TUC 2012: Monday morning

Day 2 of TUC Congress at Brighton. This morning I went for a very quick run along the beach while listening to Radio 4 "Today". The Congress was the second item on the news headlines after a report on last nights Paralympic closing ceremony.

Outgoing TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber was interviewed live by John Humphrys who repeatedly tried to suggest that trade unions have had their day and are old fashioned and ineffectual. Brendan saw him off. The suggestion that the union’s only plan for the economy is mass strike action is laughable but typical of silly media stereotyping.

Congress started at 9.30. There was a Dixieland jazz "improvisation" band playing beforehand. Appropriately of course they were playing "When the saints come marching in" as delegates entered the hall.

Brendan gave his keynote speech. He used the example of the Olympics to hammer those who think that "the market knows best" and "you can’t pick winners". Targeted funding resulted in Gold medals for British atheletes and the debacle over GS4 security showed that the public sector can actually be better than the private sector. Brendan received a well deserved standing ovation.

Debates this morning on Anti-Austerity campaign, The Economy and Health.

Trade Union Congress 12: Sunday afternoon

Picture of UNISON delegate Gordon McKay seconding the composite motion on "Trade Union and Employment Rights" at the start of Trade Union Congress 2012. Gordon finished his speech by offering some rather rude travel advice to Tories.

"Congress is the policy making body of the TUC, and meets each year during September. Each affiliated union can send delegates to Congress - the larger the union, the more it can send. At Congress 'motions' (resolutions for debate) are proposed and discussed. These form the basis of the TUC's work for the next year".

You can check out the TUC blogs and tweets here.  The hashtag is  #tuc12. You even watch it live online.

The UNISON delegation had a pre-meeting at 3pm where we decided whether to support or not motions up before Congress where we haven't so far made a decision. Conference started at 4pm. There was a lobby outside Congress and delegates were greeted with the traditional welcome chant "TUC get off your knees... General Strike Now".  

The President of Congress, GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny, chairs the meeting. A more relaxed and tolerant chair than others I have seen over the years. He even gently told off Unite GS Len McCluskey, for speaking longer than he should have done.

Composite 4 is on "Illegal Corporate Bullying" and describes the secret "blacklisting" of trade union and safety reps by the construction industry.  Which meant that many activists were refused employment for many years if not decades. Motion 16 on "Hidden Courts" was about concern over Justice and Security Bill.

5pm Paul Kenny addressed Congress and reminded us of the role of his predecessor Will Thorne in the formation of the unions. People should be proud of unions and the social justice they have created. Paul introduced the new TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady and gave thanks to the outgoing GS Brendan Barber.

At UNISON conferences we leave the teasing of the President until the end. Congress starts at the beginning. Paul was praised for being the "best ducker and diver in the trade union movement" by Gail Cartmail.  A point agreed with relish by Bob Crow who also thought Paul despite being a Millwall FC fan was a "decent bloke".

Battery in my laptop now running out.  Will try and post further tomorrow.

TUC Congress 2011

I’m here at Congress House for the TUC Congress 2011. I am a member of the UNISON delegation from the NEC. This is the first time I have been a delegate to conference although I did go as a visitor a few years ago. I’ll try and post as often as I can during th enext few days. The TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber was the first speaker (see picture).

He spoke about the history of this building which was bought as a home for the TUC for £25,000 during the Second World War on a 999 year lease. This is the first Congress to be held in London since 1902. Two years previously the Labour Party had been formed. He condemned the recent riots and pointed out the vast majority of victims were frightened ordinary people in working class communities. The cuts are not to blame for the riots but is obvious that they will make the underlying causes worse. The government says nothing about the morale disintegration of the rich. The super tax breaks that steal from hospitals and schools.

