Friday 11 December 2009

UNITE announces Fujitsu strike dates

UNITE has issued the official notice of action for strikes and action short of strike from 18th December across Fujitsu in the UK as part of the campaign over Jobs, Pay and Pensions.

UNITE has also issued a press release focussing on the protest planned outside Fujitsu's London HQ on 18th December.

There's an appeal for support leaflet and collection sheet available from www.ourunion.org.uk.



Thursday 10 December 2009

New ACAS code of practice on time off for trade union duties and activities

Carl on Stronger Unions highlights that ACAS have published the new guide which is due to come into effect on 1st January. I haven't had a chance to read it properly yet, but this is a guide which every rep needs to be familiar with.

Apparently the update has more about time off for union duties when there are "performance related" pay systems, more about adjustments to workload, more about use of email and the internet, more on reps being able to communicate with members confidentially. It also covers more types of reps: Workplace, Learning, Pension, European Works Council (EWC) and national Information & Consultation of Employees (ICE).

We will all need to ensure our agreements are updated and treat this as a minimum, not a maximum.



Sunday 6 December 2009

Fight for Ford/Visteon Pensions Continues

The Visteon Pensioners Action Group has staged a second protest outside the Bridgend Ford plant:


The campaigners have set up a lively web site at www.visteonpensionactiongroup.co.uk and are asking everyone to sign a petition on the Number 10 web site.

UNITE is supporting legal action as part of the campaign.



Friday 4 December 2009

UNITE recommends acceptance of Steria pensions offer

According to the latest UNITE "Steria Pensions" newsletter (number 5), Steria has made an offer which the union is recommending for acceptance.



UNITE recommends rejection of Fujitsu offer on Jobs, Pay & Pensions

UNITE members at Fujitsu are voting on a company offer in the dispute over Jobs, Pay & Pensions. The elected Combine Committee, which covers the whole of the UK, is recommending rejection.

Members' meetings are taking place across the country on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the offer and what action should be called if the offer is rejected. To be covered by the ballot, any industrial action would have to start by 23rd December.



Strike dates set for HP Customer Engineers

Following their ballot, UNITE has announced the industrial action plans for Mobile Engineers working for HP CDS across the UK:

  • Strike on Monday 7th December 2009
  • Continuous overtime ban and work to rule from 4th January 2010
  • 2 days strike - 11th and 12th January 2010
  • 2 days strike - 1st and 2nd February 2010
  • 5 days strike - 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th February 2010
The dispute is over HP using weak employment law to reduce pay and pension benefits on transfer to HP CDS.

Good luck to all our members!



Friday 20 November 2009

HP engineers vote to strike

Congratulations to UNITE members in engineering at HP, who have delivered a magnificent result in their industrial action ballot.

Let's hope that HP sees sense in the light of this demonstration of the strength of feeling. If not, we need to make sure that members get all the support they need.

PCS members elsewhere in HP have also voted for action over jobs and pay.



Wednesday 11 November 2009

Fujitsu strike off

Announcement here.



Threat to Ericsson Coventry

Awful news yesterday that Ericsson wants to close its Coventry plant with the loss of 700 jobs.

This must be particularly shocking for the staff who moved from the Stoke plant to Coventry only six months ago when that closed down.

As a press release issued by the local UNITE branch puts it:

"This will effectively be the end of the former Coventry based business that bought Marconi, formerly GEC-Telecommunications which at one time employed over 20,000 workers around Coventry."
Ericsson want to save money (i.e. increase profits) by moving the work to lower-cost countries. This is further evidence that the issue of offshoring threatens jobs right across the skill and technology spectrum.

Let's hope UNITE can mount a successful campaign to defend the jobs.



Friday 6 November 2009

UNITE calls strikes at Fujitsu

The official call for strike action over Jobs, Pay & Pensions was issued yesterday, starting with strikes on Thursday 12th, Friday 13th and Monday 16th November.

Fujitsu had not accepted an offer of talks. The company has started telling members they are provisionally selected for redundancy, with the dismissals planned for 11th December. They also rejected all the proposals and alternatives put forward by reps in relation to the Defined Benefit pension fund. The company moved slightly, putting back the proposed date for closure of the scheme to existing members by a year, but offered no compensation or improvement to the standard Defined Contribution scheme. UNITE estimates this would be equivalent to a pay cut of around 20% for members.

All this from a company that is still highly profitable.

There's an "Appeal for Support" leaflet and a Collection Sheet on the front page of ourunion.org.uk.

PCS was also expected to call industrial action at Fujitsu, but I haven't seen any official announcement yet.



Saturday 31 October 2009

EAT ruling on DDA and Carers for Disabled People

Reports are starting to come out from a Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) hearing yesterday on the case of Sharon Coleman v Attridge Law. This has already been picked up by publications ranging from the Morning Star to the Daily Mail, Personnel Today to Community Care.

I haven't yet seen the actual ruling, but the gist of it seems to be to uphold the view of the original Employment Tribunal that the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) protects people who care for someone with a disability as well as the people with disabilities themselves. This was in question because (as so often) UK law didn't properly implement the EU legislation, in this case the anti-discrimination "Framework Directive".

Given the numbers of people (especially women) who care for elderly relatives who would be classed as disabled under the DDA definition, this ruling is likely to have far-reaching effects in many workplaces.

Hopefully the TUC will update their helpful page on disability issues soon.



Thursday 29 October 2009

UNITE members in Fujitsu vote to strike over Jobs, Pay & Pensions

We got the result of the UNITE UK-wide Fujitsu industrial action ballot over Jobs, Pay & Pensions today, which was 74% for strike and 92% for action short of strike. We are awaiting the PCS result with baited breath.

There's an updated "appeal for support" leaflet and now a collection sheet on www.ourunion.org.uk.



