"Trade unions are more vital than ever - so why is the government attacking them?"

Hat tip Frances O'Grady - TUC General Secretary "PoliticsHome"

"As 2022 begins, a pandemic is raging, nearly a million workers are on zero-hours contracts, two million workers have no right to sick pay and five million earn less than the real living wage. And yet the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, is making imposing new red tape on unions his workplace priority – and quietly tabling new anti-union legislation in Parliament.

The proposals would impose a levy on trade unions and allow five-figure fines for breaching complex trade union laws.

That’s money from the pockets of care workers, nurses and supermarket staff.

All the while, union members are on the frontline line of the coronavirus pandemic, working in schools, hospitals, shops, in public transport and in the services we all rely on.

Millions have turned to unions to protect their jobs, defend their rights and keep their workplaces safe.

Their unions have worked hard to support them in turn. But now valuable union time and money will be diverted, as unions are forced to jump through yet more hoops.

Now is the time to be working with unions, not undermining them

Let’s be frank. These reforms are based on ideology rather than being about solving the problems working people face.

Political parties don't pay a levy for the Electoral Commission. Charities don't fund the Charity Commission. Yet unions face a whopping seven-figure bill to pay for their regulator, the Certification Officer.

The government's own figures show that this levy will send dozens of unions into the red. And there is little to stop the Certification Officer hiking the levy year after year. Ministers have even dropped a promised review clause aimed at protecting unions from over-zealous regulation.

Then there are the huge financial penalties which could hit unions – fines of up to £20,000 for statutory breaches – which address a problem that doesn’t exist.

In the last financial year, the Certification Officer dealt with just 34 complaints. That's just one for every 200,000 union members. And not one of these resulted in an enforcement order requiring a union to take action.

That’s because unions are accountable to their members through their democratic structures and have a strong track record of complying with their legal duties.

What’s more, these changes would allow non-members to make complaints to the Certification Officer about trade unions. It doesn’t take much imagination to see the work of unions being hindered by vexatious complaints from hostile employers or campaign groups, particularly during legitimate industrial disputes.

The curious timing of these measures is underlined by the fact that this legislation is a relic of another age. Ministers at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy have dusted off long-forgotten measures from the Cameron government’s 2016 Trade Union Act that were not enacted.

It begs the question – why now? This isn’t the case of simply tying up loose ends. If it was, ministers would have dealt with another outstanding issue from the Trade Union Act 2016: boosting union members’ democratic participation by trialling safe and secure electronic balloting for more union votes, such as the election of general secretaries.

It is telling of the government’s real concerns that they can spend valuable parliamentary time on new anti-union rules.

But the long-promised employment bill, intended to tackle insecure work and promote flexible working in the wake of Brexit, is still nowhere to be seen.

It’s time this government got its priorities right. 

Now is the time to be working with unions, not undermining them. Around the world – from New Zealand to the US – governments are recognising the power of collective bargaining.

Next year, Parliament will debate and vote on these explicitly anti-union proposals. When that moment comes, MPs and peers should reject them wholesale – and instead join with unions and their members in delivering better pay and conditions for working people in every corner of the country".

 

Labour and TUC call for ‘fire and rehire’ ban as part of new work vision

 End of lockdown a chance for people to reassert control, say Frances O’Grady and Angela Rayner

People will have an opportunity to wrest back control over their working lives when the country emerges from the pandemic, but the government must do more to help by immediately outlawing practices such as ‘fire and rehire’, prominent trade union and political figures have said.

Frances O’Grady, the head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and the new shadow secretary of state for the future of work, Angela Rayner, called for a reset in the relationships between employers and staff as they each set out visions for the future of work.

“The pandemic has raised these pretty profound questions about our values and it’s held up a mirror to Britain on inequalities that were there long before, but have been magnified by it,” O’Grady said.

“It is a chance for us to say: ‘Do we really think it’s right that all the risk is on the shoulder of the workers and that people who do the most valuable work very often get paid the least?’”

Rayner attacked the government for failing to deliver the promised employment bill that ministers had indicated would secure the rights workers have enjoyed during the UK’s membership of the EU, saying its absence “exposes the gaping hole between Tory rhetoric and action”.

She said: “Coming out of this pandemic, there is an urgent need for stronger employment rights and protections, yet without a bill the inequality and injustice that exists in our economy as a result of the Tories’ failure to protect working people will only get worse.”

Millions of people have seen fundamental changes to the way they work during the pandemic and that has led many to reassess how they want to work in future – as well as how they value the work of others.

