#TUC13 Congress fringe: Building Safety & Employment Rights in the Bangladesh Textile Industry.

This was the last Congress fringe I attended which took place on Tuesday lunchtime. Chair was Gail Cartmail from Unite (middle) who reminded us that our role is not just to remember those who have suffered in the recent Bangladeshi disasters such as the Rana Plaza building collapse which killed 1200 people but to prevent future ones.

First speaker was Bangladeshi garment workers’ union President, Amirul Haque Amin who addressed Congress on Sunday evening.   He explained that international support and solidarity went two ways - it was not just about the North providing financial support for the South.  It is about how to stop international companies exploiting all workers - in Bangladesh and the UK. Workers in Textile factories, retail, transport and consumers. All are being exploited. We need to work together to challenge such exploitation.

Amirual called for the British companies who have refused so far to sign the international "Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh" to do so. The so called "Alliance" by Walmart and Gap is completely inadequate since it is voluntary and not binding.

Workers protected by the Accord have right to refuse dangerous work and keep their salary. Also they will themselves play a key role in safety training and inspections.

Phil Jennings from the UNI global union spoke next. His union had played a key role in creating the Accord. He thought it was a "beginning to the end to the race to the bottom". Beforehand there had been a failure of reporting as well as collusion between safety investigators and factory owners.

The issue of adequate compensation for the relatives of the dead and the injured is still outstanding.

Then Debbie Coulter (on right) , Head of Programmes for the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) pointed out that Bangladesh is the 2nd biggest clothing exporter in the World but allows widespread labour rights violations. Union activists have been tortured and even murdered. This had led to disasters such as Rana Plaza and the earlier Tazreen factory fire. Workers have little power and as shown at Tazreen fire doors were locked and fire alarms ignored by managers.  

Without workers rights disasters will happen again. The only solution is freedom of association and bargaining rights for unions to protect them. 

Final speaker was Fiona Wilson from UK retail union USDAW. She named the UK companies refusing to sign the Accord :-

River Island, Matalan, Bench, Bank Fashion, Peacocks, Jane Norman, Republic and Mexx.

She also criticised the UK government for inviting the top 20 retailer to a conference in July on this issue but excluded the TUC. Need to promote the Accord and draw up similar agreements in other Countries. At least now we have a model.

(take action to get the 8 UK retailers to sign the Accord at the TUC Going to Work website)

#TUC13 Congress Fringe "Whole person care - a future for health & social care?

This fringe took place on Monday evening. TUC Assistant General Secretary Paul Nowak chaired. 

Andy Burham MP was running a little late, so UNISON AGS (and former nurse) Karen Jenning started the event.

She said that the problems between Health and Social Care has been going on for decades. She used as an example the age old dispute of who pays for a health or a social services bath for a client.

If the NHS recommend this then it is free, if  it is social services, then this same bath could be means tested!

While she is explaining this, Andy Burnham comes into the meeting. Karen apologies for starting without him and he says "just carry on". Karen says that is okay since, I have just been very horrible about you! (joke)

Andy spoke about the 2009-2012 - 66% rise in the very elderly A&E admittance via ambulance. Hospitals are becoming warehouses for old people. We need instead to invest in preventive care to also save money.  

The Tories are running down the NHS. According to them "GPs are to blame for A&E waits" while all nurses are "uncaring" and hospitals are just "coasting".

The press and Tories criticised the last Labour Government proposal on this issue as the "death tax".  Yet we now have already the dementia tax,  Which is surely worse? Andy also reaffirmed his pledge to abolish the Tory Health and Social Care Bill and that the NHS will be the preferred provider in any future Labour NHS reforms.

Andy made it clear that markets are not the answer in health and social care. The UK is one of the few countries to spend under 10% of GDP on health care because it has such an efficient national service. 

Justin Bowen from the GMB  (another former Tower Hamlets bod) said that Andy's comments was music to his ears. The problem however is money. Health and social care reforms will not be totally cost neutral. It will cost more. The crisis in social care now is all about money.

Andy countered by saying that there will be huge savings by bring together health and social care but also provided people knew what they would get, they would be willing to pay more for quality services.  

My question to Andy and the panel was about the present decimation of wages in the social care sector (I mentioned the disgrace at the "charity" Future Directions which he was well aware of)  and what are we going to do about future pay in the voluntary care sector?  Much of which is minimum wage.

I think it is fair to say that Andy was very supportive about the need to have decent pay in our sector but he and Labour are not yet in power.  So, roll on 2015.  