Information about the postal strikes

The latest strikes are:

  • Thursday 29th October: Mail Centres (there's a list here)
  • Friday 30th October: Manual Data Entry Centres (MDECs) in Plymouth, Stockport and Stoke
  • Saturday 31st October: Local Delivery Offices
The CWU web site is rather labyrinthine, but these areas may be useful:
I've posted their collection sheet here, as I can't find it on the CWU web site.

The letter from the UNITE Joint General Secretaries to UNITE members in the CMA (Communication Managers Association) is available online.



Tuesday 27 October 2009

HP Engineers to Vote on Strike

While transferring staff from one HP company to another, the company is hoping to get away with cutting pay, pension and bonus.

UNITE is conducting the first ever industrial action ballot of HP staff.



Sunday 25 October 2009

Defend Our Pensions

My union branch (UNITE, Greater Manchester IT) has called a "Defend Our Pensions" public meeting in Manchester on 2nd November. We've got a got range of speakers to cover public and private sector pensions, as well as the state pension. The meeting will be taking place shortly after the result of our industrial action ballot at Fujitsu is announced. There's a leaflet here.

I've been sent this photo from an impressive looking protest by the Swansea Visteon Pensioners Action Group outside a Ford showroom.
If you're a Facebook user, you can join the "Defend Our Pensions" group.



Friday 23 October 2009

UNITE September EC meeting

The official briefing from the Joint General Secretaries about the September meeting of the UNITE Executive Council (EC) meeting is now out. I will email it to UNITE members on request.



Wednesday 14 October 2009

Support the postal workers

It is clear that the dispute in Royal Mail is a crucial one for all of us.

We have had some important successes in a number of disputes including Visteon, Linamar, Lindsey/construction and Tower Hamlets College. These have started to raise the confidence of workers to resist efforts to make us pay for the consequences of a recession triggered by the greed and irresponsibility of the rich and powerful.

What's happening at Royal Mail is qualitatively different. It's not just that the scale is so much bigger. The media onslaught against the CWU is full of class hatred, almost reminiscent of the 1980s. Whereas in a number of other disputes management seem to have been caught on the hop, in this case there has been a massive level of preparation by the employer and a systematic management organised scabbing operation on a scale not seen for years.

None of this means the CWU can't win. The postal workers are a powerful group, and well organised. But the movement can ill afford to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s by allowing employers to pick us off one at a time to demoralise the rest. Imagine trying to argue for action in your workplace if the CWU had been smashed and the Tories elected. Or imagine the boost in confidence your workmates could have if we all helped the posties beat off these attacks from their overpaid bosses.

The CWU have produced a collection sheet. Every trade unionist should be taking it round their friends and workmates and visiting picket lines to show solidarity. We should be helping to set up solidarity groups should be springing up in every town and city. Building solidarity won't just help the posties win - it will make us all stronger.



Saturday 10 October 2009

Fujitsu strike ballot over Jobs, Pay & Pensions

UNITE served the notice of industrial action ballot on Fujitsu this week - the official press release is on the union web site. See our branch web site for an appeal for support, news etc.

PCS has also served notice of balloting their membership in Fujitsu. It's great to see the two unions working together on this campaign, especially given the barrage in the media trying to set public and private sector workers against each other over pensions.

Our campaign got a good boost in profile thanks to coverage in Channel 4's Dispatches programme this week, which was on the pensions crisis.



UNITE September EC meeting

With everything that's going on at work, I haven't yet had time to do a full September EC report, but a few highlights from a Fujitsu perspective are on our branch web site.



Sunday 13 September 2009

Report from UNITE Manchester Area Activists Conference

My Area Conference took place on Thursday. It was a chaotic affair, demonstrating that the arrangements for the new UNITE structures have not been communicated clearly enough to activists, and also that the fudges between "Amicus" and "TGWU" approaches have produced a camel that doesn't serve the membership as well as it should. I hope activists are considering how to improve matters when we finally get to our first rules conference.

Conference agreed motions:

  1. against the practice in construction of management "parachuting" in stewards who had not been elected by members
  2. against blacklisting and the unsupervised use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) by local authorities to snoop on workers
  3. highlighting the FT report of the vote by the UNITE delegation at the Labour Party policy forum in Warwick for privatisation of the NHS (against union policy) and calling for a report of the decision along with a list of the delegates to be made available to members
The conference elected the Manchester Area Activists Committee:
  1. Alan Aspen
  2. Andy Ford
  3. Anna Cropper
  4. Arthur Adshead
  5. Barrie Eckford
  6. Colin Trowsedale
  7. Dave Quayle
  8. Debra Green
  9. Ian Allinson
  10. Jackie Cook
  11. Jane Knox
  12. Jason Phillips
  13. John Hughes
  14. Lou Ashton-Hurst
  15. Martin Brown
  16. Nick Parnell
  17. Paul Dale
  18. Pauline Bradburn
  19. Peter Bury
  20. Raul Burke
  21. Steve Pollard
  22. Terry Abbott
The Committee then met briefly and elected Terry Abbott and Pauline Bradburn as delegates to the North West Regional Committee. I was very pleased that the Committee was able to elect from its number to all the Equalities places. I don't think it's appropriate to post the names here.



Sunday 30 August 2009

The battle widens at Fujitsu

The campaign by UNITE and PCS over pay and pensions at Fujitsu, where I work, reached a crucial stage this week, with the end of the consultative ballots over industrial action.

UNITE & PCS members both returned overwhelming majorities for action.

This week we also had the announcement by Fujitsu of 1200 job cuts in the UK, putting roughly half the company's 12,500 UK staff at risk. An overlapping 4000 of us were already "at risk" because of the company proposal to dismiss and re-engage us without our pensions.