There was widespread condemnation of government plans to offer only a 1% pay rise to NHS staff in England this year. And there are calls to broaden the definition of key worker to include, for example, the supermarket staff who helped keep a locked-down country fed – and to give them priority access to cheaper housing, as well as a living wage and better working conditions.

“If we really want to thank key workers, show that through their pay packets,” O’Grady said.

Key in any revision of the way the country works, O’Grady said, must be to increase and broaden statutory sick pay, which she said has proven insufficient to allow people on low pay to self-isolate for the good of the public.

For years, the government had identified a pandemic as one of the biggest risks facing the UK. National security would be threatened by maintaining statutory sick pay at a level that did not allow everyone to self-isolate if needed, the TUC’s head warned.

O’Grady said she was optimistic people would use the experience of the past year to assert greater control over their working lives, stressing that the focus would need to extend far beyond simply allowing city-based office workers to work from home.

People in all types of workplaces could benefit from being able to fit work around their lives, including by gaining the right to regular hours, more job-sharing and flexi-time, as well as greater freedom to swap shifts, she said.

O’Grady added: “The trick is realising we can only do that collectively. And that’s the challenge, which I’m optimistic about.” While she called on workers to use the trade union movement to help win such rights, both O’Grady and Rayner said the government had a major role to play.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it was “committed to protecting and enhancing workers’ rights”. A spokesperson added: “In the past year alone, we have taken vigorous action, from introducing parental bereavement leave, to protecting new parents on furlough, to giving millions a pay rise through a higher minimum wage.”

However, the minimum wage is still well below what campaigners say is needed when measured against the cost of living.

The spokesperson added: “The government is committed to bringing forward an employment bill to further protect and enhance workers’ rights to build a high skilled, high productivity, high wage economy that delivers on our ambition to make the UK the best place in the world to work and grow a business.”

But Labour’s deputy leader cited the example of fire and rehire, under which staff are forced to accept worse conditions in order to keep their jobs, as one area where ministers must do more, calling it an “appalling and bullying practice”. The prime minister has denounced it as unacceptable but Rayner demanded that he “outlaw it without any further delay”.

She added: “For years, many companies have used bogus self-employment to deny their workers sick pay, annual leave and other basic protections, in arrangements that are specially designed so companies can dodge their legal and moral responsibility to treat their staff with dignity and respect.”

Both women agreed that the shared experience of the pandemic should be the catalyst for fundamental change".

Hat tip The Guardian

"Uber treating their drivers as workers must set a precedent for the rest of the gig economy" TUC Frances O'Grady

Hat tip I "Late on Tuesday, Uber announced that it would pay the national minimum wage, pensions and holiday pay to drivers.

Now Uber drivers and trade unions are celebrating. A long legal battle and patient organising has paid off. Not only has Uber lost in the Supreme Court, they been forced to respect their workers’ basic rights.

Uber’s PR machine has gamely sought to present these changes as a generous offer to their drivers. The reality is that they were forced into conceding fair terms and conditions by years of trade union campaigning.

For years Uber has claimed it is just a technology business, rather than a minicab operator. It argued that its drivers were self-employed, and so had no employment rights. The courts disagreed – and Uber has been forced to act to give workers the rights they should have had from the outset.

Workers and their unions will scrutinise the small print on Uber’s new offer. It’s already clear that there are significant gaps.

A key problem is about working time: the Supreme Court decided that a driver should be paid for the whole time they are logged into the Uber app and thus available for bookings. But Uber’s changes mean that they will only be paid once they have accepted a booking. We do not believe that Uber should be able to do this.

Uber’s abrupt U-turn is just the latest stage in the battle to ensure that all work – including in the gig economy – is decent work.

Boris Johnson has promised to “protect and enhance” employment rights. He announced an employment bill to do exactly that, in the 2019 Queen’s speech. The proposed legislation has yet to appear.

Meanwhile, the courts keep finding that all workers have rights. But court battles are costly, inefficient and time-consuming. Workers shouldn’t have to go to court to secure their basic legal entitlements.

So the Government should get on with fixing enforcement so that employers know that if they break the law they will be caught. They should legislate for the presumption that every worker has workers’ rights and worker status. Then the onus is on the company to prove they don’t.

And they should give employment tribunals the power to make binding wider recommendations. That will mean that companies, having lost in court, have to implement all of the judges’ findings, and can’t cherry pick. And other similar employers would have to follow the judgement too.

Uber’s court defeat should serve as a reminder: it is not up to employers to decide when protection applies to those who work for them. All workers have rights. And there is no trade-off between rights and flexibility. Just because an individual worker can choose when and if to work, they don’t lose their employment rights.

