a taste of our festive highs and lows...

The highs

The kids' faces on Christmas morning
The fact they still believe in Father Christmas
Vicky doing her James Herriot bit with the remaining goldfish
Taking Joe to watch Everton and they actually win (3-1 today against Charlton - 3 goals count 'em, 3!)
Christmas Day - our house in the morning, Vicky's mums in the afternoon, my mum and dad's in the evening and completely and surprisingly stress free
New Years Eve - quiet but great
Blackberry breaking down (for Vicky)

The Lows

Goldfish fatalities
Everton vs Liverpool on the 28th (have blocked it out already)
Our local swimming pool being shut on the 29th of December - Welcome to the brave new world of public services....you can shop till you drop from Boxing Day onwards but don't expect your local sports centre to be open during the School Holidays, after all surely no one actually wants to take their kids swimming then, they want to go 9-5 during the school term times don't they?
Crawling down the M6 in the middle of a snow storm
Blackberry breaking down (for me)

Hope you all had a great Xmas and New Year - please keep reading in 2006!

2005-12-31T22:09:00.000Z

Another Place

In Crosby yesterday to meet up with Vicky's family for a few drinks and a chance for the kids to play.

On the way we stopped off at the beach to see Anthony Gormley's 'Another Place'.

Another Place is made up of 100 cast iron figures arranged on the beach looking out to sea. The overall effect is really dramatic and it was a shame we couldn't stay longer, as I can imagine it'd be great to see the tide slowly encroach over the figures.

Anyway, it also brought a big smile to the face of our eldest, Joe, who was pretty amused by the anatomical accuracy of the figures!

2005-12-24T20:36:00.000Z

Presents wrapped

Kids in bed (not quite asleep), food bought, fish fed (long story...), only a few hours to go.

Merry Christmas everyone!

2005-12-20T12:09:00.000Z

Never a Yes Man

Just re-reading Eric Heffer's great autobiography 'Never a Yes Man'.

He wasn't perfect - who is - but Heffer was a proper 'great' of the labour movement; controversial (he is probably best remembered for walking off the platform at 1985 Labour Party conference when Neil Kinnock attacked the militant-led Liverpool City Council); robust; not an intellectual, but a real thinker nonetheless; principled; and, unusually in the Labour movement, capable of changing his mind and opinion in the face of events (Like many of his generation, for example, he was once a member of the CP and uncritical supporter of Stalin).

An adopted son of Liverpool he was also an Evertonian - so he was a sound bloke on that front as well!

2005-12-19T12:29:00.000Z

Two in five check work emails at Christmas break

Are you that sad? I am.

I will no doubt justify my sloping off every couple of hours or so to check my Blackberry on the grounds that 'it could be really important/better to keep them under-control rather than go back to thousands of unread messages/I could be missing out on a unique financial opportunity linked to an arrested Nigerian minister', but really its just because checking my e-mail has become such an ingrained habit, that every time the little machine bleeps I have some sort of Pavlovian reaction, which means I MUST open the message even if deep down I know that it'll only be an e-mail alert from the New York Times (or more likely and less pretentiously and cerebrally www.evertonfc.com) .

Next week in Nowak's Neuroses: Why the milk HAS to go into the mug before the boiling water....

2005-12-14T13:08:00.000Z

Irish Ferries - positive end in sight

RTE story covering the likely end of the dispute between SIPTU and Irish Ferries.

Blogged about this a week or two back, and it looks like the union have secured a deal in this landmark dispute which means that although Irish Ferries will flag its ships in Cyprus, pay and conditions will be underpinned by a binding legal agreement under Irish law. This will mean a massive wage-hike for the migrant workers that the company has hired to crew its services.

Existing Irish Ferries staff will see their pay and conditions maintained, and crew ratios will be set higher than those originally put forward by Irish Ferries.

You can read SIPTU's statement on the agreement here, and a comment from TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber here.

As Brendan Barber points out this dispute was 'more than a local difficulty' - a fact borne out by the support that SIPTU and the Irish Congress have received from around the world, including the UK, and that up to 100,000 people took to the streets of Dublin (as well as up to 75,000 in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Athlone, Sligo and Rosslare Harbour), to show their distaste at a major Irish company trying to get a head start in the 'race to the bottom'.

A happy (and early) Christmas and New Year!

2005-12-11T22:06:00.000Z

TUC Organising team Christmas card
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

If you missed the TUC's web animations first time round, you can find them here:

http://www.worksmart.org.uk/downloads/pupwherewebelong.php

http://www.worksmart.org.uk/downloads/comfortbreakdown.php

http://www.community-tu.org/Templates/internal.asp?nodeid=90010

2005-12-11T21:09:00.000Z

Big Suze is Big Suze!