#TUC13 Congress: River Island: Sign the Bangladesh safety accord now! "Keep away from fire"

Hat tip to TUC Going to work "We visited River Island in Bournemouth with Bangladeshi garment workers’ union President Amirul Haque Amin. River Island are one of the 8 UK clothing firms still holding out from signing the Fire and Building Safety Accord for Bangladesh, which could save many lives in that country’s hazardous garment industry.

 

Most UK companies that source clothing in Bangladesh have signed the Accord, which will pay for safety inspections and repairs aimed at stopping disasters like the Rana Plaza building collapse and the Tazreen factory fire.

River Island need to step up to their responsibilities to the people who make our clothes. Nobody’s life is worth as little as a few pence extra on a T-shirt.

Please help us convince River Island and the other 7 UK brands who still won’t sign by sending them an email.

 

Send an email now

 

And please also sign our friends SumOfUs.org’s petition to River Island to face their responsibilities and sign now.

 

Sign the petition now"

#TUC13 Congress - Fair Pay Fringe with Unions21

"What can unions and policy makers do to make wages fairer?"

Monday lunchtime fringe by Unions21 and Fabians on this key issue.

Meeting was chaired by Chris Weavers (middle) who pointed out in the last 2 years 93% of all British workers have had below inflation pay rises (i.e. pay cuts).

First speaker Liam Byrne MP who wanted us to "batter and punish this government" for what they have been presiding over in last 2 years. The problem is the shortage of work. Big mistake of Tories to cut corporation tax by £6 billion? For what? Nothing invested? Nor more paid out in pay? £480 billion lie doing nothing in company bank accounts. Small business should get this tax cut. Bringing forward capital investment has recently been recommended by those left wing nutters at the IMF.  

Nicola Smith from TUC was next who told us real wages have been falling for the the longest period since the 1870s. She made the important point that wage growth in UK is measured on "mean" pay levels (the average - which includes all very high earners who distort wage growth) rather than using a "medium" measure as other countries. This means that the cuts in wages may be even worse for the low paid than we think.

Ged Nichols, General Secretary of Accord spoke about when he started working in finance the wages were not very good, but you had final salary pensions subsidised mortgages and a career structure. Now you just get the poor pay. He argued that there is no evidence that Performance Related Pay works. Customers have become "commodifed" and this resulted in the mis-selling scandlas. He wondered why no senior managers had been disciplined for PPI scandal? 

Equity General Secretary Christine Payne wanted the law to be changed over minium wage so that the union could take enforcement action on behalf of members. Many actors are too frightened of victimisation if they take make named complaints against employers for failing to pay the minimum wage.

My question was about how a living wage is not enough and we need "fair pay" which included a living pensions and sickness benefits and how we need wage councils to get fair pay in many sectors who can afford more than a living wage rate. Which as you can imagine no-one on this panel disagreed with.

#TUC13 Congress: Opposing Union busting Charity Mencap

This morning Congress voted overwhelmingly against an otherwise worthy motion 36.  Which called for an enquiry into the premature deaths of people with learning difficulties. 

The movers of the motion had been asked to remit but had decided against this.

The reason for the opposition was that for some reason in this otherwise important motion there was statement "congratulating" the charity Mencap. 

UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis on behalf of the General Council spoke to Congress about how Mencap was a leading advocate of the Government plans to close 32 Rempoly factories which cost 1000s of jobs. It also has a poor track record on employment standards and refuses to recognise trade unions. 

A disabled delegate who was a former Remploy worker also spoke against the motion, accusing Mencap of “help hammer the nail” by writing open letters to the press which pushed for the ending of factory based supported employment leaving 2500 disabled workers on the scrap heap. Mencap was accused of betraying  vulnerable workers for its own self gain. This speaker received a standing ovation from the hall at the end of his speech.

Mencap was described as an anti trade union employer which also refused to recognise GMB members in former Southern Cross projects which is now subject to a 3 week court case in November. 

Another disabled delegate whose relation had helped set up Mencap said that it was an organisation that was not of people with learning difficulties but says it speaks for them.  When challenged about this a senior manager said "you wouldn’t let cats and dogs run the RSPCA?. They are viewed as "asset strippers" or have jumped into bed with the Government to win contracts.

#TUC Congress - Hovis Strike over Zero hour contracts and agency labour

First item of business at Congress today (Wednesday) was to send a message of support to members of the Bakers union (BFAWU) out on strike at Hovis (Premier Foods) Wigan.

The BFAWU call for support at their picket lines and for a boycott of Hovis Products during the dispute. See union press release. 