The offensive by the company against its workforce keeps growing, but thankfully the response from employees keeps growing too. UNITE and PCS reps have decided to add "jobs" to the existing "pay and pensions" campaign and to move quickly to a statutory industrial action ballot. It is already clear that another big wave of staff joining the unions has begun.

UNITE has issued a press release which is already getting coverage, such as this BBC report. PCS has also issued a press release about the job cuts. There is more detail on the ballot result and campaign plans on the UNITE Fujitsu "OurUnion" web site.



Saturday 29 August 2009

Another watershed in the decline of manufacturing

The news of the end of manufacturing at Toshiba's Plymouth plant, with the loss of 270 jobs, means the end of mass TV manufacturing in the UK.

The government's failure to intervene to protect jobs and working people is an absolute scandal, especially set against their blank cheques for war and to bail out the banks.

After the economic disaster unleashed by the "free market" lunacy that has dominated the world in recent decades, you might have thought that all parties would be distancing themselves from such policies as quickly as they could. But you would be wrong. Instead, the prescription is basically more of the same.

I hope there's a good UNITE presence on the "Jobs, Education, Peace & Justice" demonstration on 27th September at the Labour Party conference, which has been called by PCS, UCU, NUT, NUJ and a variety of campaigning organisations.



Friday 21 August 2009

UNITE Sector, Area and Equality Conferences

Further to my previous posts on the subject, the UNITE web site now has a list of the dates of the various conferences. Scotland still seems to be missing.

I know it seems quite bewildering, would I encourage all reps to get involved in the conferences and committees. Only a high level of involvement from the activists in the workplaces can ensure that our union is fully responsive to the needs of our members and can run effective campaigns on all the issues. It can be tempting to limit your union activity to your own workplace, but our members lives extend beyond the gate and the world beyond the gate impinges on what happens in the workplace economically, politically and ideologically. We are all affected by government policy, union policy and what other companies and their employees are doing.

The Electrical Engineering and Electronics Regional Industrial Sector Conferences are:

  • North East, Yorks & Humber: 10th September 2009
  • Wales: 14th September 2009
  • North West: 15th September 2009
  • South West: 16th September 2009
  • West Midlands: 17th September 2009
  • South East: 19th September 2009
  • East Midlands: 21st September 2009
  • London & Eastern: 23rd September 2009
  • Ireland: 24th September 2009
  • Scotland: TBC

The IT & Communications Regional Industrial Sector Conferences are:
  • 3 Sept: Scotland
  • 7 Sept: South West
  • 7 Sept: Wales
  • 8 Sept: West Midlands
  • 9 Sept: Ireland
  • 12 Sept: South East
  • 19 Sept: London & Eastern
  • 21 Sept: North-East, Yorkshire & Humber
  • 21 Sept: East Midlands
  • 22 Sept: North West



Thursday 20 August 2009

IBM Pensions Protest on BBC South



Wednesday 12 August 2009

Pension Deficit Snapshots - Pictures for Fools

This BBC report yesterday, which includes PPF figures that deficits in pension funds fell from £200bn to £158bn during the month of July, shows why focusing on the deficit at a moment in time is such a bad way of judging the state of a pension fund.

Pensions are long-term investments, so it's not sensible to make major decisions based on their state on a particular day. Don't take this from me, take it from Richard Christou, who wrote a magazine article last year saying:

"I personally believe that a snapshot on a single day, based on clearly defined criteria, is not the best way to analyse your liabilities."
Mr Christou was, at the time, Chief Executive Officer of Fujitsu Services. He sits on the company's Pension Policy Committee, the body that decided to propose closure of Fujitsu's main defined benefit pension scheme (the ICL DB Plan).

Perhaps employees should listen more to what senior executives say to each other than what they say to us?



Saturday 8 August 2009

Barclays Pensions: Resistance Works - Keep It Up!

The reported concessions from Barclays' senior management in response to the strike threat and demonstration organised by UNITE over the plan to close the final salary pension are good news. It seems unlikely this progress would have been made without the pressure staff have applied.

But let's be clear - phasing in contribution increases only delays the pain and doesn't deal with the reduced pension provision, which is surely the main issue. Barclays still proposes to close the final salary scheme.

Any pension scheme member would welcome their employer putting in more to pay off the deficit, which helps make pensions more secure. But this won't impact Barclays' overall balance sheet - it means moving some of the company's huge profits from one part of the balance sheet to another, reducing both their assets and their liabilities.

Given the huge profits Barclays announced, there can be little doubt that the company can afford to maintain a good defined benefit pension scheme. As the Grangemouth workers put it - "Mind the GAP":

  • Greedy Employer
  • Affordable Pensions
  • Profitable Company
Let's hope Barclays staff keep pushing for more.



Thursday 6 August 2009

First wind-turbines, now batteries - more jobs under threat

The threat to close the Vestas wind-turbine factory in the Isle of Wight has provoked widespread outrage - how can the government claim a commitment to green jobs while allowing these jobs to go to the wall? Why should we stand by and see these jobs lost when they are essential to countering climate change? Why should the government spend billions of our money bailing out banks and yet do so little to protect manufacturing?

The campaign by Vestas workers and their supporters has been truly inspirational. Whatever the final outcome of this dispute, they have pushed the issues of jobs and the environment far higher up the political agenda than if they had walked away. It looks likely that tomorrow the management will try to evict the occupiers - let's hope that there is enough support to prevent that happening. Either way, this is not an issue that will go away.

In this context, the announcement that Exide intend to close their battery plant in Bolton is even more outrageous. If we are to successfully tackle climate change, the ability to store and move energy will be crucial, so that power can be generated from low-carbon sources and used where it is needed.

Nobody can be left under any illusion that this government has any commitment to protecting manufacturing jobs or the environment. But that doesn't mean they can't be forced to act if the campaigns are strong enough.