Spent the afternoon with the 4 kids (Joe, Johnny, Frances and my dad) watching 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' , which well and truly lived up to the hype; brilliant kids film, which is definitely worth catching at the pictures (or movies, flicks or cinema depending on how posh you are and/or where you live).

Weirdest bit of the film was spotting 'Big Suze' from Channel 4's 'Peep Show' pop up in the last few frames as...well, 'Big Suze' ('Queen' Susan Pevensie).

For those who don't watch Peepshow (and you should), Big Suze is the object of love/lust for both Mark & Jeremy, but until now I didn't know why she was called Big Suze, but its obviously a reference to her fleeting appearance in the film.

Another day, another conundrum solved...

2005-12-08T12:40:00.000Z

Working class hero

25 years ago today John Lennon was shot dead in New York.

I was eight years old at the time, and I think it was the first time that the death of someone really registered with me.

Even at that age I thought 'Imagine' was pretty special - but I suppose that's because it has an almost childlike simplicity and naivete; commodities which are sadly in short supply in today's ever more cynical and complex world.

Like virtually every kid who joined a band in their teens (especially those brought up within spitting distance of Liverpool), I loved the Beatles - and especially Lennon.

There are lots of things about Liverpool that make me cringe - Jimmy Tarbuck, 'scouse humour', the irrational fear and loathing of all things Mancunian (hold my hand up to that one), the oversentimentality, Cilla Black, 'You'll never walk alone', people going the shops in their pajamas during the day (really), 'Scouseology' and 'Merseypride' to name just a few. But John Lennon makes all that 'scouse-mouse' crapola irrelevant. Naming the airport after him was the very least we could do!

While McCartney will forever be 'The Frog Chorus', 'Mull of Kintyre' and quorn burgers - Lennon was cool, anti-war, eccentric and just a little bit mad. For a teenager wanting to change the world (through the power of music in my front bedroom no less), Lennon was pretty much the complete package.

The Beatles split up before I was born, but one of the first records I ever bought was a 'dodgy' Beatles compilation, swiftly followed by 'Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band'; and I'm sure that virtually everyone has at least one Beatle's record in their all-time top 10.

For me Lennon's best songs are those linked to his relationship with Yoko Ono - Woman, Jealous Guy, Starting Over, Beautiful Boy - are all songs which make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck every time I hear them, and which pretty much lay-bare the roller-coaster of his emotions at the time (sorry if this is sounding more and more like a dreadful collection of the worst music cliches ever written - I don't do 'feelings stuff' all that well!).

Working class hero? To me he was. Sure he was flawed but then all the true greats are.

'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans' - that line alone does it for me.

Any Lennon thoughts? Other favourite lines?

2005-12-07T18:33:00.000Z

Winning friends and influencing people

In London today for, among other things, the launch of David Coat's Fabian Society Pamphlet, 'Raising Lazarus: The future of organised labour'.

David used to head up the TUC's economics department and is now working at the Work Foundation. His pamphlet contains a pretty good analysis of the membership challenge facing unions (as well as some of the tensions in the Labour-union link), and I agree with one of its basic propositions, namely that 'Membership decline is not inevitable, and unions remain the masters of their fate'.

On the negative-side, I thought it was bit light on practical solutions - what unions can actually do in the real world to turn round membership decline. It also contained a few unnecessary personal digs at some key union figures, such as Derek Simpson and Mark Serwotka, which frankly will only serve to alienate some of the pamphlet's potential audience - which would be a shame as its a good controbution to a vital debate.

My potted review? 'Nice analysis; shame about the point-scoring'.

If you've managed to get hold of a pamphlet feel free to post your thoughts on it in the comments section.

2005-12-06T15:39:00.000Z

Its a small world (if you're an Old Etonian...)

One's Grandson went to Eton as well you know....we must be related.

2005-12-06T13:24:00.000Z

Are you a union rep? You are? Then read on...

If you are a union rep or steward you should be signed up to Unionreps - the TUC's online resource for reps (Sound just like one of those ads don't I? Unionreps: removes all those troublesome stains or your money back!).

Eric Lee, founder of LabourStart and union tech guru explains why you should sign up here.

2005-12-05T19:22:00.000Z

TUC assessment of the PBR...

Can be found here.

In a nutshell - good overall, but concerns about public sector pay-rises being subject to a different (and lower) measure of inflation than the private sector, the need for sustainable financing of local government, and for employers to take more responsibilty for staff training.

2005-12-04T20:24:00.000Z

George Bush on global warming...

As demonstrators in 30 countries call for international action on climate change, the President responds - as seen on Bore-me.

West Wing fans may think Martin Sheen would make a better US president than George Jr, but surely the world would be a better place if Will Ferrell stepped up to the plate?