The cuts are “hurting” but are not “working”. In America the President has a new initiative to promote growth but is being opposed by the republicans. It is about time that the Tea Party crazies woke up and smelt the coffee. Growth is the answer to the deficit. The government is putting the long term pension security of public sector workers at risk for the short term cut in the deficit. Brendan called for affiliates to help form a mass movement for an alternative that no government cam ignore and build on the diversity of anti-cuts campaign.

TIGMOO 2010: “This Great Movement Of Ours”

I’m trying to follow the TUC conference which is taking place this week in Manchester as best as you can from London. I thought the call beforehand by Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU for radical reform of the TUC and the wider movement was a breath of fresh air.

Yes, we should have only one union per sector. Easier said than done of course - what sector are private companies in that also run public services? But it is a complete nonsense to have two, three, four or even more recognised trade unions in the same organisation. Good employers are confused and frustrated about who to negotiate with and bad employers openly boast about being able to “divide and conquer”.

I’m not sure about having a directly "elected" TUC General Secretary by all members since essentially Congress is a coalition of independent trade unions who also hold all the TUC purse skins. Sally rather accurately compared the current process of electing a TUC leader with that of the “Pope”. If we did go down the road of direct elections I think you would find if it came to the push, that like the Pope, the TUC Secretary would not have any “divisions” or real power.

Yes, definitely to Sally’s ideas about setting targets and priorities over achieving the holy grail of increasing density and membership. Density and internal organisation (the number of trained local stewards/safety reps backed by effective national union resources) is absolutely the most important issue that should be debated at Congress. Everything else is actually secondly. Without density and organisation we can achieve nothing and resist nothing.

Personally (since I have it on unreliable evidence that I love the sound of my own voice) I wouldn’t get rid totally of the conference “motion based format” but I think we need to change the emphasis to building and organising.

This morning while listening to my Walkman while running (aka jogging very slowly) around my beloved Wanstead Flats I heard TUC Secretary, Brendan Barber, being interviewed on “Today” by a rather over dramatic, John Humphrys, who was on Daily Mail Lite mode trying to provoke Brendan to say something stupid. He didn’t fail into this trap and came over I think very well – as a modern, sensible, thoughtful and constructive trade union leader. He made it very, very clear that TIGMOO will not be bankrupting itself in a series of glorious defeats but can and will, mobilise effective and telling industrial action and political opposition to the cuts.

Some trade unionists (and the Daily Mail) will be disappointed that he did not bang the Radio 4 podium with his shoe and threaten to bury the Condems. But until we build our density and organisation we cannot threaten what we cannot deliver. What the wider Labour Movement and its allies can deliver is widespread, co-ordained and SMART opposition which will include targeted industrial action.

We are ironically facing an opportunity and not only a threat. UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, speaks about the Raison d'être of Unions and that they are there for the bad times not just the good. Surely, now we are all facing this massive threat of cuts that there cannot be anyone in work who cannot say, hand on heart, they do not need to join a trade union? We recruit and organise or die.

(picture is of the first General Secreatry of the TUC - Mr C W Bowerman in a rather modern pose!)

TUC pensions conference: “Weathering the Economic Storm”

Live post from Congress House. Pension conferences are a bit like London buses (under Boris). Yesterday I was at the Dutch TUC over pensions and today I am with some of the same UNISON colleagues at the British TUC over similar issues.

The TUC conference is the major pension event of the year for trade union trustees and representatives. There was some direct linkage. TUC General Secretary Brendon Barber mentioned in his keynote speech about poor corporate governance being a major cause of the current financial crisis. So in the Q&A after new Pensions minister Angela Eagle spoke - I put my hand up. My question was to ask the minister to support the long standing trade union policy of having really independent directors sitting on company boards. Particularly in financial services - appointed by pension funds who could bring to Boards the "common sense" trustee approach to stop companies taking excessive risk and paying excessive executive pay.