Monday 3 August 2009

Minutes of UNITE Executive Council meetings

I'm pleased to see the minutes are now being published on the union's web site.

There's an inevitable delay, as they can't be published until agreed at the subsequent EC meeting.



Sunday 2 August 2009

UNITE conference dates

Despite the last EC meeting (nearly a month ago now) agreeing to my proposal that the dates and arrangements for all the conferences etc should be posted on the union web site, this still hasn't happened as far as I can see, even though some conferences have already been held.

These are the dates I've been told so far for the EEE sector Regional Industrial Sector Conferences are:

  • North East, Yorks & Humber: UPDATE: 10th September 2009
  • Wales: 14th September 2009
  • North West: 15th September 2009
  • South West: 16th September 2009
  • West Midlands: 17th September 2009
  • South East: 19th September 2009 (NB: union web site says 12th September, so worth checking)
  • East Midlands: 21st September 2009
  • Ireland: 24th September 2009
  • London & Eastern: TBC
  • Scotland: TBC
If you get any updates, please let me know and I'll post them here to encourage attendance.

I haven't got any of the dates for the IT & Communications sector yet.

Update on ITC Regional Industrial Sector Conferences (from UNITE web site):
  • South West: 7th September 2009
  • Wales: 7th September 2009
  • West Midlands: 8th September 2009
  • South East: 19th September 2009
  • East Midlands: 21st September 2009
  • North East, Yorkshire & Humber: 21st September 2009

For details of the constituencies etc for the conferences, please see my report from the July EC meeting.

In the North West, I've also heard:
  • Manchester Area Activists: 10th September 2009
  • NW Disabled Conference: 7th October 2009
  • NW Women's Conference: 8th October 2009
  • NW Black & Minority Ethnic (BAME) Conference: 9th October 2009
  • NW LGBT Conference: 12th October 2009



UNITE equality structures

There's a helpful piece on the UNITE web site explaining the new equality structures.

I particularly like the diagram:
This particular picture is worth several thousand words!

If you're eligible for any of the equality structures, please make sure you get involved.



Pensions fight hots up - IBM & Fujitsu

If the posts to the "Association of Members of IBM UK Pension Plans" forums are anything to go by, there is an astonishing growth of union membership at IBM, once a bastion of non-unionism.

It's good to see UNITE working to ensure that this builds organisation, not just membership, with UNITE meetings open to all IBM staff organised for:

  • 7pm on Wed 5th Aug, in the Holiday Inn (M3 junction 13), Leigh Road, Eastleigh, S050 9PG.
  • Midlands on Thu 6th or Fri 7th Aug.
  • A meeting in Scotland is being also discussed.


Meanwhile we at Fujitsu start our consultative industrial action ballot over pay and pensions this week. If you'd like to send us a message of support, click on the link below to see the email address:
supp...@..union.org.uk

I'm pleased to say that our sister union in Fujitsu, PCS, is balloting its members too - unity is strength!

For more information about our campaign, see www.ourunion.org.uk.



Friday 24 July 2009

Save Vestas - solidarity needed

The occupation and campaign to save the Vestas wind turbine factory in the Isle of Wight continues. It is vital that the courage of the workers occupying the factory is quickly matched by solidarity from across the trade union and environmental movements.

Given the ease with which the government could use billions of our cash to bail out the city (the very same people who are now baying for public spending cuts to pay for our help), there can be no excuse for government inaction in this case. It's not good enough to privatise the profits and nationalise the debts. We must demand intervention for jobs and the planet, that should be a higher priority than rescuing the financial markets from a self-inflicted disaster.

I was pleased to be able to join the solidarity demonstration outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Tuesday. More protests and activity is planned all round the country. Make sure you've sent in a message of support, taken a collection etc.

The campaign now has an excellent web site:
http://savevestas.wordpress.com/
It is being updated frequently with reports, plans and ways you can help.



Recognition win at Procter & Gamble

I reported in January on the campaign to win union recognition at Procter & Gamble, and the anti-union tactics being used by P&G.

It's great news that the campaign has been successful.

Well done to the members at P&G - this proves it is possible to win - even against real opposition.



Monday 20 July 2009

Vestas - another occupation!

I've just heard that workers at the Vestas wind-turbine factory in the Isle of Wight have gone into occupation against the plan to close the plant and make the workers redundant at the end of the month.

The workers are demanding that Gordon Brown steps in (as if it were a troubled bank) to save the jobs so they can keep making wind turbine blades. If Brown doesn't save these 600 existing "green jobs" he won't have any credibility talking about creating 40,000 new ones.

Apparently there is a large solidarity picket starting outside the factory.

Please send messages of support to savevestas@gmail.com.

After the progress made by occupations at Waterford and Visteon, let's make sure that Vestas workers get the support they need to win.



Thursday 16 July 2009

Revolt at IBM over pensions

I posted previously about IBM joining the disreputable band of companies reneging on their promises to employees and trying to close their final salary pension schemes.

Given IBM's history as a bastion of non-trade-unionism, I didn't really expect IBMers to put up much of a fight. It's beginning to look like I might be wrong - the feeling of betrayal amongst long-serving and loyal employees seems to be overcoming a lot of the suspicions and misconceptions about unions.

An employee forum meeting at the Hursley site near Southampton on Tuesday had to be relocated twice to larger venues, eventually being held in an open area with about 150 staff present. Criticism of senior management was greeted with loud applause.

Large numbers of staff are now joining UNITE and it's great to see an IBM section of the union web site carrying lots of advice and updates for IBMers.

You can get a real sense of the depth and breadth of anger if you look at the forums on the web site of the Association of Members of IBM UK Pension Plans (AMIPP). You can also see how quickly people can grasp the need for collective organisation when faced with such a major threat to their livelihoods.

