Pensions, private and public

I posted some time ago about Fujitsu's attack on Defined Benefit pensions, arguing that it was of wide significance.

Since then a slew of other companies have announced their intention to close final salary (defined benefit) pension schemes, including Barclays, BP, Morrisons and most recently IBM.

Many of the companies attacking pensions are financially strong. What we are seeing is an attempt to permanently shift wealth from the workforce to shareholders and permanently shift risk from the shareholders to the workforce. The recession is providing a convenient smokescreen under which to try to force through these attacks in the hope that workers will feel less confident to fight back and the companies will suffer less staff attrition.

So far, the evidence suggests that workers are not falling for the con.

At Fujitsu, where I work, there is a strong mood to fight if necessary. UNITE membership across the company has increased by over 20% already this year, largely through our campaign on pay and pensions. We were planning to start a consultative ballot on Monday, but have paused this process after the company agreed that the "consultation period" would not end as soon as they originally planned. We have an appeal leaflet summarising the issues available online, and news is posted on our news blog. One enthusiastic member has even set up an unofficial web site with an internet radio station for the campaign!

While the outcome of these attempts to close pension schemes in the private sector is still undecided, the media and Tory politicians have launched an absolutely massive propaganda offensive. They want to misdirect the anger of private sector workers against public sector workers, instead of against their own employers and the government. It is hard to turn on a news programme without hearing of "gold plated" public sector pension schemes.

Trade unionists should always oppose any effort to divide workers - it always leaves us weaker. But this attempt to divide us on private-public lines is particularly dangerous given that around 50% of union members are in the public sector. The Tories and media are trying to mobilise the majority of the population against half the trade union movement. We fall for this at our peril.

The reality is that in the public sector, as in the private, the real divisions are between the top and the bottom. There is justifiable anger about MPs pensions, when they do nothing to protect ours. But to turn that anger against (for example) local government workers who on average get a pension of under £8000 is wrong.

In the face of this recession we need to unite workers from public and private sector against attempts to make working people pay for an economic crisis we didn't create.

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Green jobs, nationalisation, education and steel

Given all the government green-wash about climate change, you'd have thought "Green Jobs" ought to be on the increase, not under threat.

It's an absolute scandal that over 600 jobs at the Vestas wind-turbine factory in the Isle of Wight are under threat. If the government can step in to bale out the bankers, why not to save jobs like these?

When we do see government intervention, it always seems to be to nationalise debts and privatise profits. With the recent decision to take the East Coast Mainline back into public ownership, the government made clear it wants to re-privatise it as soon as possible. The way the retreat over Post Office privatisation was announced makes it clear that this is a retreat under pressure, not a change of heart. If we want government action (or inaction) we have to fight for it, not just stuff New Labour's pockets with members' subs.

You can send a message of support to the campaign to save Vestas at savevestas@gmail.com.

In similar vein, you'd have thought that FE education would be expanding in times of recession, but actually cuts are the order of the day. Near me, the UCU union is fighting job cuts at Manchester College and a few of us from work went down to support them when they were on strike on 1st July.



These job cuts have a particular importance for trade unionists, because the college is targeting the UCU branch secretary for compulsory redundancy. There's history here too - Manchester College was formed by the merger of MANCAT and City College and the college Principal, Peter Tavernor came from MANCAT. Under his "leadership" a few years ago, MANCAT decided to close the trade union education department to get rid of several key UCU officers, including the branch secretary. It is a disgrace that he is still in office and pursuing his anti-union agenda despite losing tribunal cases over the previous victimisations.

In manufacturing the job losses continue relentlessly. It's good to see a campaign starting to get underway over the threat to jobs at Corus. There's a demo on Saturday 18th July, assembling at 12:00 at Majuba Road car park in Redcar, with a march setting off at 2pm.

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The new UNITE structures, EC meetings

The new UNITE rulebook finally came into effect on 1 May 2009, formally bringing to an end the existence of "Amicus" and "TGWU" sections.

While normally you might think that rulebooks lag behind reality, sadly in this case it is the other way round.

Proposals for the lay-member structures were at last brought before the Executive Council at a special meeting on 11th June. The EC approved a vast number of new Regional Industrial Sector Committees (RISCs), Area Activist Committees (AACs) and Equalities Committees. There were quite a few which still had issues to be resolved, but the overall framework was agreed so that the conferences can at last be called.

For those who've been following this issue, the biggest change is that there won't, after all, be a need for reps to elect some of their number to be "voting delegates" at the conferences, with the rest of the delegates having no vote. All "accountable representatives of workers" will be able to attend their respective conferences and vote. To address the concerns about some larger workplaces or groups packing conferences, delegates will only be able to vote for seats allocated to the "constituency" they are in.

For those of you in the new "Electrical Engineering and Electronics" (EEE) sector or the new "IT and Communications" (ITC) sector, I can give you the details of your RISC if you drop me a note saying which sector and region you are in. Generally speaking, the EEE sector has seats allocated by company, whereas the ITC sector tends to have broader constituencies.

The EC also agreed a provisional timeline for progress on setting up the constitutional structures. This has been subject to change since then, and the latest version I've seen shows:

1. Mid June: Regional Secretaries set dates and issue calling notices for the Regional Industrial Sector Conferences, Area Activist Meetings, Equalities Conferences, the Young Members Forum and Retired Members Association (RMA) Coordinating Committee.
2. 6-8 July: Proposals for Regional Committees, National Industrial Sector Committees and National Equalities Committees agreed by the EC.
3. 13-25 July: First time slot for the various regional conferences to take place. [The committees elected meet immediately after the conferences to elect delegates on to other bodies]
   
4. 2-27 September: Second time slot for the various regional conferences to take place. [The committees elected meet immediately after the conferences to elect delegates on to other bodies]
5. 2-18 October: Time slot for Regional Equality Conferences/Committees and Regional Young Members' Forums. [The committees elected meet immediately after the conferences to elect delegates on to other bodies]
6. 19 October - 6 November: Time slot for Regional Committees, National Industrial Sector Committees, National Equalities Committees and RMA National Committee.
7. 23-27 November: National Industrial Sector Conferences

Confused? I'm not surprised. It will take a while for us all to get used to the new structures and how to make them work for the members. When that happens, no doubt we'll change them all again.

The key is to ensure as many members as possible are actively involved. However bureaucratic these structures appear, they are opportunities to get together with other activists from your industry, area, region or equality grouping. It's only when lay members exchange ideas, take decisions and take action that the union is really effective.

To get involved, you need to make sure that the union holds your membership details correctly, including which sector you're in, any relevant equality grouping, and that you are correctly recorded as a workplace rep, safety rep, learning rep, equality rep, branch officer etc. You SHOULD then get an invitation to the relevant conferences.

If you're willing to make a contribution to the work of the union beyond your workplace on an ongoing basis, you'll need to stand for one of more of the committees. These are elected for a 2-year term so if you don't stand this time, you won't have another chance until 2011. Nominations have to be made before the conferences take place, so don't miss your chance and make sure you encourage others to get involved.

The "Joint General Secretaries' briefing" (a kind of official summary before the minutes are out) is now available from the May EC meeting. If you're a UNITE member and want a copy, drop me an email.

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