2005-12-04T11:43:00.000Z

Leeds - Blackburn - Everton

In Leeds yesterday to speak at a Critical Labour Studies workshop - interesting afternoon, especially the final session on the future of the union-Labour Link which featured a contribution from Steve Davison who chairs the Amicus NEC.

I was asked to speak about the Union Ideas Network which is due to be launched in Jan 2006. The UIN, which is supported by the TUC, will be hosted by Keele University and the Work & Employment Research Centre at the University of Northumbria, and is essentially aimed at helping unions, academics and policy-makers work much more closely. Doesn't sound mega-interesting I know, but I think its going to be quite an exciting initiative (well more exciting than I've made it sound anyway!). I'll post more info as the UIN develops.

Just got back on the road to get the tail-end of the footie results; Everton won 2-0 at Blackburn (the first time this season we've scored more than 1 goal!), meaning the Blues have won 4 out of the last 5 and relegation is looking less and less likely...watch out for a late surge at a Champions League place...well maybe not this year!

I've already pretty much decided that this year will be last (for a while anyway) as a season ticket holder at Goodison Park, so I'm hoping the Blues will make my last season a good one. I've had a season ticket with my dad and brother since 1995 so it'll be weird not going along every other week, but other commitments (three kids, work) have to come first.

If I'm honest, I think that football has lost a little of its appeal over the last few seasons. I know its fashionable to knock Premiership footie at the moment but 3 things have been gnawing away at me for a while now: kick-off times which seem to be at any day and time of the week except 3pm on Saturday; Everton's 'board' (Bill Kenwright) and administration who manage to combine cackhandedness, cynicism and downright manipulation of the truth to devastating effect (Fortress Sports Fund anyone?); and the overall cynicism which seems to be permeating the game from the top-down (wander along to any junior match on your local park on a Sunday and marvel at the kids - and their dads - who seem to think bawling out of the referee are part and parcel of the game).

Maybe I'm just getting old?

No doubt I'll be back, but think this year is going to be the last for a few more to come that Everton extracts the best part of a £1,000 from my wallet (combined total for season ticket, cup-games, kits for kids, merchandise, beer and pies). Oh, actually totting up the beers and pies thats probably more like £1500!

Any thoughts on all of the above?

(Pic - Everton main sponsors Chang Beer. £1,500 a years worth?)

2005-12-02T20:56:00.000Z

Do widzenia Tomasz!

In Liverpool yesterday for a reps workshop with Community Involvement, and then a farewell dinner with Tomasz Laskowski and a couple of colleagues from the TUC.

Tomasz, who's an organiser with Polish union federation Solidarnosc, has been working with the North West TUC to help organise and represent newly arrived Polish workers in the UK. He's done a great job - and he'll be sorely missed - but we're hoping that his work over the last 3 months will help us build some closer links with Solidarnosc and underpin more work to provide support to a really vulnerable group of workers.

After 3 months of solid work I'm sure he'll be gald to get back to his family, so thanks Tomasz, and safe journey home!

Over 170,000 Polish workers have applied to work in the UK since Poland became part of the EU - and last week TGWU general secretary Tony Woodley wrote to the Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz to ask him to support union efforts to stop unscrupulous employers exploiting Polish workers in the UK.

One of the things that the TUC and unions are keen to stress is that this is not a 'Little Englander' effort to stop Polish and other central and eastern European workers coming to the UK. Instead its an effort to stop employer's exploiting these workers and using them to undermine the pay, terms and conditions of UK workers.

A graphic illustration of this sort of abuse by employers and the agencies they use is the ongoing dispute at Irish Ferries - where the company effectively attempted to hijack their own ships in an attempt to replace UK crews with workers from Latvia (who were to be paid less than the Irish minimum wage), and to register its ships under the Cyprus flag.

You can follow this ongoing dispute at LabourStart, and read details of the Irish Congress's day of action in solidarity with the workers at Irish Ferries here.

2005-11-30T12:29:00.000Z

Is this really me?

Thanks to Bloggers4Labour who pointed me in the direction of, 'What kind of Humanist are you?' (snappy title huh?)

Never really saw myself as a 'hair-shirt' - enjoy too many of the good things in life for that really - but some of it does ring true (I'll leave you to guess which bits!)

Let me know what results you get in the comments section.

Hairshirt

Excuse us, could you just put down that hammer for a minute and listen. You’re so busy getting things done you rarely take any time out just to relax. In fact, you’ve probably forgotten how to relax. That’s because you’re so anxious to prove that it’s possible to lead a good and moral life without religion that you have built a strict and forbidding creed all of your own.

You keep a compost heap, cycle to the bottle bank, invest in ethical schemes only and the list of countries you won’t buy from is longer than the washing line for your baby’s towelling nappies. You admire uncompromising self–sacrificers like Aung San Suu Kyi and Che Guevara, and would have liked the chance to be incarcerated for your principles like Diderot or Nelson Mandela.