Last month IT & Communications had the highest recruitment rate of any sector in the former Amicus section of UNITE, which is truly remarkable when you consider what has been going on in Construction or Finance for example. If the reaction of IBM staff is anything to go by, this pattern seems likely to continue.

One of the greatest weapons in the hands of IT services employers when pushing attacks on us is that if we fight back they will lose contracts and we will lose jobs. This seems a much less credible argument if staff at other major IT companies are fighting back at the same time. Of course the real threat to our employment doesn't generally come from losing outsourcing contracts - many staff in the sector have been TUPEd from employer to employer repeatedly as contracts are won and lost. The real threat to jobs comes from employers getting away with jacking up profits at our expense, leaving fewer people doing longer hours under more pressure to cope with more work.



Monday 13 July 2009

UNITE Sector Conferences & Area Meetings

My report on last week's EC meeting, which included quite a lot about the setting up of the new "constitutional" structures. I've since been told that HQ is working on putting all the dates onto the web site, and had a copy of the guidance for officers and staff about Regional Industrial Sector Conferences and Area Activists' Meetings.

The document doesn't cover the Regional Industrial Sector Committees (RISCs) which are to be held immediately after the RIS Conferences, nor the Area Activists' Commitees (AACs) which are to be held immediately after the Area Activists' Meetings. It says these are to be covered in further guidance.

It refers to a standard invitation letter, but I don't have a copy of that yet.

Some key points from the guidance:

Regional Industrial Sector Conferences

  1. All accountable representatives of workers attending a RIS Conference are eligible to vote in elections for the RIS Committee and on any other business conducted.
  2. RIS Conferences can be held on any day of the week, but loss-of-earnings expenses will not be paid.
  3. The invitation letter should identify the constituency the rep is in, include a request for nominations to the RIS Committee and ask for motions.
  4. A branch / workplace can submit one motion to a RIS Conference. Motions must be on industrial and organising business, not general policy.
  5. Nominations for the RIS Committee must be made in advance. Candidates must be nominated by a workplace / branch.
  6. On arrival at the conference, reps will be told which constituency they can vote in and given a ballot paper where appropriate.
  7. For elections in constituencies which group together more than one workplace and the number of nominations exceeds the number of available seats, no workplace can have more than one delegate elected.
  8. Elections are on a first past the post basis.
  9. Where elections through the constituencies do not provide sufficient black and ethnic minority (BAEM) or women delegates, proportionality requirements will be met through the "additional seat" system. These seats are in addition to the number approved by the EC.
Comment: there is no explanation as to what nominations and motions coming from a workplace/branch actually means. In many cases I would presume there will be no branch or workplace meeting between the invitation being sent out and the conference taking place.

Area Activists' Meetings
  1. The same principles as for RIS Conferences generally apply.
  2. Reps may only attend one Area Activists Meeting - the one where their workplace is. If there are particlar reasons for attending the one where you live, this needs Regional Secretary approval.
  3. Unlike for the RIS Committees, proportionality on BAEM and gender is achieved through designated seats rather than reserved seats.
  4. Motions must relate to the organising, campaigning and public policy issues relevant to the particular Area.
  5. In constituencies grouping more than one sector, where the number of nominees exceeds the number of available seats, no sector can have more than one representative elected.



Turn things around - join the union

A rep at work pointed out this excellent video from Johninnit:



Sunday 12 July 2009

Report from July UNITE EC, EEE and ITC sector structures

N.B. This is not an official Unite Report; it is based on my notes of the EC meeting. I believe it to be a fair account of some of the key points and decisions taken (where I give my views about them I make this clear), and I will willingly correct any errors upon receipt of official notification from Unite.

This report is far from exhaustive – many more issues were debated and decisions taken over the three days.

Ian Allinson
UNITE EC member, Electrical Engineering, Electronics & IT
www.iansunitesite.org.uk



[Apologies for the strange effects if you view this in Internet Explorer - a but I haven't time to investigate. Hopefully it's still readable for you]

Constitutional Committees

1. It’s worth referring to the new UNITE rulebook to try to understand this section.

2. The Joint General Secretaries (JGSes) had written out to all officers asking them to check and update the lists of “accountable representatives of workers” (reps etc) at the workplaces they cover.

3. A standard letter has been provided to Regional Secretaries to call the various conferences and meetings, which includes explanation of how nominations and motions will be dealt with. Motions will come from committees, not conferences.

4. Most of the outstanding conference/committee structures which had not been agreed at the previous meetings were agreed (including the EEE sector in the South East and South West regions). A few other issues remain, and it was agreed to resolve these over the next week with the involvement of the relevant EC members.

5. The timetable for setting up constitutional committees had been finalised:

a. 13-26 July: time slot #1 for Regional Industrial Sector Conferences/Committees and Area Activists’ Meetings/Committees.

b. 2-27 September: time slot #2 for Regional Industrial Sector Conferences/Committees and Area Activists’ Meetings/Committees. This slot will also be used for the first Retired Members’ Association (RMA) Regional Coordinating Committee meetings.

c. 2-18 October: Time slot for meetings of Regional Equalities Conferences/Committees and Regional Young Members’ Forums.

d. 19 October – 6 November: Time slot for meetings of Regional Committees, National Industrial Sector Committees (NISCs), National Equalities Committees and RMA National Committee.

e. 23-27 November: National Industrial Sector Conferences (Brighton)

f. 27-30 April 2010: Policy Conference (Manchester)

NOTE: Dates for National Equalities Conferences are still to be determined.

6. Regional Industrial Sector Committees (RISCs), Area Activists’ Committees (AACs) and Regional Equalities Committees are to meet after the conference/meeting from which they are elected.