Gig economy operators often pose as shiny innovative tech firms. But in reality, it’s the same old story. The drivers and couriers idling unpaid, waiting for a booking, are today’s day labourers, assembling at the gates of the factory or dockyard hoping that there may be some work today.

So our message today to Uber, and to all the other gig economy firms that say their workers are self-employed: we are watching and it is our opinion that your employment models are outside the law.

Recognise your workers’ unions, get round the table with us, and come to a deal that protects workers’ rights in your company or we could keep taking you to court. With every victory, the number of union members in your companies grows. One day soon, you will have to sit down and negotiate with your workers’ unions.

You may be start-ups from the last decade. But we have fought for workers’ rights for a century and a half. Unions are not going anywhere. Treat your workers fairly.

Frances O’Grady is General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress

"Sports Direct cannot be allowed to mark their own homework"

Check out the press release below from the TUC about rotten employer "Sports Direct" whose company AGM is tomorrow.

The BBC report here that Sports Direct are desperately trying to pretend that all is ok and they are going to change.

Such human right abuses will always occur when you have employers who refuse to recognise independent trade unions and don't have collective bargaining agreements.

Trade Union recognition is an internationally recognised fundamental legal human right. If any company refuses to recognise trade unions then they are clearly human rights abusers.

Good luck with motion 19 tomorrow at the AGM calling for an independent investigation into the employment practices of Sports Direct. I wish I was there.

"Commenting on a report into Sports Direct’s employment practices by its law firm published today (Tuesday), TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“An apology is always a good start, but this is too little, too late. What we really need is an independent investigation, as called for by the trade union resolution at tomorrow’s Sports Direct AGM.

“A report written by a law firm which previously represented Mike Ashley and management simply won’t cut it. Sports Direct cannot be allowed to mark their own homework.

“Cases like this show why the government must act to end the abuse of zero-hours contracts, and get serious on enforcing employment rights.
“
This story is a testament to the tireless work of Unite the union, which has played a key role in revealing abuses at the company.

"I urge shareholders to support the Trade Union Share Owners’ resolution 19 for an independent investigation into employment practices.”

NOTES TO EDITORS: 
- The Trade Union Share Owners group, of which the TUC is a member, is calling on Sports Direct shareholders to support resolution 19 at the AGM, which commissions an independent review of Sports Direct International plc’s human capital management strategy.

 - The Trade Union Share Owners (TUSO) group is a group of investors representing the financial assets of the labour movement, including the TUC staff pension fund, the Unite staff pension fund, the UNISON staff pension fund, and the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

  - The resolution has been filed by investors including the TUC and UNISON staff pension funds, both members of TUSO, and the Borough of Islington Staff Pension Fund and Prospect general fund.

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @The_TUC and follow the TUC press team @tucnews

Sports Direct: The Evil Workhouse: Union shareholders call for independent review of the inhuman employment practices at AGM

"The Trade Union Share Owners group (TUSO) has submitted a resolution to the Sports Direct AGM calling for an independent review of their widely criticised employment practices, which have led MPs to compare the company to a ‘Victorian workhouse’.

Details of the resolution were published today (Friday) in the company’s AGM notice. In the explanatory notes, the Sports Direct board recommends that its shareholders vote against the resolution, stating that it has asked its law firm RPC to compile a Working Practices Report.

Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of TUSO coalition member the TUC, said: “It is bitterly disappointing that the board of Sports Direct has declined to back the resolution. The board’s backing would have sent out a clear public message of reassurance to shareholders that it is serious about addressing deep-seated problems with its employment practices.

“We do not have confidence in the independence of any review led by Sports Direct’s own legal firm. And many of the shareholders we have spoken to share our view of the importance of a fully independent review as the only way to make sure that in future Sports Direct delivers fairness for staff, and decent returns for shareholders.

“We hope that asset managers invested in Sports Direct, who manage the capital of working people, will give the board a clear signal that change is needed by voting for the resolution. And we encourage the management of Sports Direct to continue constructive dialogue with the trade union Unite to improve conditions and respect for staff.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- TUSO is a coalition of trade union funds (comprising the TUC, Unite, UNISON and the International Transport Workers Federation) with over £1.5bn assets on the capital markets, including shareholdings in Sports Direct.

- Resolution 19 to the Sports Direct AGM states: “That the board commissions an independent review of Sports Direct International plc’s human capital management strategy and report back to shareholders within six months.” Full explanatory notes along with the board’s full reasons for recommending rejection of the resolution are in the AGM notice for 2016 which can be downloaded from here: www.sportsdirectplc.com/media-centre/press-kit.aspx

- Sports Direct was heavily criticised in a report by the Business Innovation and Skills select committee that was published on 22 July 2016. For more information visit: www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news-parliament-2015/working-practices-at-sports-direct-report-published-16-17/

- Sports Direct is currently the subject of an investigation by HMRC into its failures to pay the minimum wage to some staff.