"The issue of zero-hour contracts is one that is taking up a considerable amount of column space in both local and national newspapers at the moment. The Bakers’, Food and Allied Workers Union highlighted this exploitation back in 2011 during a dispute with a well known supplier of cake products. Unfortunately, we remained a lone voice. With honourable exceptions, the media, local politicians and the general public alike decided to remain impassive and apathetic. Since then, the use of zero-hour contracts has reached almost epidemic proportions and it has been estimated that over a million UK workers are now employed on these contracts.

Sadly, it was only a matter of time before other organisations decided to jump on this particular bandwagon. Staff at the Hovis (Premier Foods) bakery in Wigan had already reduced their hours and subsequently, their pay in a bid to reduce the need for redundancies. However, after long and protracted discussions with the Union, the company decided to proceed with job losses. However, once the redundancies had been made, the company decided to renege on long standing recognition agreements and make up the ensuing staff shortfall with agency labour, with many being utilised on an ‘as and when’ basis, in other words; zero-hour contracts.

Since then, we have attempted to resolve this situation with the company, but to no avail. Ultimately, the Union took the painful decision to ballot its members at the Wigan site in order to seek a mandate for industrial action. The result was overwhelmingly in favour of strike action against the company on the following dates:

6.00am on August 28th 2013 until 6.00am on September 4th 2013

6.00am on September 11th 2013 until 6.00am on September 18th 2013

6.00am on September 25th 2013 until 6.00am on October 2nd 2013

Further branch meetings will be held to extend the action unless the company comes to a satisfactory agreement with the Union on the withdrawal of agency labour from the site.

BFAWU members at Hovis, Wigan have not taken this decision lightly. They have no desire to lose pay. However, they see the current situation as unacceptable and are determined not to allow the company to set precedents, undermine current terms and conditions, create a two tier workforce and leave a poor legacy for subsequent generations of people who may be employed at Hovis in the future.

We urge the company to re-enter negotiations with the Union and find a way to resolve this dispute fairly, amicably and in a way that reflects the strength of feeling among the workforce".

UPDATE: I tweeted this post and got this response

 Hovis Bakery ‏@hovisbakery 4h

1. @grayee The last employees at Wigan Bakery on zero-hours have been offered full-time jobs. We can reassure you we don't employ zero-hours.

   Expand
2. John Gray ‏@grayee 3h

   @hovisbakery very pleased to hear this. Is this the same for long term agency working?

#TUC13 Congress - Address by Ed Miliband

Ed started by comparing David Cameron - who considers unions a "threat to our economy" to a previous one nation Tory Prime Minister, the Earl of Derby, who first gave trade unions legal rights in 1867.

He called Cameron's attitude "nasty, small minded and divisive" and reminded Cameron what happened to Mitt Romney and his remarks about why 47% of voters will not support him.

He then championed his proposals for all trade union affiliates make an active choice to be part of the link with Labour. He then attacked the Tory economic policies and the prospect of a one sided unfair recovery. One which benefits the rich only. Followed by a raft of proposed Labour policies which are "union friendly". Such as action on zero hour contracts, living wage, public sector procurement apprenticeships, taxing bankers bonuses, British and regional investment banks, affordable child care, dignity at work, build more homes, regulate private sector landlords and letting agents, clampdown on payday loans with a cap on interest rates.

Finally a Q&A with firstly young delegates on the stage then with other delegates from the floor. He left to a respectable applause but no standing ovation (nor no jeers). 

So what do I think of it?

When you consider the recent blood on the carpet between the unions and the Party he was in my view remarkably self confident and upbeat. I wondered why? The Tory press however will be disappointed that there was no heckling or booing. 

While I still think that the proposals to change the way unions affiliate their members to the Party are unnecessary and potentially damaging, I thought it was clever of him to point out that unions have been complaining about their lack of influence over the Party for many years.  Increasing the number of union members joining the Party could change this.  This will depend on how much power you think ordinary members have over the Party.

He fudged a question on privatisation of public services (Railways) by saying he doesn't believe in "private sector good, public bad".

There was no mention of the NHS which surprised me a bit? I would have thought that it this would have  been a tub thumping issue that he could have "make hay" with.

I suspect that the personal attacks on Cameron and comparisons with him were there to remind delegates that it is less than 2 years before the next General election and that whether they all like him or not (and most are supportive) - it will be a straight choice between him or Cameron - on who will be the next Prime Minister.

So who will they prefer?

There is of course no choice and I think he knows this.

(personal impressions as always)

#TUC13 Congress - Monday (Housing Debate)

This is my speech from this morning's
Housing debate – Composite 6. The first time I have spoken at Congress.

"President, Congress, John Gray from UNISON seconding Composite 6

Congress - We welcome this opportunity to broaden out the debate to include the private rented sector, where so many working people and their families now find themselves living.