You would never cheat on your partner, drink and drive, accept bribes or touch drugs. You never waste money though you give lots to charity. Living a good life? You’re a model to us all. But it wouldn’t hurt you to try a little happiness once in a while. Loosen up.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

2005-11-29T19:09:00.000Z

Merseytrams de-railed

You can read local reaction to the Government's decision not to fund Merseytram here.

Lots of different views about who's to blame, but I have to say I was never convinced this scheme was that well thought through anyway. While Liverpool (John Lennon) Airport clearly needs better transport links to the city centre, one of the planned routes - to Kirkby - is already served by Mersey Rail and a decent local bus service.

However, whatever its rights or wrongs, its no doubt that the failure of the project will hit the city hard.

Perhaps the biggest scandal in all this is that some £30m has already been spent on the project - public money which has disappeared into the financial black-hole which is Liverpool's growing 'consultancy' industry.

2005-11-25T18:42:00.000Z

Dusting down the denim jacket...

Off to see The Proclaimers this weekend - can't wait. Last time I saw them they were brilliant; great night, marred only slightly by one embarrassing incident I won't mention here (came after a few too many San Miguels...).

I'm sure they'll be an improvement on the band I went to see on Monday.

Clapyourhandssayyeah have been all over Radio 6, The Guardian etc for the last few weeks, but after suffering through their gig in Liverpool I have to say they were complete pants! Think David Byrne and Talking Heads without the tunes (not too mention charisma or even a hint of personality).

They are also the only band I've ever seen who have provoked a giggling fit (well in our group anyway) as soon as the singer opened his mouth. Cats wailing would have come as a blessed relief - I thought the bloke had trapped a nerve or something at first before I realised I was in for an hour of his shrieking.

The Nowak verdict? A clear case of Clapyourhandssaysucks (see what I did there, clever eh?).

Anyway - don't take my word for it. I'd be the first to admit that a man whose CD collection (slowly transferring to I-tunes) contains the BeeGees, Bruce Springsteen and Bjork (and that's just the B's) is hardly at the cutting edge of so-called 'popular music', but as the saying goes, 'I know what I like' and Clapyourhandssayeah, are not it!

2005-11-25T10:28:00.000Z

Pensions crisis, what pensions crisis?

In the week that Westminster is buzzing with rumours that the Government is allegedly preparing to dismiss much of Turner's report into the future of pensions - which is published on November 30 - the TUC reveals that not all Britain's 'workers' (sic) are facing a pensions crisis.

2005-11-23T21:10:00.000Z

Watch out for gold in the food

I know its lazy blogging Guardian comment pieces but was really struck by this piece by Jonathan Freedland today.

As he points out talking about the gap between the rich and poor is terribly passé these days but I couldn't help agreeing with his assessment that,

'If one man can spend £15,000 plying his pals with a syrupy cocktail, while another lays out blankets for his child to sleep in the kitchen then we know the system is broken. This is not some narrow criticism of the Labour government, but rather a challenge to our assumption that we are a civilised society at all.'

This isn't the 'politics of envy' - it's just an articulate expression of something most of us already know - that the widening gap between those who have and those who have-not; between the Global North and the Global South; between those who tell hard-working people they need to work longer and harder to get a decent pension while ensuring their own pensions are secure; and between those who tell workers to tighten their belts and prepare for the worst while feathering their own nests is barely tenable.

His description of corporate excesses reminded me of a comment made by Andrew Gordon - one of the guest lecturers at the HTUP which I attended earlier this year. He said he knew the Japanese economic bubble was about to well and truly burst in the early 90's when he saw that several top-end Japanese restaurants were serving food garnished with precious metals - their customers were so keen to conspicuously consume that they were literally eating gold.

Smoked egg and bacon ice-cream may not be quite as decadent as eating gold but at least you can wash it down with a decent Château Cheval Blanc at £1500 a bottle (yours for a mere eight weeks work on the minimum wage).

Watch out for those gold-shavings...

Denosa

2005-11-23T15:54:00.000Z

Denosa
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

On Monday I met up with Tebeho Machiche and Itumeleng Mloatlhegi from Denosa (http://www.denosa.org.za/) in South Africa.

They organise and represent nurses and as we were chatting they said their biggest problem was retaining members because of increased private sector involvement in the delivery of public services. Sound familiar?

(Also in the photo is Peter Hulme from UNISON)

2005-11-20T12:09:00.000Z

'Will' he or won't he?

Forget union Barons, Amicus may be about to get its own union 'Prince'.

According to the Daily Mirror, Amicus are sending new HSBC employee, Prince William, a membership form.

Not holding out much hope that he'll actually sign up - that £9.40 a month may make too much of a dent in his modest income - but you never know. What next? Edward for Equity? Andrew for the FDA (all that jetting round the world visiting golf courses, erm I mean, on behalf of the DTI)?

