Wednesday 31 December 2008

European legislation

There have been two important developments, and I also want to draw attention to a UNITE campaign that every member should be supporting.

The European Parliament has at long last passed a revision to the European Works Council (EWC) Directive. UNITE's comments suggest this is generally positive.

MEPs also voted through amendments to the Working Time Directive. This was a very significant vote, with many Labour MEPs rebelling against the UK Government's long obstruction to this vital health & safety legislation, but unfortunately doesn't mean that we will necessarily see the end of the "opt-out".

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings in the Viking, Laval and Ruffert cases are a very serious threat to union rights. Basically, the court believes that the right of companies to trade freely has precedence over the right of workers to take industrial action. This means that even if workers comply with the UK's ridiculous red-tape around industrial action ballots, any action could still be ruled illegal. UNITE has set up a web site to campaign on the issue at http://www.amicustheunion.org/lavalvikingruffert/. There's a petition on there which we should get everyone to sign. If we can collect a million signatures, we force the issue to the European Commission.



Rebuttal

There is a document circulating unofficially in the union which is a transcript of Derek Simpson's speech at a recent UNITE F&GP meeting. In it, Derek falsely attributes the second comment on one of the articles on my web site to me. As you can clearly see, the comment is not anonymous, and is from another user (also called Ian). I want to make clear that the comment does not reflect my own views.



Sunday 21 December 2008

UNITE Executive Council reports

The Joint General Secretaries (JGSs) have now produced their briefing on the 24-26 November Executive Council meeting, which I am happy to email to members on request.

The first day of the meeting was taken up with heated disagreements between the JGSs, primarily over the integration of the union. A lot of the issues which had previously been the subject of rumour and maneuvering finally came out in the open.

The EC set the JGSs a deadline to resolve the issues. A special EC was agreed for 18th December and the JGSs were told that if they hadn't agreed an integration plan by then, the EC would do so itself.

At the EC meeting on 18th December a plan was unanimously agreed, and I have the details of this for any members who want them.

The major outstanding issue is in many ways the key one for lay members. Not "who gets which jobs" at the top, but the structures for lay members to meet and deal with the real business of the union. Proposals for this should be coming to the January EC meeting. There's still a lot to do though - for example the issues about the composition of the "IT & Communications" sector remain unresolved. Lay members from the north-west (from Amicus and TGWU) looked at the question of the structures many months ago, and managed to reach consensus on a sensible approach to setting them up. I hope that the proposals from the JGSs are as good.



Sovereign Bus Strike

The use of the anti-union laws to attack UNITE's pay campaign on the London buses was nothing short of a disgrace, especially given the overwhelming votes for action from the members.

Following this set-back, which led to UNITE calling off the strikes, there have been further ballots, and members at the first company (Sovereign) are due out on strike on 5th January.

A key issue in the dispute is the fact that there are big variations in pay for workers doing the same job in different companies - despite them all being regulated by Transport For London. Sovereign is one of the companies with the lowest pay.

UNITE has issued a collection sheet in support of the dispute, which I have made available online.



Sunday 30 November 2008

UNITE-Amicus MPs voting on the amendments to the Employment Act

In response to my report on the discussion at the Manchester Area Activists meeting about the very poor response from Labour MPs to the amendments to the Employment Act which aimed to improve workers’ rights, a branch secretary has kindly sent me a link to a site giving all the voting details. The amendments corresponded with parts of the Trade Union Freedom Bill.

I got the list of the UNITE-Amicus parliamentary group (couldn’t find the TGWU one) from here and matched the two against each other.

I’ve done some work to match the two together, and come up with this report, which I hope assists members in holding their MPs to account. I’ve coded the “payroll vote” (ministers etc) grey, those who didn’t vote as amber, those who voted for the amendment green, and the shameful votes of backbenchers who opposed the amendment red.

I do find some of the results surprising. I didn’t expect to find Paul Farrelly and Tony Lloyd on the list of shame, for example.

MP

Constituency

Region

Party (role)

Vote

Alan Meale

Mansfield

East Midlands

Lab

no

John Mann

Bassetlaw

East Midlands

Lab (PPS)

no

Mark Todd

Derbyshire South

East Midlands

ABSENT

Natascha Engel

North East Derbyshire

East Midlands

Lab

no

Nick Palmer

Broxtowe

East Midlands

Lab

aye

Patricia Hewitt

Leicester West

East Midlands

Lab

no

Phil Hope

Corby

East Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

Vernon Coaker

Gedling

East Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

Andrew MacKinlay

Thurrock

London & Eastern

Lab

aye

Andy Love

Edmonton

London & Eastern

Lab

no

Angela E Smith

Basildon

London & Eastern

Lab

no

Barbara Follett

Stevenage

London & Eastern

Lab (minister)

no

Barry Gardiner

Brent North

London & Eastern

Lab

no

Bill Rammell

Harlow

London & Eastern

Lab (minister)

no

Clive Efford

Eltham

London & Eastern

Lab

no

David Lammy

Tottenham

London & Eastern

Lab (minister)

no

Dr Ian Gibson

Norwich North

London & Eastern

Lab

aye

Gareth Thomas

Harrow West

London & Eastern

ABSENT

Jim Dowd

Lewisham West

London & Eastern

Lab

no

Jim Fitzpatrick

Poplar & Canning Town

London & Eastern

Lab (minister)

no

Joan Ryan

Enfield North

London & Eastern

Lab

no

John Austin

Erith & Thamesmead

London & Eastern

ABSENT

Rudi Vis

Finchley and Golders Green

London & Eastern

ABSENT

Stephen Timms

East Ham

London & Eastern

ABSENT

Tessa Jowell

Dulwich and West Norwood

London & Eastern

ABSENT

Tony McNulty

Harrow East

London & Eastern

Lab (minister)