7. National Industrial Sector Conferences will be elected by and from the RISCs, just as National Industrial Sector Committees (NISCs) are. National Officers are being asked to make proposals for the National Industrial Sector Conferences, to come before the September EC meeting. It is assumed that sectors will include NIS Committee members in the NIS Conference delegation.

8. The initial RISC meeting must elect delegates to the Regional Committee and National Industrial Sector Committee and make nominations to the four Regional Equalities Committees.

9. The EEE and ITC sectors have one seat on each Regional Committee, except in Ireland where sectors are grouped.

10. The initial AAC meeting must elect delegates to the Regional Committee and make nominations to the four Regional Equalities Committees.

11. Each initial RMA Regional Coordinating Committee meeting will elect one observer to the Regional Committee and two delegates to the RMA National Committee (1 ex-Amicus and 1 ex-TGWU for the initial term of office).

12. The initial Regional Equality Committee meetings will elect delegates to the Regional Committees and National Equalities Committees.

13. The initial Regional Young Members’ Forum will elect one observer to the Regional Committee and one Labour Party member to the Regional Political Committee.

14. Standing Orders for Area Activist Meetings were agreed.

15. Because Retired Members’ organisations haven’t been integrated across UNITE, it was agreed that Retired Members Association (RMA) Regional Coordinating Committees should have no more than 20 members and no more than 10 from each former section (i.e. Amicus and TGWU).

16. The question of how branches send motions to policy conference (under rule 12.6) was raised yet again, and the JGS promised to look at it.

17. EC members expressed concern that they had heard that Regional Secretaries had been instructed to organise all Regional Industrial Sector Conferences for Saturdays. This would make it harder for many people to participate, particularly those who had caring responsibilities. The JGSes said that they could be help on any day of the week, but that loss of earnings expenses would not be paid.

18. I asked that the guidelines, details and dates for all the conferences be placed on the union web site, as I was concerned that communication might fail in some cases. This was agreed.

Industrial Business

19. As usual there were written reports from National Officers covering nearly all sectors.

20. Around 229 field engineers below the level of manager in one region of HP (formerly EDS have won recognition for collective bargaining through UNITE. This was won via the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) without the need for a ballot because the membership was above 50%.

21. The two National Officers from Construction gave a verbal report, and at various points during the EC meeting there were discussions about blacklisting, the Lindsey Oil Refinery dispute, the current ballot of members covered by the NAECI agreement and organising around the Olympics. The EC and the Joint General Secretaries were careful to avoid the “British Jobs 4 British Workers” dead-end. During the meeting a crane accident in Liverpool highlighted the serious safety issues which plague the industry.

22. The two National Officers from Civil Air Transport gave a report on the situation at BA. While the airline is clearly in trouble, there are concerns that the company (and Willie Walsh in particular) is out to take on and break the union, rather than to deal with the company’s problems. A branch meeting of over 2000 members had rejected the company’s demands but agreed the proposals from UNITE which offered cost savings at the level the company had originally demanded. Feelings were heightened because a large part of the company’s problems stem from the £350m+ fines for price fixing, caused by senior management, not the workers who are now being asked to pay for it.. UNITE was meeting BA at ACAS during the EC meeting and a lobby of the BA AGM was planned for 14th July.

23. The government is still failing to act effectively to protect jobs in the motor industry. There were reports and discussions including LDV, Vauxhall and Jaguar LandRover. Contrary to earlier hopes, the government has not dropped its opposition to financially supporting short-time working to keep people in jobs.

24. 25,000 jobs have gone in the Finance sector since January, despite the fact that large chunks of the industry are now owned by the taxpayer. The culture of huge packages for top executives while squeezing the workforce has not been changed by the government.

25. I proposed using the recent victories at Visteon, Linamar, Bristol bins and Lindsay etc to put on a tour with rallies around the country to raise the confidence of members and activists, as well as to tackle the issues around the anti-union laws and ECJ rulings. Derek Simpson said this would be considered, possibly using the Regional Industrial Sector Conferences (RISCs). He said a demonstration at the Labour Party conference was also a possibility.

26. There will be a demonstration in Redcar on 18th July against the threat of job cuts at Corus steel.

27. Strikes in South Yorkshire are planned as part of the campaign against zero pay increases at First Bus.

28. Protests were planned in Great Yarmouth and Hull over the abuse of “flags of convenience”, under which some non-EU workers are being paid as little as two Euros an hour.

Strategy For Growth

29. Appointments were approved (on a probationary basis) to many of the new Regional Coordinating Officer (RCO) roles around the country. These are responsible for coordinating the 100% campaign (which aims to strengthen organisation in workplaces where we already have recognition) within the regions. A small number of RCO vacancies to be filled. Concerns were expressed about the low number of female applicants and appointments.

30. Sharon Graham is returning to work (initially 3-days a week) following maternity leave.

31. The EC meeting times were changed to allow EC members to attend the funeral of Mike Brider.

32. A meeting has now been set up to progress the integration of the ex-Amicus organisers.

Legal

33. In May/June 2009, UNITE won £18.9m for members in 2462 personal injury cases and over £870,000 at Employment Tribunals.

34. UNITE’s position of making Equal Pay claims for men in the same position as women who suffered sex discrimination has been vindicated by the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) in the McAvey & ors v South Tyneside Borough Council case.

35. The case UNITE won against Rolls Royce, defending the idea that Length of Service could be included in redundancy selection criteria, has been upheld by the Court of Appeal.

36. The House of Lords has ruled that claims for outstanding holiday pay under the Working Time Regulations can be brought as claims for unlawful deduction from wages. This is helpful because the time limit for claims runs from the last deduction.

Political

37. Recent election results had been dreadful for the Labour Party.

38. UNITE will continue to counter the BNP.

39. Charlie Whelan reported that the Labour Party had no money and was only able to keep going because of the money and guarantees provided by UNITE.