 

Hat tip TUC Website

TUC found that between 2007 and 2015 in the UK, real wages fell by 10.4%, the joint lowest in OECD countries

I think this is one of the real reasons for Brexit.  No wonder so many people feel angry and betrayed in the face of such a massive cut in wages. 

Employment may be relatively high but evidently most of these jobs are insecure and have rotten pay. Low skilled, low paid jobs with little or no rights for workers breed fear and resentment. 

So encouraged by populist nationalism they blamed johnny foreigner for all their ills and not the excesses and imbalances of capitalism that caused it. 

"A report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has shown that Britain has suffered a bigger fall in real wages since the financial crisis than any other advanced country apart from Greece. The TUC said earnings in Britain have fallen by 10% since the credit crunch began in 2007. 

Using data from the OECD’s recent employment outlook, the TUC found that over the same 2007-2015 period, real wages grew in Poland by 23%, in Germany by 14%, and in France by 11%. Across OECD countries, real wages increased by an average of 6.7%. 

The TUC’s general secretary, Frances O'Grady, commented: “Wages fell off the cliff after the financial crisis, and have barely begun to recover. Working people must not foot the bill for a Brexit downturn in the way they did for the bankers’ crash.”

The Guardian, Page: 1,4 The Times, Page: 43

London Recruits - The young Londoners who undertook secret missions against South Africa's apartheid regime

"At a time when ANC membership was banned, its activists executed or imprisoned, exiled leader Oliver Tambo lit the fuse on a plan that saw young women and men travel to South Africa disguised as honeymooning couples, tourists and business trippers.

Recruited by Ronnie Kasrils, working undercover in London, the volunteers exploited the 'whites only' policies of apartheid South Africa to carry out clandestine missions. From 1969, under the noses of the police, the recruits unfurled banners from landmarks, exploded home-made leaflet bombs at packed train stations and played rousing speeches to crowds from improvised sound systems, signaling to thousands of Africans living under the regime that the struggle for freedom was very much alive.

   Their story remained secret for decades. Now, nearly 50 years on, the legacy of their work can finally be celebrated on film. With unique access to the brave women and men who risked their lives in solidarity with the liberation struggle, London Recruits will tell their story:-"

http://www.londonrecruits.com/
 

Frances O'Grady: #HeartUnions Week

Great video by the TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady on "Love Unions" week.

TUC Congress 2015: Monday

Apologies for lateness but this is a snapshot of day 2 of last weeks TUC Congress (Monday) from a UNISON delegates point of view.

Our first Congress guest speaker was John Bercow MP,  the Speaker of the House of Commons (and of course a Conservative MP). He thinks trade unions do great work ensuring fairness at work! He was entertaining and actually very supportive. He claimed that he was not the smallest ever Commons speaker in height - since a number of his predecessors had their heads chopped  off.

His take off of Tony Benn (I thought at that the time this is risky) actually worked and he made Congress laugh. He admitted that when he was younger and very (very) right wing, we would not have wanted him to have been here. When he left he had to go back and act as Speaker for the Commons debate on the (anti) Trade Union Bill. Shame none of his Party colleagues felt able to oppose its 2nd reading even though the more sensible realise that it is fascistic and a breach of human rights".

There was a genuine standing ovation for TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady, after her speech to Congress.  She calls on Jeremy Corbyn to get stuck in, unite the party & win the next General election. 

During the day we heard more about new Labour Leader (JC) appointments to the Shadow cabinet and was really pleased to hear that John Healey had been appointed Shadow Housing & Planning minister. I will look forward to inviting him back to my branch Labour Link AGM to speak.

Manchester UNISON, Rena Wood, tells it as it is about the Government "Prevent" programme in Composite 11 on "Education & Extremism".

Denise Ward gives a UNISON HE worker and women's view on the composite "Education Funding Crisis"

Birmingham nurse and UNISON delegate, James Anthony, moves motion 33 on "English decentralisation & trade unions". He ponders the "threats & strengths". Seems to me to be more threats to local democracy if Executive Mayors are imposed when they are not wanted and inadequate checks and balances on their powers are in place.

In the afternoon I moved the Composite on the Housing Crisis on behalf of UNISON and after close of Congress I went to the UNISON fringe on the "Real Debt Problem".