Angela gave a guarded but interesting reply. She supported the idea of “independent and fearless” voices on Boards who would ask the awkward questions and stand up to experts. She mentioned that the Chancellor is concerned about this issue. She then asked Brendan to respond further. Brendan took the opportunity to gently point out that the Government had recently missed an important trick over this issue by not appointing any truly independent people to run the UKFI which looks after government share holdings in the nationalised Banks. “Bankers to run Bankers” who recently approved the massive pay package for the new CEO of RBS. Governance is key and the government needs to give a new lead.

I think that the unions need to push this issue hard, also the Labour Party needs to dust off industrial democracy policies and think afresh. Better regulation is not enough, independent shareholder directors appointed by owners are desperately needed to see off the next financial crisis. Tinkering around the edges is not going to work and this is politically more clear red water between Labour and the Tories.

Responsible Trade Union Trustees needed to Save the World (II)

I was hoping to be the first to post on this TUC press release but as usual Tom P beat me to it. Check out his post here on the call that: -

1. Pension funds should insert a “do no harm” clause into their statement of investment principles (SIP), requiring fund managers and other advisers to satisfy trustees that their investment decisions are not causing systemic harm to the stability of the financial system and therefore to the long term interests of their beneficiaries.

2. Institutional investors, particularly the large pension funds, should sign up to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) as soon as possible. The PRI sets out a series of broad commitments for the engagement of investors with firms around corporate governance, environmental and social performance; it now has over 400 signatories, representing US$15 trillion in assets.

3. A collective reporting and monitoring body should be established to ensure institutional investors are acting on commitment 1. One way to do this would be to broaden the remit of the Investment Governance Group set up as a result of the recent review of the Myners Principles.

This has the support of some serious heavy duty folk. My view has always been that investment governance failures has contributed to the present day economic crisis.

Now we have “TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee John McFall MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Terry Rooney MP, Chief Executive of the Work Foundation Will Hutton, founder of Hermes Stewardship Services and author of The New Capitalists David Pitt-Watson, FairPensions Executive Director Catherine Howarth, Ethical Investment Research Service (EIRIS) Executive Director Peter Webster, Pensions Investment Research Consultants (PIRC) Managing Director Alan MacDougall, HERMES Equity Ownership Services Chief Executive Officer Colin Melvin, RSA Chief Executive Matthew Taylor and Head of Responsible Investment at CIS Asset Management Ian Jones” .

Who all agree for action and are calling for the the economy to rebuilt on these principles and to prevent any repetition of this disaster.

Picture above is of some of my fellow UNISON Capital Stewardship pension reps who are all ready to do their bit and are waiting for the call.

World Day for Decent Work: Think Global Act Union

Today is the World Day for Decent Work (WDDW) which is a new designated international trade union campaigning “Day” to promote the concept of decent work.

I went to a series of workshops at the TUC, Congress House. There were events in over 100 countries today.

At Congress house we had international trade union representatives from all over the world, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber (speech here); TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O'Grady (speech); TUC General Councillor Paul Talbot (and Unite Assistant General Secretary) (speech) and many others.

There were loads of NGO’s speakers and stalls as well.

This is what the WDDW website had to say about the day:-
“As every person should be able to have a job that enables them to live a good life in which their basic needs are met, decent work is the focus for World day for decent Work (WDDW). This is an opportunity for trade unions and organisations to join a broad global mobilisation involving a large number of people and a wide range of activities. The activities can be connected with three major themes: Rights at work, a theme dealing with the rights of working women and men; Solidarity, a theme focused on practical action involving cooperation between affiliates on a bilateral or multilateral basis; and Ending Poverty and Inequality, a theme emanating from the new globalisation”.

I have made some notes and will try and post later on about the workshops I attended. Some very good stuff.

I also met for the first time face to face (as opposed to virtual) top “UK Labor geek” TIGMOO and Johninnit blogger John W, who was rushing around organising a WDDW event on “Second Life”.

I’ve stolen the slogan (and main picture above) “Think Global Act Union” from the “Professionals Union” Prospect. Sue Ferns (head of research) used it at the “Decent Work and Human Rights” workshop. There were jokes made by other panel members that they will also “appropriate” this slogan since it is so absolutely encapsulates the spirit of international trade unionism.