40. Derek Simpson argued that in trying to change the Labour Party, voting power was the key, not money.

41. In response to remarks from EC members about public sector cuts, the anti-union ECJ rulings and BERR’s efforts to circumvent the Agency and Temporary Workers Directive, Derek Simpson argued that there was no alternative to Labour apart from the Tories, who would be worse. He argued that when the government does good things (e.g. dropping Post Office privatisation, renationalising the East Coast mainline, abandoning ID cards) it appears reluctant and so fails to capitalise on them.

42. The expenses scandal has led a lot of MPs to decide to stand down. UNITE’s “reclaim Labour” strategy centres on selection of better candidates. We must make sure the UNITE parliamentary panel (people who want to stand) consists of members who will fight for UNITE policies, rather than UNITE providing more New Labour MPs.

43. UNITE will back the restoration of “contemporary motions” at Labour Party conference.

International

44. Canada had backed away from a Free Trade Agreement with Columbia. It is important to keep up the pressure on the EU to do the same. An EC member reported that there was now a minister prepared to meet a UNITE delegation on this.

45. A report had exposed conditions in a Bangladeshi sweatshop. Pressure had resulted in the customer maintaining the contract and improving conditions, including allowing union access. Where customers terminate contracts and the workers lose their jobs, this discourages workers from blowing the whistle on bad conditions in future.

46. The Scottish TUC had discussed Palestine and agreed a motion for a partial boycott. There seems a reasonable chance of similar progress at the TUC conference in September.

47. Unions had condemned the coup in Honduras, but there was concern about the weak response from the US government. There were concerns that if there wasn’t a strong response in this case, the military might try to overthrow democratic governments in other Latin American countries.

48. There had been no progress on the Miami 5 campaign, but a fringe meeting on the issue is planned for the Labour Party conference.

Finance & Membership

49. The membership report to the EC is still split into Amicus and TGWU, and is not presented in the same way. However, the figures showed the IT & Communications sector having the highest recruitment rate of any sector in the former Amicus.

50. The EC was provided with copies of the accounts for last year and the AR21.

51. It was agreed that the F&GP should look at a new UNITE lay member expenses system and make recommendations to the September EC so that they would be in place before most of the of conferences took place.

52. There’s a plan to do more regular cleansing of membership data. This can’t come soon enough for most activists. I raised a concern that with regionalised membership administration, it was hard for reps in employers with sites in many regions to make updates. Dominic Hook agreed to look into a central point for such queries.

53. A paper was agreed (subject to some rewording) which covered reduced subs rates, including the position of retired members. The main points were:

a. Part-time membership will be defined as “members aged 18 or over who normally work fewer than 21 hours per week” and the subs rate will gradually moved towards 50% of the fulltime rate.

b. Retired members and members unable to work because of permanent disability can choose to be “active” or “non-active”. Active ones will pay the discounted subs rate (see below) and participate in the constitutional structures (where allowed by Rule 6). Non-active ones don’t pay subs, may attend local retired member and branch meetings but cannot vote in these meetings or claim expenses. All members can vote in General Secretary elections. Former TGWU section non-active members at 31st August 2009 retain eligibility for funeral benefit. Members becoming retired or permanently disabled on or after 1st September 2009 must continuously remain “Active” status to retain eligibility for funeral benefit.

c. The discounted subs rate (25p or 0.3 Euros a week) will be for:

i. Members under 18 years of age

ii. Members who are undergoing an apprenticeship or a full time occupational, professional or government training scheme

iii. Members who are in full time higher or further education

iv. Members who are permanently retired from work or are permanently prevented from working on medical grounds but are still “Active” within the union (see b above).

v. Members who are unemployed or who have been prevented from working on medical grounds or are on maternity/paternity leave.

Members paying discounted subs will not be eligible for any ancillary benefits other than funeral benefit. Members paying discounted rate must pay by direct debit.

54. A previous EC meeting had agreed new UNITE subs and benefit rates, to take effect from 1st September. One issue had been raised affecting a large proportion of TGWU members, who would have to choose to go up to a higher subs rate or lose certain ancillary benefits (e.g. funeral benefit). It was agreed to move the funeral benefit into the “Core” benefits rather than it being an “Ancillary” benefit. Other benefits affected will be kept as they are until April 2011 when members will have to decide whether to go for the higher subs rate and retain them or continue “Core” membership level.

55. A report on measures taken by the Amicus section to bring expenditure within subs income was agreed.

56. The EC had a verbal report on the progress of the subcommittee of the Finance & General Purposes Committee (F&GP) which is looking at how UNITE should operate in the future in terms of structure and finance, particularly in the light of the likely impact on membership of rising unemployment.

57.

Miscellaneous

58. Dates and details of UNITE courses should appear on the union web site before the end of July, and come out as a printed brochure not long afterwards.

59. A 12-day workplace reps course syllabus is in place, the intention is to do the same for safety reps next year. All courses from now on will be UNITE, rather than Amicus or TGWU.

60. The EC heard how the Equality and Human Rights Commission had published a report on social housing allocation, which destroyed the myth that immigrants are given preferential treatment. Disgracefully, Labour is still pushing legislation to stop something that isn’t happening, pandering to racist misinformation. The real problem is the shortage of council housing. When Harold McMillan stood for election he promised 250,000 new council homes a year. The figure has recently been running at around 300, so no method of allocation could satisfy demand. We need more housing for all.