Finally check out Eastern Region UNISON branch secretary, Mark Task, on the front cover of the daily Congress magazine "TUC today".

(apologies also to any UNISON colleagues who spoke who I have missed out)

Proud Union Labour Activists

This collage is from the "Unions together" TULO Rally in London on Monday. Last week Ed Miliband and UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, spoke at the national TULO rally in Birmingham with over 1000 union members present.

General secretary of the GMB, Paul Kenny, was the first main speaker and he compared the huge number of people who are now forced to beg for insecure jobs on poverty wages with what happened in the London Docks in the 19th century. He pointed out that the Sunday Times Rich list reported that the personal wealth of the richest had doubled since 2010 while working people have had their income slashed. He condemned UKIP for attacking the exploited and not the exploiters.

Next was Jack Elliot, a GMB member and grass roots Labour Party activist, who first voted in 1945. He attacked the ultra left Party TUSC for betraying workers, working with racists and doing what they can to let the Tories win. To loud cheers, he told us that "he had a go" at the Trotskyist newspaper sellers outside as he came in.  He called for a real unity of all things and vote Labour.

UNISON Branch secretary Emine Ibrahim spoke passionately about the 18% cut in wages in real terms for Council staff since 2010. How her members cannot pay their bills and rely on loan sharks to survive until pay day. She called on all of us to work in the marginal seats to bring about a Labour victory.

Unite General Secretary, Len McCluskey, urged all union members to vote Labour and get rid of the Tories. The Tories are the party of fear while Labour is the party of hope. Reject the Tory path to food bank and rip off Britain. Make sure the super rich and corporate elite pay their bloody taxes! Ed Miliband and Labour put hope back into politics. Vote for Change. Vote Labour and kick the Tories out and build a better Britain.

London Assembly member, Tom Copley, described his job has trying to keep his eye on Boris as London Mayor. A difficult job since Boris he is rarely at his post as Mayor. Tom urged union members to remember the 11 million people who rent their homes from private landlords and how important it is for them to have a Labour government, who will cap rent rises and introduce 3 year tenancies.

Manuel Cortes, from the railway union TSSA believes that Labour leader Ed Miliband will rebalance our society and economy away from the interests of the top 1,000, who have increased their wealth by £250 billion since 2010. He is really pleased that Labour have promised an industrial policy if they win power.

He reminded us that Ed has said that it is not leaders that change the world but movements.

TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady, began by stating that she was proud to be the daughter of immigrants and proud of the role that people like her mother made to the NHS as a nurse. She looked forward to a Labour government introducing worker reps on company remuneration committees to stop greed at the top. She thought the Tories claim to be "the workers party" as convincing as Cameron's claim to support West Ham FC.

Last speaker was Uma Kumaran, the Labour candidate for Harrow East in London. When she speaks to people and says she is a trade unionist, some say she doesn't look like one. She replies that it does not matter what you look like to be a trade unionist but do you believe in common decency for all and standing together in order to achieve it.  

TUC New Year message – 2015 must bring living standards boost as average wage fell £500 in 2014

"In her New Year message, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady reveals that the real value of the average full-time wage fell by £487 in 2014 (from new TUC analysis – full details below). This means that the average full-time employee wage has fallen in real terms by £2,509 since 2010 – about £50 a week".

Read the rest of this depressing but true press release here  - but Frances does point to a solution "

In 2015 we need a fresh start. Employers are beginning to recognise that a low wage economy is holding back growth. It is time to turn their words into action because businesses need customers with money in their pockets. Government, employers and unions must work together to promote wage led growth.

“This means increasing pay for those at the bottom with a higher minimum wage and spreading the living wage.

“But it also means better pay for those in the middle, and a real drive to create secure, skilled jobs on decent pay rather than relying on zero-hours, involuntary part-time work and low-paid self-employment to keep the jobless figures down. This needs active industrial policies that help create good jobs and investment in infrastructure we need to underpin success.

"Keeping wages down for ever" – A new slogan for the Tories?

Great post from TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady on Touchstone. "The TUC’s Congress starts in Liverpool today, and an issue at the top of many minds will be the threat posed by the Conservative Party’s new proposals on strike ballots.

These are not just a few bureaucratic obstacles that will make life a bit more difficult for trade unions. Rather they work together to make official strikes close to impossible and will open up trade union activists to increased surveillance by the state.

The Conservative proposals are three-fold.

