TUC 2012: Trade Union Rights - Why is Britain always different - and always worse?

After close of Congress last night I went to the fascinating "History & Policy" fringe chaired by John Edmonds, former General Secretary of the GMB.  The fringe was supported by the excellent Peoples History Museum.

Professor Keith Ewing started by disagreeing that the UK has always been different. The real problem facing trade unions is the collapse in collective bargaining. In 2010 only 32% of workers covered. If unions don't collectively bargain then what is their purpose?

In the past even the Tories recognised the value of bargaining and encouraged it in 1934 to raise wages and get the country out of the depression. 1979 it was 82%, a time of the lowest ever level of inequality.  This is what trade unionism should be about. The total membership of unions is not key, its impact is.

Three reasons for failure: Hubris of unions who thought that better benefits could be achieved by local bargaining; foreign inward investment with no tradition of collective bargaining and Political (Thatcher).

Sarah Veale from the TUC spoke about being sympathetic to the view that workers want to left alone by employment law. Unions are about addressing collective concerns rather than individual. Individual representation is important but it is very time consuming. It is rubbish that small businesses want tighter employment law. It is only the 6th most important concern in a recent government survey. Need to be careful that we are not just seen as an arm of the Labour Party but as acting to defend ordinary workers.

John Monks, former TUC and ETUC General Secretary pointed out that trade unions in most European countries have declined, but the most in Britain. In 1969 when he started out in the movement unions were intellectually very confident. At a time of full employment the reality was that power did lie in the hands of local stewards. The unions saw off two attempts to limit their power. The Tories learnt their lessons and when they came for the unions again, they fought dirty.  

John remembers Tony Blair making a visit to Congress House soon after he became leader. He asked to see the TUC Trophy room. We said "Trophy room"? Yes, he said, the room where you keep the heads of Wilson and Callaghan? He told us that his head will not be joining them.

He remembered that in those days we use to patronise the German unions with their "work councils" and "limited or no strike deals". "We were the world leaders, we were the hard men". He thinks that there was a missed opportunity in the past. We settled for minimum wage, Social Chapter and Trade Union recognition.

Must learn from Countries that still have high trade union density. These unions provide welfare services and benefits. We were offered this opportunity in the past but refused.

Final speaker was the former trade union official and historian Jim Moher.  Jim believes that the Labour Party and the Unions share the blame for the problems today. Trade unions were first legalised in the UK as far back as 1824. The first country to do so. Trade union support for the first and second world war gave them power.

The unions have to accept that is was the over turning of elected governments that led to Thatcherism. We need to look to ourselves. "In Place of Strife" may not have been perfect but it would have been much better than now. This is a political issue that we have to address.

In the Q&A with regards to unions providing welfare services I asked whether we should consider running a decent defined benefit pension scheme? Final point from Keith - The trade unions are in crisis we have to adapt (and maybe offer services) or we will end up as just another protest group along with all the other protest groups.

SERTUC International Conference

On Saturday I went to South East Region TUC International conference, held at Congress House, London. Finally, in this age of “globalisation it appears that the trade union movement is starting to wake up about “international issues”. Not just NGO and single issue “pressure group” concerns, but the recognition that mainstream trade unions need to think and act outside narrow national boundaries. In many ways it complimented the "Union Ideas Network" meeting that I went to last month. Many of the same issues were discussed and debated. A running theme of the conference is that “Internationalism” is not just an excuse for a “jolly” abroad of trade union worthies, but should be a core activity.

Tony Benn kicked off the conference talking about “Global Solidarity and the Labour Movement”. I have a soft spot for Tony even thought I have nearly always disagreed with his politics. I enjoyed his reminiscing of being on a British troop ship sailing back to “blighty” after the war. He was at the time a RAF pilot and Labour Party parliamentary candidate in the 1945 elections. He remembered the debates on board on why was it possible to have full employment when the country was at war killing German’s but not in peacetime when they could be building hospitals and schools?