Of course union membership is a tradition in the Royal Family. Apparently the Queen Mum was an "Honorary Porter" of Smithfield Meat Market, and Princess Margaret of course was a lifelong member of the National Association of Licensed House Managers :-)....

Any other suggestions for appropriate unions for members of the Royal family?

2005-11-18T16:50:00.000Z

Be Pensions Minister for a day!

Unashamed plug for a smart interactive tool from the TUC which allows you to be John Hutton for the day.

Here's what the computer thought of my performance as Minister....

"That's a very brave set of policies minister. They will certainly go a long way to solving the pensions crisis, but you will make some powerful enemies while you do it. Britain's employers will certainly try to derail you, but most of your choices will go down well with voters."

Luckily I also scored 100% in-line with the TUC's position (didn't cheat either...honest) - but I fared less well with the employers lobby (must have been doing something right then!).

2005-11-17T17:04:00.000Z

Organising Unions, Organising Communities

The conference in full flow

TUC General Secretary, Brendan Barber

Conference speakers Gloria Mills, TUC President, and Ken Zinn, Head of Strategic Campaigns, AFL-CIO

Photo's courtesy of 'Roper's Ropy Photos'

2005-11-16T20:47:00.000Z

Is this the way to Aberystwyth?

In Aberystwyth today for a meeting with the Wales TUC, where I gave a presentation, alongside Ed Heery and David Nash from Cardiff Business School, looking at some of the organising challenges facing unions in Wales.

Although union density is higher in Wales than virtually any other part of the UK, its declining at a faster rate than elsewhere as well.

One of the things to come out of the meeting, which was held in the National Library of Wales, is that the Wales TUC will be setting up a dedicated forum to bring together organisers from across the country, to help unions share ideas and experience, which can only be a good thing.

Long - but nice - drive...

Not going to moan how long it took me to get there - oh hell I am, it was 3 1/2 hours each way near enough - but the consolation was that I got to drive through some beautiful bits of mid and North Wales just as the full moon was rising, and as it was so close to the horizon it looked huge (it wasn't though as Wikipedia will explain - science is the mortal enemy of whimsy!).

Anyway, to continue the lunar link, when I got home Joe (7) read his school-book to me before bed, which was all about the planets and the solar system. Being able to pass on your knowledge, insight and 'Uranus' jokes to your kids is what parenthood is all about!

2005-11-13T18:06:00.000Z

Blog Birthday!

Today is my Blog's first Birthday - my first post being launched on an unsuspecting and indifferent world on November 13 2004 following the TUC's 'Unions and the Internet' conference.

A year on and my comments box may not be over-flowing, and my site traffic figures still so low that I haven't needed to upgrade my statcounter account, but a years a year, and that's got to be an achievement in itself hasn't it?

This means that my blog has lasted longer than several of my previous fads - Karate (yellow belt was as far as I got), salsa dancing (4 lessons) and Christianity (I flirted with the church in my early teens, but only because this was linked to a lot of other flirting in the Church youth club...both endeavours were unsuccessful)

Anyway, thanks to those of you who check in from time to time, and even bigger thanks to those (mainly Mrs K!) who leave comments.

Any suggestions as to how I can improve or change this site (short of simply giving up, or anything which involves content likely to cause offense to those of a moral disposition) , would be gratefully received.

2005-11-13T11:50:00.000Z

Arnie terminated!

Bit late with this - but at a time of turmoil in the US labour movement it was good to see a whole range of unions - both AFL-CIO & CTW - pulling together to kick the 'Governator' into touch last week.

They were so successful in beating back proposals (which included attempts to restrict public sector unions funding political activity and cutting state spending) that CNN hailed their campaign as the Political Play of the Week.

You can read more about Arnie's defeat here and here - and the AFL-CIO's take on what was a good set of election results for US workers and their families right across the country last week, here.

2005-11-09T21:42:00.000Z

The next few days

Expect a bit of blog silence over the next few days, as I'll be out of the office and away from home until Saturday night.

Tomorrow I'm training in Warrington with a group of senior USDAW divisional officers - before going to see 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists' at my local (mini) Theatre in the evening.

Then on Friday I'm on the 0545 train down to London to speak at a European organising event which is being hosted by the TUC.

On Saturday I'll be helping to run the TUC's 'Organising Unions, Organising Communities' conference in London, before heading home later that night.

Normal blog service will be resumed once I've recovered and spent enough time with my family to ensure they still remember my name!

Mastermind?

2005-11-09T21:38:00.000Z

jack
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

AAAARRRRRRRSE!

2005-11-09T21:11:00.000Z

Mastermind devalued!

Don't get me wrong I like 'Father Ted'.