First they want to impose a turnout threshold of 50% on strike action, in a ballot conducted by postal votes. This is a level that has never been met in elections as important as that for the London Mayor. It is an irrational barrier too as a 49% vote for action with none against would be invalid, while a narrow 26% to 25% victory for action would be legal. It actually makes an abstention more powerful than a vote against, which rather undermines their stated rationale of increasing turnouts.
Union elections are governed by old legislation introduced when the post was our main means of distance communication. Now most mail is junk mail or bills, and life for many has moved online and onto smartphones, making a 50% target even more difficult. For sure give people a chance to vote by post, but do not keep denying the right of union members to vote securely and secretly online.

Secondly, the Conservative proposals impose many new duties on unions on the conduct of ballots and communications with members. It’s of course good practice to communicate properly – and members are smart enough to tell when you are not. But as soon as you start to set it out in law, in practice all you are doing is giving employers many new ways of challenging ballots in the courts on technicalities.

Thirdly, they want new specific criminal offences for people on picket lines. There are already strong public order laws in the UK and I have no sense that the police want anything extra. Yet the Conservatives are proposing that if a seventh person joins a peaceful and good-natured picket line, all seven could be prosecuted and given a criminal record.

And new specific technology offences will mean strikers will face tougher legal restrictions on Twitter than other people. They will open up union activists to enhanced surveillance as potential criminals.

In drawing up these proposals, they seem to have ignored their stated question of “how can we improve turnout in strike ballots?”, and instead asked “how can we stop strikes, intimidate staff and help bad bosses?”

Strikes would become so difficult that there would be no effective right to strike in the UK. Yet the right to freedom of association is a fundamental human right. That includes the right to form effective trade unions. Dictatorships and authoritarian regimes routinely suppress trade unions and lock up strikers – That’s surely not how we want to run our own society.
But if even that is not a sufficient reason, let’s look at what an effective ban on official strikes would mean for the workforce.

Politicians often say that the alternative to strikes is talking, but there is a difference between talking and negotiating. You only get real negotiation when there is power on both sides of the table. Collective bargaining works because both sides understand what the other can realistically deliver. This is why the vast majority of genuine negotiations don’t result in strikes but an eventual deal between management and workers.

But take away the right to official strike and one of two things happens. Either workers end up meekly asking their employer for more, with as much power as Oliver Twist brought to the negotiating table. Or you see an increase in hard-to-manage and destabilising unofficial action, whether wildcat strikes or mass duvet days.

It is not just union members who have suffered the longest decline in living standards since the 1870s. And it is not just union members that will lose out. Workplaces that have collective bargaining set pay rates in non-union workplaces too. Undermine collective bargaining and you undermine everyone’s pay.

I have seen no polls that suggest the public think strikes and unions are a concern. Economic commentators don’t point to unions as part of the problem, but are more likely to see them as part of the solution to a society in which inequality has grown and wages stagnated. Conservative MPs have told me in private they see no need for such measures. Perhaps it appeals to funders or potential UKIP defectors, but it won’t win votes.

This is an attack on our fundamental civil liberties, but it will also act to lower living standards for the many – whether or not they are union members. With these new proposals, the Conservatives seem to found have a simple slogan for the next election – “Keeping wages down for ever”.

Great British Rip Off

Last month I went to the "Great British Rip Off" debate at the House of Commons. Sponsored by "Unions Together"; "Class" and the Parliamentary "Trade Union Group".

The excellent Katy Clark MP, from Trade Union Group of MPs Chaired (apologies for not getting her into picture!).

Zoe Williams from the Guardian was the first to speak (2nd left - another useless photo by me). She thought tonight that she was speaking to the converted on why inequality is "bad" but she doesn't understand why the Tories don't get that despite the economy picking up on GDP, inequality is still growing? Wages have not gone up since 2003. 

There is 500k "self employed" who are not really employed but playing the benefit system and then another 500k on insecure "0 hour" contracts, then 150k on unpaid placements.  People are not being paid enough. They cannot buy enough. There is not enough demand and ideology is hamstringing the economy.

Tories would rather have a weak economy than free collective bargaining,

Even a living wage for all will not solve housing crisis. Housing is not affordable even on a high wage. So many cannot afford housing then something radical may actually happen. Solution is collective bargaining, land tax and collective housing provision.

Next was Sadiq Khan MP who agreed that we have seen a Great British Rip off in recent years. The most wealthy have increased their wealth while the poorest have become even poorer. 28% of Londoners live in poverty despite 60% of them being in work. 

In his constituency of Tooting he has many houses worth £1 million plus but it also has food banks.The last Labour government spent money on improving the housing stock but did not spend enough on building new homes. A future Labour government will build 200,000 new homes per year by the end of its term.

