Owen TudorThe latest figures from the USA show that trade union membership is up over the last year, despite the difficult economic conditions, continuing anti-union activism by the Republicans, and – and this is perhaps the most interesting element of the statistics - a decline in the number of trade union members in the public sector. As well as the increase in union numbers in the private sector, union density in the public sector has gone up despite the number of members going down – a result of the reduction in public sector jobs.
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I suppose it’s inevitable given the combination of a hostile government, flat-lining economy, rising unemployment and stagnating household incomes that some commentators are speculating on what all this means for the role and future of trade unions.
Despite significant and ongoing job losses in the public sector, union action on pensions – coupled with a generally raised profile as unions have shown a lead against the government’s damaging austerity programme – has meant that membership appears to be holding steady and in some cases growing. But this is just one one small silver lining in what looks like an increasingly gloomy outlook for our members and their families. Union membership is not just an end in itself. Workers don’t organise for the sake of holding a union card: they organise to help protect their jobs; to ensure they get paid decently; to have access to pensions; to work somewhere that’s safe and healthy; to get a voice on the job; and to develop new skills and build their careers. There’s no doubt that delivering on all these points and more has got harder and harder. Even successful, highly profitable employers appear to be using the current economic crisis as cover cutting back on jobs, pay and pensions (see here and here for current and obvious examples).
It would be easy in this climate to seek solace in counsels of despair. But that’s not my style, and my guess is that if you are reading this blog, it’s not yours either. So I thought it was right to point out that despite all the difficulties, there is plenty of evidence that unions are still in there fighting, and most importantly winning for members. Here’s two very different private sector examples of what I mean.
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Burma has seen many dramatic moves toward democracy and respect for human rights over the past six months. Most political prisoners have been released, Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy are about to contest by-elections, and there’s been some progress in ending the government’s bloody repression of ethnic groups. But has Burma improved its terrible labour rights record? And should foreign investors – long discouraged or barred under sanctions – be booking their air tickets to Rangoon? Not yet, and not yet.
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Today, the TUC releases new research that shows the significant benefits that workplace union reps produce for employers and taxpayers. The report also reveals serious inaccuracies in figures used by the so-called Taxpayers Alliance relating to the cost of paid time off.
“Facility Time for union reps – separating fact from fiction” not only updates the value of the savings to employers and the taxpayer that result from the work that reps do, but also reveals a significant return on investment in relation to the cost of the paid time off that reps receive.
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I’ve been wanting to blog about the role that communications play in campaigns and organising for quite a while now so it was with great interest I read Mehdi Hasan’s article for the New Statesman where he explores the role of framing in politics.
By and large, the most difficult thing in the campaigns I have been involved in, is communicating what the campaign is trying to achieve to a wider audience. Often I hear complaints that the media is against us and no one want to listen. I can’t give you a silver bullet but I can point to some ways in which you might be more successful in communicating.
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Striking workers and supporters marching on 30 November. Photo: TUC
We’ve always said that the November 30 strike was a tremendous success. Once you take into account the number of workers taking part, the range of unions and occupations – some of whom had never struck before – the level of support across the country was brilliant.
Of course, some publications and commentators had decided even before the strike took place that it was a flop.
Well, today’s monthly employment figures from the Office for National Statistics provide a definitive rebuttal. They include the first set of industrial dispute statistics covering November and they show that the number of working days “lost” to disputes (the ONS’s language, not mine) in November was the highest for 20 years:
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Handing in the million signature petition to recall Gov Walker. Photo: Wisconsin AFL-CIO
Unions in Wisconsin, a year into their titanic battle with Republican Governor Scott Walker over the scrapping of collective bargaining rights for public sector workers, were celebrating today as they handed in over a million signatures on a recall petition demanding a new election for the Governorship. Under Wisconsin law, they only needed 540,000, but the final count showed that over a million Wisconsin voters want Walker out. What’s really incredible about this is that there are only 3.2 million people registered to vote in the state, and at the last gubernatorial election, only just over a million voted for Governor Walker. The summer recall election – in a state that voted Democrat in 2008 but Republican in 2010 – will be a key indicator of how the Presidential election will go. At the same time, recall petitions on three Republican state senators were also handed in.
Paul Nowak
Ben Moxham
Carl Roper
Becky Wright
Richard Exell