Correction - I love 'Father Ted', but I still can't see how the hell you can be crowned 'Mastermind' with 'Father Ted' as your specialist subject!

There were 3 series of 'Father Ted' - a total of 24 episodes, and yet last night the BBC let Patrick Gibson, a software developer from Wigan, choose this as his specialist subject. With his fellow contestants choosing subjects including 'Icelandic Family Sagas' and the 'Life and work of Vermeer' is perhaps not surprising that Mr Gibson romped home with a total of 31 points.

The other contestants (all men naturally, the majority of whom were bearded and obviously lacked certain key social skills) couldn't do much more than sit there smiling through gritted teeth, no doubt mentally beating themselves up that they'd chosen 'The life and work of George Brassens' and not 'The Teletubbies: 1998-2001'.

Is this further evidence that Britain is dumbing down? Or am I just bitter because I only got 20 general knowledge questions right (out of a total of about 100)? Bit of both I think...

Can you think of a specialist subject (real or imagined), that could possibly be easier/more bizarre than this one?!

2005-11-08T10:40:00.000Z

'Super-Heroes' unmasked...

Judy McKnight, general secretary of NAPO, has blogged about last night's 'Tonight with Trevor McDonald' which unmasked some of the real faces behind Fathers 4 Justice.

Not normally a big fan of Sir Trev's programme, which makes Newsround look like World in Action at times, but thought this was a useful programme, which showed the real contempt that some of the F4J 'super-heroes' have for both women and children - contempt which at times clearly crossed over into violence.

F4J surely can't have been proud of the footage of some of their leading activists haranguing Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate Jody Dunn and her 8 year old daughter with a football style chant of 'child abuser'...more craven bullying than dignified protest.

Second part of the programme is on Friday night at 8pm.

2005-11-07T21:38:00.000Z

At last!

Everton secured their first home win of the season yesterday...least I'm pretty sure they did, but it was a bit hard to tell because the bloke sitting next to me (not my dad, bloke on the other side!), seemed intent on smoking his way through a small plantation's worth of 'c' class drugs, obscuring my visibility some-what. What's wrong with a pre-match pint and a half-time pie and cuppa? Kids these days...

Pic: James Beattie starts paying back that £6m...

You can read a match report here. For those who think Bluekipper is a bit 'chavvy' (you know who you are), you can read a much posher match report here.

2005-11-07T12:51:00.000Z

Motivating your staff

Love these posters from www.despair.com which turn traditional motivational bon-mots on their head.

When I worked for Manpower at BT (many moons ago), we used to have these sorts of things all over the place.

Can't say I have ever felt especially invigorated or inspired as a result of reading one of these as I looked up from my 50th call of the day from an irate customer whose BT chargecard had been accidentally cancelled, but someone somewhere must think they work.

Worth every penny?

2005-11-06T11:39:00.000Z

Fat Cat...
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

Apparently 175 of his mates 'earn' over a million a year...

2005-11-06T09:39:00.000Z

The fattest cats...ever!

Mirror article, based on an IDS report, showing that boardroom pay is now rising 300 times faster than shop-floor pay.

You can read TUC General secretary Brendan Barber's (understandably terse) reaction here.

Its no coincidence that the gap between boardroom and shop-floor pay, and between profits and shop has risen as union density has declined, and with it the ability of unions (and working people more generally), to hold companies and their directors to effective account.

And lets remember this boardroom excess is happening at the same time that Government and employers are insisting that people need to work even longer if they want to be assured of a decent pension...

2005-11-04T14:12:00.000Z

No more moaning about the train

In years to come the journey from Liverpool to London will only take 58 minutes.

Read about this in the Echo so it must be true. And Britain has got a great track record (geddit..) in delivering large infrastructure projects to time and on budget, ahem.

Think theres more chance of me doing the Liverpool-London commute via a 'flying pig' service, but you never know!

Haven't moaned about the train for a while......

2005-11-03T22:38:00.000Z

So just thought I'd just share the fact (anyone there) that I'm now running 40 mins late and can expect to get home about, oh 12.45am or so....big delayed shout out (I believe that's what the kidz say these days) to Richard (dick) Branson....

It's Halloween!

2005-10-31T14:01:00.000Z

'Oh no, its 'Everton-Vampire-Duck Apple Boy'....scary!

It's Halloween!
Originally uploaded by unionblue.

2005-10-30T19:08:00.000Z

240 years is too long to wait!

In Warrington today to speak at the organising session of the USDAW Retails Trades Conference.

USDAW have grown by about 12% since 1997 (to around 340,000 members) - which is no mean feat in itself - and reflects the effort the union has put into initiatives such as the USDAW Organising Academy. However the reality is despite the union's best efforts only about 1 in 10 retail workers are organised - and as I pointed out today, at our current rate of 'growth' unions as a whole will take some 240 years to bring membership levels back up to where they were in 1979...oh well, its always good to set long term goals!