no

Tony Wright

Great Yarmouth

London & Eastern

Lab

aye

Andrew Gwynne

Denton & Reddish

North West

Lab (PPS)

no

Andrew Miller

Ellesmere Port & Neston

North West

Lab

aye

Ben Chapman

Wirral South

North West

Lab

no

David Crausby

Bolton North East

North West

Lab

no

David Watts

St Helens North

North West

Lab (minister)

no

George Howarth

Knowsley North & Sefton East

North West

Lab

no

Graham Stringer

Manchester, Blackley

North West

Lab

no

Greg Pope

Hyndburn

North West

Lab

no

Helen Southworth

Warrington South

North West

Lab

no

Ivan Lewis

Bury South

North West

Lab (minister)

no

James Purnell

Stalybridge & Hyde

North West

Lab (minister)

no

Jim Dobbin

Heywood & Middleton

North West

Lab

no

Kitty Ussher

Burnley

North West

Lab (minister)

no

Lindsay Hoyle

Chorley

North West

Lab

no

Maria Eagle

Liverpool, Garston

North West

Lab (minister)

no

Neil Turner

Wigan

North West

Lab (PPS)

no

Peter Kilfoyle

Liverpool, Walton

North West

ABSENT

Robert Wareing

Liverpool, West Derby

North West

whilst Ind

aye

Ruth Kelly

Bolton West

North West

Lab

no

Shaun Woodward

St Helens South

North West

Lab (minister)

no

Tony Cunningham

Workington

North West

Lab (minister)

no

Tony Lloyd

Manchester Central

North West

Lab

no

Douglas Alexander

Paisley & Renfrewshire South

Scotland

Lab (minister)

no

Ian Davidson

Glasgow South West

Scotland

ABSENT

Jimmy Hood

Lanark & Hamilton East

Scotland

ABSENT

John Robertson

Glasgow North West

Scotland

Lab

no

Michael Martin

Glasgow North East

Scotland

SPEAKER

Rosemary McKenna

Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East

Scotland

Lab

no

Tommy McAvoy

Rutherglen & Hamilton West

Scotland

Lab (minister)

no

Desmond Turner

Brighton Kemptown

South East

ABSENT

Dr Phyllis Starkey

Milton Keynes South West

South East

Lab

no

Gwyn Prosser

Dover

South East

Lab

aye

Howard Stoate

Dartford

South East

Lab

no

John Denham

Southampton, Itchen

South East

Lab (minister)

no

Jonathan Shaw

Chatham & Aylesford

South East

Lab (minister)

no

Paul Clark

Gillingham

South East

Lab (PPS)

no

Sarah McCarthy-Fry

Portsmouth North

South East

Lab (minister)

no

Alison Seabeck

Plymouth, Devonport

South West

Lab

no

Ann Snelgrove

South Swindon

South West

Lab

no

Dan Norris

Wansdyke

South West

Lab (PPS)

no

Jim Knight

South Dorset

South West

Lab (minister)

no

Roger Berry

Kingswood

South West

Lab

no

Chris Bryant

Rhondda

Wales

Lab (PPS)

no

Dai Havard

Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

Wales

Lab

aye

Ian Lucas

Wrexham

Wales

Lab (minister)

no

John Smith

Vale of Glamorgan

Wales

ABSENT

Mark Tami

Alyn & Deeside

Wales

Lab (minister)

tellno

Sian James

Swansea East

Wales

Lab

no

Wayne David

Caerphilly

Wales

Lab (minister)

no

Bill Olner

Nuneaton

West Midlands

Lab

no

Bob Ainsworth

Coventry North East

West Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

David Kidney

Stafford

West Midlands

Lab (PPS)

no

Gisela Stuart

Birmingham, Edgbaston

West Midlands

Lab

no

Ian Austin

Dudley North

West Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

James Cunningham

Coventry South

West Midlands

Lab (PPS)

no

James Plaskitt

Warwick & Leamington

West Midlands

Lab

no

John Spellar

Warley

West Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

Khalid Mahmood

Birmingham, Perry Barr

West Midlands

Lab

no

Liam Byrne

Birmingham, Hodge Hill

West Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

Lynne Jones

Birmingham, Selly Oak

West Midlands

Lab

aye

Paul Farrelly

Newcastle-Under-Lyme

West Midlands

Lab

no

Sion Simon

Birmingham, Erdington

West Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

Stephen McCabe

Birmingham, Hall Green

West Midlands

Lab (minister)

tellno

Tom Watson

West Bromwich East

West Midlands

Lab (minister)

no

Alan Milburn

Darlington

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

ABSENT

Barry Sheerman

Huddersfield

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

Christine McCafferty

Calder Valley

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

aye

Colin Challen

Morley & Rotherwell

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

ABSENT

David Clelland

Tyne Bridge

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

ABSENT

Dr Ashok Kumar

Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab (PPS)

no

Eric Illsley

Barnsley Central

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

aye

Fabian Hamilton

Leeds North East

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

Fraser Kemp

Houghton & Washington East

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

George Mudie

Leeds East

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

Gerry Sutcliffe

Bradford South

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab (minister)

no

Hilary Armstrong

North West Durham

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

Hilary Benn

Leeds Central

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab (minister)

no

Jim Cousins

Newcastle Upon Tyne Central

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

aye

John Battle

Leeds West

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

John Prescott

Kingston upon Hull East

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

Kevin Barron

Rother Valley

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

Linda Riordon

Halifax

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

aye

Richard Caborn

Sheffield Central

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

Lab

no

Terry Rooney

Bradford North

Yorkshire, Humberside & North-East

ABSENT