Sadiq noted that in most successful countries there is more collective bargaining over pay (I will ignore the silly interpretation that a branch of the stupid Party online made about his comments)

Matthew Pennycook, the Prospective Parliamentary candidate for Greenwich and Woolwich was next. He reminded us that for the first time, the majority of people in poverty were in work. Since the election the average family is worse off by £1600 per year. Stagnant wages have caused a massive cost of living crisis.

A living wage is part of the solution but not the silver bullet. We also need affordable child care and (real) affordable rents.

Final speaker was the General Secretary of the TUC, Frances O'Grady. 

Frances asked for not a plaster but to address the root cause of poverty. Which is giving Billions to subsidise poverty wages to employers who can afford to pay more. We need a fair share of wealth in this country and a right to bargain. We need wage councils or "Fair Pay" councils (whatever you want to call it) who can work on the whole pay package.

We need a new economy, a  fair economy and in tribute to the RMT trade union leader, Bob Crow who died recently, we need greater public ownership. 

Frances finished by quoting Docker trade union leader (and former Newham Labour Councillor) Vic Turner, who when asked what trade unionism is all about answered "its about working class people looking after each other".

(usual disclaimer about the absolute accuracy of my hurried note-taking)

"Where next for Pension Policy?" TUC GS Frances O'Grady & Minister Steve Webb

TUC National Officer (and NEST trustee) Nigel Stanley opened the meeting.

The new TUC General Secretary, Frances O'Grady spoke first. She told us that this generation will be the first to be poorer than their parents. Things are very tough and while there is some genuine good news on auto enrolment (AE) and the state pension. We need to change the failed "market approach" economy of the last 3 decades.

While the TUC supports the general direction of travel, the starting point should be the overwhelming case for an increase in higher AE pension contributions.  We need a cap on Defined Contributions (DC) charges of 0.7% pa,  trust based governance and we must tackle systemic pension inequality. Why are top company directors paid 23% of income into their DC pensions while their workers only get 6.6%? This is profoundly wrong. Why are so many low paid workers excluded from AE?

We need employee representation on company remuneration committees to bring about some common sense on these boards.

Finally, why do higher rate tax payers take such a disproportionate amount of relief compared to basic taxpayers. Is this fair? 

Next was key note speaker, Pension Minister, Steve Webb MP.

Steve welcomed the broad support of the TUC on many of his measures. He is very proud that 2 million workers have been auto enrolled into their pensions schemes with scarcely any controversy.

He is concerned that many low paid workers are excluded but he doesn't think it is worth them paying 10p per week into a pension. It's not that they "don't give a damn" about the low paid and women.

Steve attacked the media for their coverage of his Defined Ambition (DA) and Collective Defined Contributions (CDC) proposals. The Telegraph accused him of "stealing" the indexation of pensions. He could have done nothing about Defined Benefit pensions and just watch them die. How can conditionality of benefits be worse than having no indexation at all? At the moment with DC all the risk is on the employee. What is wrong with risk sharing?

The DC collective model is illegal in British Law. Why can't we look at the Danish model where each year some of your pension is guaranteed? While guarantees have costs they are attractive to some.

He is consulting on charges and realises that he has to protect the majority who have been auto-enrolled that have never made an active choice on their funds.

He pointed out that despite the huge rise in life expectancy, the male  state retirement age is the same as a century ago. This is just unsustainable.

My question to Steve was what advise should we be giving low paid workers who when they retire depend on private renting. Many UNISON members are low paid and more of them rent in the private sector than from social landlords. I met recently a pensioner who is totally dependent on pension credit who has to pay £150 per week for a bedsit above a Chicken shop in West Ham. This man had been on low wages all his life but if he was in a pension scheme he would have had to save at least £100,000 lump sum just to get an annuity to pay off his rent.

What this means is that under AE the low paid who have to privately rent may be paying into a scheme that they will never benefit from? This is a future mis-selling scandal. What we need to do is of course increase real pay and reduce rents but... in the meanwhile?

Steve accepted that this is a problem and the decline in owner occupation has increased pensioner poverty but thinks that the housing benefit taper will still make it better for low paid workers to pay into AE, since the employer matches contributions pound for pound.

(after this we had coffee and then workshops. I will post next on the "Stewardship - taking action" workshop)

Top Bosses Rip Off Workers (and Shareholders) 14% pay rise FFS!!!!

"Commenting on the latest FTSE 100 director’s pay trends published today (Monday) by Income Data Services – which show that median total earnings of FTSE 100 directors increased by 14 per cent last year – TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“Britain’s top bosses are back to their old tricks as their pay is growing 20 times faster than the average worker.