Of course back in the real world we know if we take that long about it, theres not likely to be much of a trade union movement left in 2249 - so we need to do what we can now to step up our rate of growth - moving from a few thousand new members a year, to a few hundred thousand. Doing this is going to need a radical shift of resources into investing in our future, and we know there are no 'silver bullets' or easy solutions. But just because its not easy, doesn't mean its not worth doing, or it can't be done.

2005-10-25T16:02:00.000Z

One rule for the rich...

Want to work, pay tax, send a bit of money back home to your family, and build a better life for your loved ones?. No chance mate...

Want to buy a Football Club and launder (sorry, invest) your ill gotten gains from dodgy 'privatisations' - come right in!

Good Tristram Hunt (how many real-life Tristram's have you ever met by the way - I've met one and he was a right 'Tristram' - you know what I mean..) comment piece , which quite rightly asks 'Why do we welcome these robber barons to Britain?'. To which the answer is of course, we (that's a collective, not royal, we) love their money - and we don't really care how they earn it.

Of course the real losers in all this are the hundreds of millions of ordinary people the oligarchs leave behind - stuck in a crippled economy bled dry by the new Russian super-rich. As Hunt puts it, 'the riches that the south-east's service economy is siphoning off represent a grotesque theft of assets from the Russian people'. Bet Berezovsky et al didn't put that on their residence applications...

2005-10-24T15:46:00.000Z

A star is born!

The latest (and perhaps cheesiest) collaboration between Will Flash for Cash and the TUC can be found here.

This one stars a young newcomer who is no stranger to the Nowak household!

2005-10-20T20:36:00.000Z

Not a Cymru Cenedlaetholwyr

Had a great night on Monday at the graduation event for the latest group of Organising Academy graduates. Night only slightly marred by post-event conversation in the pub, at which I was accused of being a closet Welsh Nationalist!

Not that I've got anything against the Welsh, or Wales more generally - in fact I've blogged quite a bit this year about our family's trips to Wales (this was the basis of the accusation in fact). That said, I am not, and never have been a Welsh Nationalist. However I am prepared to share the names of those who are Nationalists in exchange for leniency...

I'm not...honest! Seal of Owain Glynd?r

2005-10-18T16:37:00.000Z

Organising the unorganised from Gdansk to Manchester

Manchester Evening news feature about Tomasz Laskowski, a young Polish organiser who is working with the TUC in the North West for three-months.

Tomasz has only been in the UK for 4 weeks or so, but he's doing some great work with unions including the TGWU and Community.

Pic below: The language may be different, the message is the same - Join a Union!

2005-10-18T10:39:00.000Z

The end of the world as we know it?

Great article in this last week's Sunday Times about the unfolding crisis facing humanity, as '...the greatest getting-and-spending spree in the history of the world is about to end.'

Thought this a cut above the usual 'end is nigh' pieces which fill up the pages of the Sunday glossies, and was particularly struck by the section examining the decline in the rate of 'innovations'. According to the article , '...the rate of innovation peaked in 1873 and has been declining ever since. In fact, our current rate of innovation which Huebner puts at seven important technological developments per billion people per year is about the same as it was in 1600. By 2024 it will have slumped to the same level as it was in the Dark Ages, the period between the end of the Roman empire and the start of the Middle Ages.'

Presumably this is partly because the wonders of the market mean that bright young science graduates know they're more likely to make cash developing iPods and games consoles than plugging away at long-term, poorly rewarded, genuinely innovative work, with no immediate practical applicability or financial reward.

Drawing parallels with the (relatively) rapid collapse of the Roman empire the article asks, 'is our liberal-democratic-capitalist way of doing things, like cities, an irreversible improvement in the human condition, or is it like the Roman empire, a shooting star of wealth and success, soon to be extinguished?'.

Hopes that this is unlikely because, 'Capitalism may be the Darwinian survivor of a process of natural selection that has seen all other systems fail', appear to grounded more in wishful thinking than objective assessment.

As the article concludes, 'The evidence is mounting that our two sunny centuries of growth and wealth may end in a new Dark Age in which ignorance will replace knowledge, war will replace peace, sickness will replace health and famine will replace obesity. You don't think so? It's always happened in the past. What makes us so different? Nothing, I'm afraid.'

2005-10-14T08:02:00.000Z

The people you meet...

One thing you notice in London (or 'that there London' to give it its full title), is the amount of celebs milling about the place.

In parts of the West End its like stepping into the pages of 'Heat' magazine (not that I read that sort of rubbish you understand...)

Yesterday I was walking past the University of London when I was almost mown down by a very red-faced Ricky Gervais (pictured here working up a sweat) who was jogging along and trying to work his iPod at the same time. Wow, almost knocked off my feet by a real-life comedy hero!

