UNITE's National Industrial Sector Conferences

Every two years, UNITE holds an National Industrial Sector Conference for each of its sectors. These set the policy for the sectors of the union, as well as being a useful opportunity for reps from across the sector to meet up, share information and discuss key issues.

These are due to take place in Brighton over four days:

Monday	(AGS Diana Holland)
28 November:	CAT Docks, Rail, Ferries & Waterways Passenger RTC, Logistics and Retail Distribution Food Drink & Tobacco Rural & Agriculture
Tuesday	(AGS Tony Burke)
29 November:	Aerospace & Shipbuilding Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Process & Textiles Electrical Engineering & Electronics Metals (inc Foundry) Vehicle Building and Automotive Graphical, Paper and Media
Wednesday	(AGSs Gail Cartmail & Tony Burke)
30 November:	Finance & Legal Energy & Utilities IT & Communications Motor Components Servicing & General Industries
Thursday	(AGS Gail Cartmail)
1 December:	Community, Youth Workers & Not For Profit Construction Education Health Local Authorities MoD & Government Depts

Delegates to these conferences are elected from the Regional Industrial Sector Committees (RISCs), and occasionally from National Industrial Sector Committees (NISCs). RISC delegates must be notified to the conference office by 3rd October. NISC delegates must be notified to the conference office by 31st October.

These elections are from the existing RISCs - elections to form new RISCs have been delayed into the new year. The September EC meeting is expected to decide on arrangements.

Two measures are in place to deal with the fact that not all RISCs are working well:

1. "in those Regions where we have struggled to establish a RISC that meets with any frequency that methods with some democratic legitimacy (eg, the convening of a special or extraordinary meeting of the RISC during September) should be used to fill the seats allocated to the Sector."
2. Normally, RISCs must elect the national conference delegates from amongst the RISC members, but "in those Regions where we have struggled to establish a RISC that meets with any frequency that methods with some democratic legitimacy (eg, the convening of a special or extraordinary meeting of the RISC during September) should be used to fill the seats allocated to the Sector."

The IT & Comms sector is entitled to a National Industrial Sector Conference of 30 delegates including at least 6 women and 2 Black Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAEM) delegates. The allocation is as follows:

• East Midlands: 4 (including at least one woman)
• Ireland: 2
• London & Eastern: 5 (including at least one woman and one BAEM delegate)
• North East, Yorks and Humber: 2 (including at least one woman)
• North West: 5 (including at least one woman)
• Scotland: 2 (including at least one woman)
• South East: 4 ((including at least one woman)
• South West: 2
• Wales: 2
• West Midlands: 2 (including at least one BAEM delegate)

Please do everything you can to ensure a fully-attended conference so that it can do an effective job on behalf of the members.

Each NISC and RISC is entitled to submit TWO motions on industrial business pertinent to their Sector for consideration by their National Industrial Sector Conference. The deadlines for sending in the motions to the conference office are the same as for delegate details.

The motions are a crucial part of setting the agenda for conference, so I would encourage every rep to consider submitting a motion before your RISC meets. If you aren't on the RISC yourself, there's nothing to stop you sending a motion in for the RISC to consider - these committees are there to represent the membership, not just the individuals on them.

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UNITE and PCS strikes at Fujitsu come closer

UNITE members at Fujitsu Crewe have been taking industrial action over the victimisation of Alan Jenney, one of their reps, since 30 June. On Wednesday PCS announced the result of its ballot of members in Fujitsu (mostly in Telford, Swansea and Netherton) which is over pay. Yesterday UNITE announced the result of its ballot of members covered by the Fujitsu Manchester Recognition Agreement, over the breakdown of industrial relations, union busting, breaches of agreements and victimisation of reps.

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Union wage premium up for the second year running

Last year I posted on the increase to the "union wage premium", which is defined as the percentage difference in average hourly earnings of union members with non-members.

The new Trade Union Membership 2010 includes figures for the union wage premium based on wages in the last quarter of 2010. It shows the premium rose again in 2010, now standing at 16.7%, with union members earning an average of £14 an hour compared to £12 an hour ofr non-members. Predictably, the gap in the public sector, where union density (and therefore power) is higher, is greater, standing at 21.1% compared to 6.7% in the private sector.

It's interesting to see the sharp rise in the premium since 2008, which I would guess is thanks to union members faring better than non-members at resisting downward pressure on pay through the recession.

These figures deserve much greater prominence than they get - they represent a strong argument for union membership and make union subs (typically a fraction of 1% of pay) look like very good value for money.

The report also contains much that should concern trade unionists. The decline in the proportion of employees whose pay is affected by a collective agreement since 2007 is dramatic. In the public sector this has fallen from 72% in 2007 to 64.5% in 2010, and in the private sector from 20% to just 16.8%. This is much worse than the decline in union density (the proportion of employees in unions) which has declined from 27.6% to 26.3% in the same period, suggesting that the proportion of union members not covered by collective bargaining is growing. If this was the result of mass recruitment in unorganised workplaces, that would be one thing, but in the context of declining membership, it should sound alarm bells about workplace organisation.

Overall, the picture painted by the report is of unions being increasingly effective in defending workers' living standards, but failing to involve workers in that process and seeing their base dwindle as a result.

All the unions that took part in the strikes on 30 June reported significant numbers of recruits. Unions need to show working people that they are serious about resisting cuts and austerity if they are to grow and win - the idea that we grow first and then resist later flies in the face of the whole experience of trade union history.

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