It is now the case that more people live in the private rented sector than in the whole public housing sector combined, be that traditional council housing, or homes provided by housing associations or ALMOs

This is something that we suspected in our union for quite some time - from surveying our members - and it’s something that we now know to be true, amongst the wider public.

The English Housing Survey for 2011-12, published earlier this year shows this rising number of private tenants, 3.84 million, which now outnumbers the 3.8 million in social housing, for the first time since the 1960s.

Congress, this is not a good news story.

The private rented sector is where you are most likely to find housing that fails to meet the decent homes standard,

The private rented sector is where you will find the most insecure tenancies

And it is the private rented sector where you pay most.

Surveys suggest tenants in the private rented sector, typically pay more for their housing, than all social tenants and owner occupiers – with rents, typically, 41 per cent of their income – this is 21 per cent higher since 2010 while wages have stagnated.

The recent Home Truths report from the Resolution Foundation, found rents to be unaffordable for families on low to middle incomes, in one third of the country.

And on top of that are the rip off charges and fees levied by the cowboy letting agents

The £500 administration fees to secure your flat

The £210 to change a name on a tenancy

The £96 just to renew your terms

This is bad news for all of us - but it’s particularly grim for the young, with half of all private renters now under 35

What kind of future is that, for our young people? The worst of all worlds. Paying the most – and having less left over, every month, to save for a deposit

As the Housing Voice campaign makes clear, we need housing to be a political priority – rather something left to a market, that does not deliver for ordinary people on ordinary incomes.

Being a political priority, is the only way we get the comprehensive housing policy for the future, which will secure the new council and housing association homes that we need.

Regulating the private rented sector has to be a big component of that comprehensive policy.

We want more security for tenants

Rent increases brought under control

Landlords registered and standards driven up

And not for profit letting agents established

Congress, please support this composite"

(Update: if you have trouble sleeping you can watch the speech here - 31 minutes into Congress)

#TUC13 Congress - Sunday

TUC 2013 Congress started off for me with a UNISON delegation meeting in our hotel.  During which we agreed positions on motions and composites as well as our speakers.

Congress kicked off at 4pm at the Bournemouth BIC venue. There was the traditional welcome committee outside who expressed concern about our lower limb disorders (TUC - Get off your Knees - General Strike Now!).

This year the TUC President is Lesley Mercer from the union CSP (Chartered Society of Physiotherapy). She introduced Sororal/fraternal delegates and visitors followed by the obituary of union activists who have died in the previous year and a silence for world peace. During the obituary they played Paul Robeson singing "Joe Hill 

Congress business for today was on Employment Rights and then Equalities.  Motion 54 was the most controversial. This motion included discussion of mass industrial action and was opposed by several unions.  It was passed overwhelmingly. UNISON voted in favour.

The President made her address and received the vote of thanks in return. Congress was prolonged in order to hear Amirul Haque Amir, the leader of the Bangladeshi Federation of Garment Workers speak about the  Rana Plaza building collaspe in April when over 1200 workers were crushed to death.

Congress finished at 7.15pm after which there was a reception for delegates by the TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady. During which I met Amirul.

After the reception I had a meal with fellow delegates then went off to the hotel early to go over my speech for tomorrow morning on the Housing debate.

#TUC13 Congress 2013 and the State of the Unions

On train to Bournemouth to be a UNISON delegate at this years TUC Congress. I have just read through (again) the final agenda and finished off reading the mammoth 184 page General Council Report.

There are many good motions to be debated including combating austerity, improving housing supply, employment rights, fair pay, on line union voting and the Bangladesh Accord.  

For the first time in many years the trade union movement had a welcome increase in membership in 2012 by 59,000. Not a huge increase but a start in the right direction at a time when many have predicted a fall due to cuts in public services and the recession. The density rate of union members in the public sector is 56.3% but in the Private sector it is only 14.4%.

This very low density rate is our achilles heal yet there are still 6.5 million members of trade unions, the largest membership organisation in the UK by a long way. 

The Tory led Government coalition onslaught on workers rights is now in full swing. Fees for employment tribunals, reducing rights on redundancy, TUPE protection, health & safety etc. I suspect that this has something to do with our slight improvement. Workers are first and foremost fearful of their jobs and want protection at work. It is our distasteful duty to build density and organisation in all unions on the back of all this misery - but it has to be done.

You cannot rely on the law to protect you at work. You can only rely on your fellow workers and your trade union.

We also have to keep making the case for a practical alternative economic policy. Not only within the Labour Party but in the unions as well. I still have "difficult" conversations with union members about the real reason for the financial crisis of 2007 being the theft and recklessness of the Banks and not social security.
 
I'll try and post on as many debates and fringes as I can during the next few days.