61. The September EC will discuss our attitude to the People’s Charter.

Electrical Engineering & Electronics Sector Structures

Regional Industrial Sector Committees

Region

Constituency

Seats

South East

Philips Medical Systems

1

BAE Underwater Systems – Waterlooville

1

NXP Semiconductors

1

Megger Ltd

1

Winterhalter Ltd

1

ITW Switches Europe

1

Prysmian Cables and Systems

1

Searle Manufacturing

1

Morgan Electro Ceramics

1

Dunham Bush

1

Southern Electric Contracting Ltd

1

Siemens Magnet Technology

1

APW Electronics Ltd

1

TOTAL

13

17.8% female, 3.3% BAEM

South West

Siemens

2

Tyco Electronics

2

Chemring Countermeasures

2

Blue Riband/Bootham Engineers

1

SF Ltd

1

Stanley Solutions

1

Universal Engineering

1

Others (inc GE Sensing / South Dorset Engineering)

2

TOTAL

12

Minimum 1 woman, 1 BAEM

East Midlands

Brush

2

Cummins

2

Alston, Cooper Bussman, ITP Engines, Taylor Hobson, Synex, Draka, SMS Electronics

4

Others

2

TOTAL

10

Minimum 1 woman, 1 BAEM

Republic of Ireland

Indesit

1

Mercury

2

Recci

1

Utility O&M Services

1

Others

2

TOTAL

7

Minimum 1 woman, 1 BAEM

Northern Ireland

AVX, Coleraine

2

Nitronica

1

Seagoe

1

Kuehne & Nagel (Carrickfergus)

1

Others

4

TOTAL

9

Minimum 1 woman, 1 BAEM

London & Eastern

Sypher

2

Haetrae Sadia

2

ATB Lawrence Scott

1

BAE Radar

1

CMAC Microcircuits

1

E2V Technologies

2

Man BAW Diesels

1

Ratheon Systems

1

Sanyo Industries

1

Others

2

TOTAL

14

Minimum 2 women, 1 BAEM

North East, Yorkshire & Humberside

PC Henderson

1

George Barker & Co Leeds Ltd

1

Alan Dick UK Ltd

1

Husqvarna UK Ltd

1

Industry group EEEIT

1

Pioneer Electronics Technology UK Ltd

1

Siemens Power Engineering

1

Siemens Power Generations

1

Thorn Lighting Ltd

2

Tridonic Lighting Ltd

1

TT Electronic Manufacturing Services Ltd

1

VA Tech Reyrolle Ltd (T&D) Hebburn

1

Welwyn Components Ltd

1

Other companies

2

TOTAL

16

Minimum 2 women

North West

NXP Stockport

4

Zetex

3

Whitecroft

2

Brimar

2

Alstrom Traction

2

Marconi (sic)

1

ABB Alsthom

1

CMP Batteries

1

Thermo Shandon

1

Victoria Engineering

1

Vosper

1

MEM

1

Emcon Technologies

1

TOTAL

21

Minimum 3 women, 1 BAEM

Scotland

Honeywell

2

Philips

2

NCR

1

Guardhall

1

Allan West

1

Alstom

1

Sunvic

1

Plexus

1

Other companies

6

TOTAL

16

Minimum 3 women

Wales

Eaton Electric Ltd

2

Prysmian Cables

2

Indesit

2

Enersys

2

Sharp

1

Yuassa Batteries

1

Hawker Siddeley

1

AB Connectors

1

Sony

1

Deni Ferranti

1

Honeywell

1

Quartzelec Repair

1

Industry Group

1

Others

1

TOTAL

18

Minimum 1 woman, 1 BAEM

West Midlands

Alstom

1

Avery Berkel

1

Avery Weightronics

1

Areva

3

Dowding Mills

1

Rolls Royce Nuclear

1

Eaton Electric

2

SMS Electronics

1

OLEO

1

Armstrong Atlas

1

Lap Electrical

1

Others

2

TOTAL

16

Minimum 2 women, 1 BAEM

National Industrial Sector Committee

Region

Delegates

Including at least women delegates

Including at least BAEM delegates

East Midlands

3

Ireland

1

London & Eastern

3

1

1

North East & Yorks Humber

4

1

North West

4

1

Scotland

2

South East

1

South West

1

Wales

2

1

West Midlands

4

1

1

TOTAL

25

5

2

IT & Comms Sector

Regional Industrial Sector Committees

Region

Constituency

Seats

East Midlands

IT

8

Comms

2

TOTAL

10

Minimum 2 women, 1 BAEM

Republic of Ireland

Bull

1

NTL

3

Others

3

TOTAL

7

Minimum 1 woman, 1 BAEM

Northern Ireland

Fujitsu

3

Northgate IS

1

Seagate

1

Others

2

TOTAL

7

Minimum 1 woman, 1 BAEM

London & Eastern

12

Minimum 1 woman, 2 BAEM

North East, Yorkshire & Humber

Tunstall Communications

2

Fujitsu

1

Loomis Cash Management

1

Others

5

TOTAL

9

Minimum 1 woman

North West

IT

13

Communications

2

TOTAL

15

Minimum 3 women, 1 BAEM

Scotland

CSC Computer Sciences

1

Loomis Cash Management

1

IPSL

1

Other companies

8

TOTAL

11

Minimum 1 woman

South East

IT

7

Communications and Other

5

TOTAL

12

Minimum 3 women, 1 BAEM

South West

Bournemouth/Poole

2

Bristol

2

Plymouth

2

Other employers/areas

4

TOTAL

10

Minimum 3 women, 1 BAEM

Wales

Panasonic

2

Marconi

1

GIO ES Unilever

1

CSC Computer Sciences

1

Tyco

1

Others

4

TOTAL

10

Minimum 1 BAEM

West Midlands

IT

5

Comms & Other

5

TOTAL

10

Minimum 2 women

National Industrial Sector Committee

Region

Delegates

Including at least women delegates

Including at least BAEM delegates

East Midlands

3

1

Ireland

2

London & Eastern

4

1

1

North East & Yorks Humber

2

North West

4

2

Scotland

2

South East

3

1

South West

2

Wales

2

West Midlands

3

1

TOTAL

27

6

1