TUC deputy general secretary Frances O’Grady spoke about “Trade Union Internationalism”. Good stuff – internationalism is not just about merging unions, foreign travel, committees and rule books. It is about practical campaigning to organise and promote solidarity.

Professor Keith Ewing (Institute of Employment Rights) spoke about “Workers Rights in the International Context”. He started with the UK which he thought was 1. Becoming a country of minimum standards not decent standards. For example we have a minimum wage but not a living wage, a 48 hour maximum week but the right to work longer etc. 2. The focus on worker rights was changing from being protective or regulatory to now being subject to economic policy. There is an emphasis on increasing Labour supply to meet the demands of globalisation rather than promoting workers interests. 3. British trade union rights still do not meet international ILO standards e.g. ban on all forms of secondary strike action, unions find it difficult to legally expel BNP members etc.

He was also concerned that in the UK only 35 % of workers pay and conditions are protected by collective agreements. In 1979 it was 85%. . The lowest by far in the EU. Austria has 98%! One of the reasons for continued inequality in the UK is that vulnerable workers by definition cannot exercise many of their “legal” employment rights. This makes sense to me. He did however acknowledge the many positive developments such as the Warwick agreement and union learning reps.

Barry Camfield (T&G Unite) “Developing the International Workers Movement”. He started by quoting former T&G leader Jack Jones “you cannot be a trade unionist no matter how hard you try if you do not think as “we” rather than” I”. Barry urged unions to develop “new international strategies” to enable and empower” activists. We should have “action plans” in the same way as global business plan ahead. In 1922 the T&G Dockers declared “Capital is well organised, labour must do like wise”. So back to the future.

The only thing that I was surprised and disappointed about was that there was not mention at all about the role of “Workers Capital” (organising trade union representatives who sit as trustees on our pension funds who actually own relatively big chunks of many national and global companies).

I went to the morning “trade unions in Iraq” workshop. In the workshop the vocal audience were pretty much divided between “Labour Friends of Iraq” (Iraqi trade unionists want coalition troops to leave but not yet since they face slaughter) and “withdraw immediately” (you are causing more problems and deaths by coalition forces remaining). It was interesting to hear the chair, Sue Rogers, describe her surprise (as an anti-war protestor herself) at the support the war had and the continued presence from coalition troops had from Iraqi trade unionists she had met.

I attended the afternoon workshop “Global Bargaining with Global Corporations”. Dave Spooner (general secretary of the IFWEA) started off by pointing out that ethical agreements are all well and good, but do they result in any trade union members being recruited? Need to make sure that global agreements are actually agreed with all the unions involved not just the well organised ones in the “west”. He described the controversial “change to win” union organisers in the US who invest heavily to organise in key targets. Some international trade union associations as not being “fit for purpose”. They need to organise not service (we have heard this argument before), the under funding of global issues by nearly all trade unions.

Stuart Howard (assistant branch secretary of ITWF) gave a positive contribution on the possible strength international trade unions can have due to the modern day “time sensitive” supply lines e.g. the 2001 west coast US Dockers strike. Transport Unions have potentially massive industrial strength and bargaining power if they can organise in international transport “key hubs” (certain ports and airports).

John Fetherston, Unite (T&G) convenor, General Motors Ellesmere Port (a fairly major employer where I grew up) spoke about the difficulties and successes in General Motors European Works Councils. Far more success than failure I thought?

The closing plenary had Colombian trade unionist Asdrual Jimenez (who still had bullets in his back from an right wing assassination attempt), Cuban doctor Juan Carlos Dupuy Nunez, Baljeet Ghale NUT president, UNISON own Keith Sonnet and rousing speech by Rodney Bickerstaffe (Solidar and of course ex-UNISON: seen above with London UNISON deputy convernor Gloria Hanson). Keith stressed the importance of international solidarity while Rodney reminded everyone that this day was also the 139th anniversary of the first meeting of the Trade Union Congress in 1868.