“It’s one thing replacing bonuses with long-term incentive plans, but FTSE 100 companies are simply exploiting this change to make their fat cats even fatter.

“The time has come for legislation to put ordinary workers on the pay committees of companies. This is the only way to bring some sanity to the way in which directors are paid.”

Can you believe how greedy these people are?  When most workers in this country have had their wages cut in real terms for the last 5 years? Their pensions and insurance policies are also being reduced to pay for what I can only assume to be in the majority of cases - simple fraud and embezzlement

Enough is enough. The British people are not powerless in this. Parliament is sovereign and in 2015 vote Labour and demand they do something about our broken market economy.

Remember if you don't vote you have no right at all to moan about this.

Where next for Pensions Policy? TUC conference 28 Nov 2013

This should be a very good conference for all member nominated pension trustees and representatives. Make sure you ask your scheme to pay for the £50 cost. Should be lively with Con Keating speaking.

"With automatic enrolment finally underway, and plans in place for a single-tier state pension designed to provide a solid platform for private pensions saving, what will be the next phase of pensions reform in the UK? The government’s ‘defined ambition’ agenda outlines one possible vision for pensions policy, including options for introducing risk-sharing into defined contribution provision. But what does the future hold for defined benefit pensions? Is the DB funding model sustainable? Is the role of pension funds as institutional investors more important than ever?

This conference will explore these issues and help trustees navigate the regulatory, investment and stewardship issues that they face.

As you have attended the TUC Member Trustee conference in the past you know that this event is also a valuable networking opportunity to meet fellow trustees, trade unionists and pensions and investment experts to share information and experience.

Speakers include:

·       Steve Webb MP Minister of State for Pensions

·       Gregg McClymont MP Shadow Pensions Minister

·       Frances O'Grady TUC General Secretary

·       Con Keating Brighton Rock Group

·       Sarah Smart SmartCats Consulting

·       Andrew Vaughan Association of Consulting Actuaries

Workshops:

Defined Ambition – white knight or red herring?
De-risking – questions for trustees
Stewardship – taking action
Defined contribution – the governance gap – morning only
Local Government Pension Scheme – investment governance afternoon only

Date: Tuesday 26 November 2013          Venue: Congress House, London WC1B 3LS

To register for the conference go to:  www.tucmembertrustee.eventbrite.com

#Lab13 - Responsible Capitalism and Workplace democracy. Giving workers a real voice

This interesting lunctime fringe had been sponsored by the Fabians, TUC and PIRC. Chaired by Seema Malhotra MP.

TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady started off by saying some of her members think that "responsible capitalism" is an Oxymoron! But her main point was why is corporate governance in the UK so peculiar and out of step with the rest of Europe?  Where employee representation on company boards is common place.

We need to rebalance Labour and Capital. Frances quoted a terribly condescending and even insulting comment (which she described as "patronising twaddle") from the CBI about why in the UK British employees aren't good enough to being represented on boards.  Workers keep being told that they are the organisations "greatest assets". Yet the arguments being made against employee representation remind her of those made in 19th century against getting rid of the property qualification in order to vote.

Chuka Umunna MP believes that it is all about balance. Do we want a mixed or a laissez faire economy? Leading businesses started talking about this debate before we did in Parliament. Things have got to change. Need to promote the long term. Value investment in people and skill up. Look at the damage done to BP reputation and profitability after the oil disaster. It is in companies self interest to have good governance models. 

Tom Powdrill from PIRC thought that the governance mascot was Lord Myners. Why did shareholders not stop the banks from destroying themselves? Excessive executive pay levels are being driven to the levels found in financial markets. Since oversight is not by shareholders but by fund managers and hedge funds who naturally will think such levels are appropriate. Need a dose of reality. Tackle the problem up stream before a decision is made.  UK Companies already invest in Europe where employee representatives are widely accepted -so why don't they support similar models over here?

Nita Clare from the IPA (see previous post here) was Tony Blair's advisor on trade unions and before that a national officer for unison for 17 years. Good businesses know the value of stakeholders. The CBI quote is now quite old fashioned.  She stressed the importance of the supply chain to business. If there is a fire in a Bangladeshi factory it is no use saying "nothing to do with us".

There has been a death of deference and trust at work. 60% of employees surveyed said they don't trust managers. Management style is critical. If you have a culture of fear in any organisation, private or public, then it will fail. The Social partnership approach in Germany will be difficult to adopt in UK

My question to the panel was similar to the one I made before was how is it that I am an employee representation on a £900 million pension scheme and I sit on a joint committee on health and safety that looks after the safety of thousands of workers but I cannot sit on the management board or remuneration committee of my organisation?