Such encounters with stardom are rarer on the Wirral where I live - but not completely unheard of. Check out Bored in Bebington to see what I mean.

2005-10-11T13:04:00.000Z

Things were different back then...

Sorry, going to have to cut and paste a load of text for this next article as its not available as a link.

Bert Clough is a fellow TUC staffer (though he's more of a proper clever policy wonk than me) - and this is a great article he did for our staff intranet on his first Labour Party Conference back in 1974...

Bert Clough recalls his first Labour Party Conference
1974 and all that
As the Party Conference season ends my memory takes me back to the first Labour Party conference I attended. It was in 1974 and held not in Brighton but at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. Labour had just won the second election that year and managed to get a slim working majority. I had been arm-twisted into becoming the parliamentary agent in true blue Petersfield in deepest Hampshire. My reward for not losing our deposit was to be the conference delegate.

Unlike this year’s conference there was an atmosphere of great elation thirty one years ago even though Labour only won by 4 seats compared with the 64 this year. Mind you Party membership was three times the number it is today and Labour’s share of vote was larger than it is now.

There were other differences as well. The word “socialism” peppered all the major speeches, even Harold Wilson’s. Delegates were addressed as “comrades” by the platform. The Foreign Secretary Jim Callaghan chaired the conference in his usual avuncular way. There was certainly no control freakery. Well known Militants and fellow travellers such as Ted Knight, Ray Apps, Ken Coates, Tony Saunios were called by Jim as a matter of course to speak in debates. There was no need to eject any hecklers from the gallery since most of the speeches from the floor were one long heckle.

Looking back, what was strange was that so few MPs and even Cabinet Ministers were allowed to speak. You had to be an NEC member like Ian Mikado or Judith Hart to have that right. There were however actual open debates on issues such as Planning Agreements, the Social Contract, the Common Market, Clay Cross and, of course, Chile. Jack Jones made an impassioned speech against loans to Pinochet. Above all the atmosphere was a heady mix of invective, wit and nostalgia - nowadays sadly supplanted by scripted blandness.

Jim spoke of the need for “radical and socialist change” but warned that “such measures must be relevant measures”. Jim, who was always close to the unions, thanked them for their “deep generosity”. When was the last time we heard these sentiments from a Cabinet Minister– Ian Mc Cartney excepted?

Perhaps the greatest impression the Conference left on me was the speech of the fraternal delegate from the SPD, none other that the German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt (pictured below). It was a masterly speech made at a difficult time. Against the advice of the NEC, the Conference had just carried a hostile resolution obviously drafted by the Common Market Safeguards Committee. There was strong union opposition to the Common Market. The motion insisted on the right to reject all EEC directives, to control the movement of labour and to bring any firm into public ownership. Other than the last “safeguard”, it could have been drafted by today’s UKIP.

Schmidt responded with great diplomacy and eloquence -“with regard to your vote yesterday, I cannot totally avoid putting myself in the position of a man who wants to convince members of the Salvation Army of the advantages of drinking….but we comrades on the continent want you to stay in”.

There seemed to incredible warmth and comradeship between Wilson and Schmidt, with mutual congratulation on their election success. How different to the recent relationship between Blair and Schroeder.

Harold Wilson wisely did not mention Europe in his speech. Instead, he concentrated on economic and industrial policy. It was packed full of policy ideas for intervening in the economy. He also warned that if the big battalions on both sides of industry try to get an unfair advantage, it could break the Social Contract and that union officers needed to convince their members of the need for “a fair sharing of sacrifices”. Harold’s speech also included that famous phrase that was to haunt the Party in the wilderness years in the 1980s and 90s, that Labour now was “the natural party of government”. But he also spoke of the need for Labour to be a party of protest in government as well as in opposition – a concept which would bemuse New Labour spin doctors and policy wonks.

A legendary figure that spoke at the conference was George Hodgkinson who was presented with a long service award. George had been a Party member for 61 years, a Party Agent for 35 years and city councillor for 41 years. As Mayor of Coventry, he was the driving force that rebuilt the city after it was devastated in the Blitz. George recalled the conference in 1926 which he attended – the year of course of the General Strike. The chair of the conference proclaimed that he wanted to see “the Red Flag flying over that tied cottage at the end of the Mall”. Although almost fifty years later, the 1974 conference still did not see the Red Flag run up the Buckingham Palace flagpole we all ended in us singing it.

Labour Party Conferences in those days were pure theatre even though some of the proceedings seemed like the Theatre of the Absurd. The experience of that Conference however inspired me to join the Labour Party’s Research Department and to fight the socialist cause in Petersfield at the 1979 general election and the rest as they say is history …..or in my case a footnote in history.