After all if property is theft.....

TUC Member Trustee Network annual conference

Plug for “Taking the long view - Effective pension trusteeship in uncertain times”. You can say that again.

This is the annual conference organised by the TUC for members of its pension trustees network. I missed last year due to a clash with UNISON conference. But in previous years they have always been very good and informative events.

“Keynote addresses from James Purnell, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; Robert Peston, BBC Business Editor; and Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary, will look at the UK and global context.

Workshop sessions will provide an opportunity for more detailed discussion of key issues, including scheme funding, DC governance, responsible investment and alternative investment strategies”.

You can get a booking form here

Corporate Killing Law in force from Tomorrow.

From tomorrow (Sunday) the new Corporate Manslaughter and Cooperate Homicide Act 2007 comes into force.

The TUC broadly welcome the Act. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber is quoted as saying “'Too often in the past senior executives have been taken an overly casual approach towards the safety of their employees...... 'Although unions would have preferred to see the new law make individual company directors personally liable for safety breaches at work and for it to have introduced tougher penalties against employers found guilty of workplace safety crimes, we hope the Corporate Manslaughter Act will see the start of a change in the safety culture at the top of the UK's companies and organisations.

'The new law would be tougher if it were accompanied by a new legal health and safety duty on directors and a requirement on companies to report annually on their workplace safety culture.'

The safety pressure group “Centre for Corporate Accountability” (CCA) are disappointed that the Act will only apply to deaths that occur after April 5 (and all the evidence supporting the allegation must also take place after this date). This will mean that it will probably be at least until 2010 before any large organisation charged. In the meantime the old common law offence of manslaughter will still of course apply.

By co-incidence “Inside Housing” leads on a Police corporate manslaughter investigation into the high profile housing association “Notting Hill” and House builders, Barrets, following the death of 26 year old Elouise Littlewood. She died in her brand new “shared ownership” home from suspected carbon monoxide poisoning only 2 months after moving in.

It is also only 3 weeks before this years Workers Memorial Day.

“Best Christmas present”....Justice 4 Pensioners

...and so say all of us (quote about best crimbo present from TUC Brendan Barber).

A little late (as was the announcement by the government) but excellent news on Monday about the rescue plan for pensioners whose final salary pension schemes have collapsed. This £2.9 Billion package will help an estimated 140,000 people.

The Labour government financial commitment to supporting failed pension schemes is now worth £12.5 billion. The real hero’s are the pension action groups, the unions and the TUC for lobbying and keeping up the pressure.

Most pension and many trade union or political meetings I have attended in recent years have had well organised pensioner pickets outside the venue (and co-incidentally it was one of my first posts). Well done also to respected pensions minister Mike O’Brien.

Of course, the Labour government has not covered itself in glory in its handling of this affair (until recently that is). However, I think that this type of intervention is “clear red water” between the Labour and Conservative Party’s.

The damage done to ordinary working people during 18 years of Tory misrule, particularly over pensions was colossal. We are still paying the price today and so will future generations.

The Tories failed to properly regulate pension’s scheme and to set up any protection for employees if their sponsor companies failed. This was due to a blind, dogmatic and misplaced trust “in the market”.

This week a close friend who suffers from serious health problems remarked that he was pleased that when he joined the company it was compulsory to join the pension scheme. If it had not been a condition of employment (bringing up 4 young children) he wouldn’t have joined. He pointed out that nowadays many people choose not to join the scheme despite its benefits and asked why did the government (Thatcher) change the law?

The only honest answer is again this fundamentalist belief in the “invisible hand” superiority of the individual against any form of collective action. Personal pensions were an absolute disastrous “choice” compared to company pension schemes.

The personal Pension accounts and its quasi-requirement for compulsory contributions from employers is a step in the right way. More please Gordon, more.