Stop the Trade Union Bill - Stop the Tories causing industrial mayhem

The Government will on Monday (14 September 2015) publish a Parliamentary bill that will attack trade unions ability to defend and representative their members.

This is probably one of the most pointless and even spiteful pieces of anti-trade union legislation ever.

The exact detail has not been released but according to the official government consultation paper it could :-

1. Stop councils from raising revenue by charging to collect union subs from staff wages.

2. Ban strikes even if a majority of workers vote for it (also  undermining the principle of democratic elections in our country)

3. Result in criminal charges for taking part in social media protests on twitter and Facebook.

4. Allowing employers to use US style agency thugs as scab labour to break strikes.

5. Stopping union health and safety reps from being sufficient given time off to prevent accidents, illness and violence at work

Even the professional body for HR in this country, the Chartered Institute for Personal and Development has attacked the bill:-

"Proposals on strike laws are a response to yesterday’s problems, says CIPD  Plans to raise the bar for strike action divert attention from building better, more engaged workforces. The Government’s proposals on strike laws are an outdated response to industrial relations issues currently facing UK employers and could prove counter-productive" If this proposal goes ahead it will indeed prove "counter-productive". If workers' democratic rights to legally strike are not allowed then there will be an explosion of "unofficial" action and protests. If there is a legal strike and scab agencies are allowed to bus in strike breakers then there will be mayhem in the workplace. I hope the Tory MPs who actually have experience of "real" work as opposed to a life of political bag carrying (like too many Labour MPs I may add) will help kick this rotten stupid bill into touch. UNISON General Secretary, Dave Prentis, makes sense when he notes that   “Democracy won’t be enhanced by vindictively raising thresholds but by modernising balloting and allowing workers to vote from their phones and tablets.” Email your MP now to speak against the Bill on Monday https://secure.unionstogether.org.uk/page/speakout/protect-our-voice-at-work

Miner's Strike: 30th anniversary

This framed cartoon is on the wall of the community centre where I hold my Councillor surgery. The Chair of the centre is the daughter of a miner.

It takes me back to Yorkshire and my youth. This year is the 30th anniversary of the start of the 1984-1985 Miner's strike. As a politics student in Leeds at the time, I went to rallies and pickets lines to show support. But I don't think I really understood what what was really going on nor what it is like to actually go on strike until I became a trade union activist in UNISON.

The miners strike was not just about saving jobs but also about saving communities and a way of life - now long gone. They lost that particular battle but that does not mean that we cannot organise workers and communities to take action and act collectively in the future - and win the war.

An old scab postman lay dying…

Another straight lift - this time from the Health & Safety website HandSigns. Couldn't resist it.

"An old scab postman lay dying… He sent for his son.

The son rushed to his bedside and put his ear close to the old man’s lips.
“Yes Dad, what do you want to say to me?”

“Son”, he wheezed, “I’ve got one last wish, and I want you to see it’s carried out.”
“Yes, Dad, what is it?”

“When I’m gone, I want you to arrange my funeral.”
“Yes, Dad, I’ll do that.”

“And I want you to arrange that the Union Banner is draped on my coffin, and that my pallbearers are good Union members, and better still, Union Reps.”
“But Dad”, the son replied, confused, “You never supported the Union. When you started in the Post Office as a casual, it was the Union who got you a permanent contract, but you always slagged them off.”

"I know, son.”
” And the Union got you taken on full time, but you thought it was management who had given you a full time job, and although you joined the Union, it was only to get any protection going, in case you needed it.”

“Yes, son, that’s true.”
“And when you were threatened with dismissal for sickness, it was the Union Rep who represented you and saved your job.”

“Yes, she did.”
“And you took every pay rise, and improvement that the Union negotiated, though you always said that the Union did nothing for you.”

“Yes…”
“And when the Union said a stand had to be taken against Management’s refusal to negotiate on their plans to cut wages and impose their Business Plan, you resigned from the Union ‘on principle’, as you were against strikes.”

“Yes, son, I did — the Union can’t tell you what to do.”
“And you crossed the picket line, laughing at your colleagues standing there losing pay to defend their pay, their conditions and their jobs.”

“Well, yes, I did. They’re idiots to think they can stand up to Management.”
“And you did every bit of overtime going, even coming in on your days off.”

“Yes, son, well, you have to look after yourself.”
“And if anyone called you a scab, you went running to the manager to get disciplinary action taken against them.”

“Yes–well, they shouldn’t be so nasty to me, I’m only doing my job.”
“So Dad, if you’ve hated the Union all your life, why would you want Union members to be your pallbearers?”

The old scab wheezed and gasped, turning blue, before he breathed his last, and departed this life for that hell reserved for scabs, nonces, bullying managers, torturers, concentration camp guards, fascists, greedy bosses, and the rest of the dregs of humanity. He beckoned his son to come closer, and with his last breath he whispered:

“GOOD AND DECENT TRADE UNIONISTS HAVE CARRIED ME ALL MY LIFE, AND I WANT THEM TO CARRY ME WHEN I’M DEAD, TOO.”