Time to join a Union #SummerOfSolidarity

 

I was asked to present to te Independent socialists of Wellingborough meeting on the Theme of Trade Unionism today and in the future. The following is the transcript of what I presented. 

The Trade Union Movement 2022 and beyond

I’ve been a union member since 1983. First in ASTMS and after a period of time out of the Country I have been a member of UNISON since 1993. The entire time I have been a UNISON member I have been working in the voluntary and community sector. UNISON has only been organising in this sector in the last 12 years and some part of the country evidently find this more difficult than others as in my region this sector still has no lay leadership and no influence on decision making in the organisation.

The Community and voluntary sector of the union is biggest growing sector in UNISON. This is mainly as a result of neo-liberal policies put forward to shrink the state and outsource public services to third party organisations many of whom act as if their primary duty is to their shareholders. These are care services, leisure services. These are workers who have been impacted by the 2021 Supreme Court final judgement on a case of great significance for care providers and low-paid care workers. The case in question was Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake, was first brought to an Employment Tribunal in 2016. It turned on whether care workers on ‘sleep-in shifts’ were entitled to the national minimum wage for the full duration of their shift, including time spent asleep.  ‘Sleep-in shifts’ are those where workers are required to sleep at a residence overnight with the possibility of waking to provide care. The Supreme Court found that those on sleep-in shifts in social care are not entitled to the national minimum wage while asleep over turning previous tribunal victories.

This case related to an employment that 20 years ago would be undertaken by a local government or health agency but now undertaken by a charity. Does this have an impact on tribunal/supreme court decisions?

The workers in the community sector are often in insecure employment. Perhaps on time limited contracts or hours which go up and down at the drop of a hat. Often the kind of jobs that are done are central to the welfare of the most vulnerable in our community and this ethical angle is often exploited by employers to eek out every last bit of goodwill and flexibility to ensure that the bottom line on the budget reports are as low as they can possibly be.

With better employers looking at what they can do to support their worker through the cost of living crisis, what hope for those in the community sector. 

With the actions of the #SummerOfSolidarity with industrial action from the RMT, ASLEF, the CWU and Criminal Bar Association going on strike, there has been a re-discovering of the both the mundane (who’s going to be on the picket at 6am) to the creative use of social media to engage and update the public.

There is more to come of this with local government, health and the national education union all at various stages of balloting membership for strike action.

Within this there is a dimension-shifting disconnect between all kinds of the political establishment and unions taking industrial action.

Firstly in the Labour Party, the picket of not to picket. Front benchers notable by their absence. Backbenchers link Zara Sultana embracing the #Solidarity.

Even with in the Conservative Party, there are discussions about the inconvenience of Train Drivers taking action on some days and Train Maintenance and support staff taking action on other days. Would not it be more sensible to take action on the same day they say. Conservative industrial relations guru’s the number one supporters of the general strike!

This after all is the source of compassionate conservatism who joined the public outcry when P and O Ferries made more than 1000 workers redundant with no consultation on March. These employees were sacked by a pre-recorded zoom message and initial statements about government legal action disappeared like the morning mist. Individuals were left on their own with a complex and lengthy tribunal process or the company payout which was just slightly more that they would get in tribunal. So dismayed was the government about this, that they are now considering taking action to use agency workers to break strikes.

On the more positive side is the creation of the Enough Is Enough campaign. Crucially significant is the adoption of a broader set of demands

The five demands to tackle the crisis

1. A Real Pay Rise.

2. Slash Energy Bills.

3. End Food Poverty.

4. Decent Homes for All.

5. Tax the Rich.

At a time of spiralling housing, energy and food costs. Workers need wages but they also need a homes, food and utilities

Night before last there was also an announcement by the TUC.

The announcement itself came about with quite a lot of hype and expectation, being released at 10.30pm at night. When the details came out of a petition campaign for £15 an hour by 2030.

While the call for £15 national minimum wage is to be welcomed the aspiration for this by 2030 is poor and as a movement we can and should do better than this

The most indebted place per capita in the country is Northampton at £749. Consumer debt in the UK has soared by almost 10% in the past year. Unsecured consumer credit topped £200bn in June, prompting the Bank of England to warn about the potential threat of growing debt to the economy. The average consumer debt per person in the UK stood at £603, while the average household debt was £1,441 at the end of 2016. This debt for local people is made of personal loans, overdrafts, credit cards and car loans. The rising cost of living as wages have stagnated has contributed to this as the extortionate cost of housing with many families having to downsize,  move out of town or access other helps such as food banks to manage. Northampton North needs a Labour candidate who understands the realities of what people are facing. The crippling impact of austerity has meant that public services aren’t meeting the needs of local people with these pressures.  I have been a part of the voluntary and community sector in Northampton over the last twenty-seven years which has tried to respond by the development of food and clothing banks and street kitchen. The most effective response is to get a Labour Government in to ensure better paid and more secure work. Managing a discrimination advice service, has given me first hand experience of the way that the move to pseudo-self employment and zero hours contracts have affected local people.

The Labour Party has launched a petition urging the government to rethink Universal Credit. You can sign it here.

Other things that you can do on this is to support the TUC  public rally to be held on October 21st, 12.00-14.00, Northampton Working Men's Club, 56 Sheep Street, NN1 2LZ.

Speakers include:

-          Matt Wrack, FBU General Secretary

-          Lee Barron, TUC Midlands

-          Louise Regan, NEU President

-          Sara Carpenter, Unite Head of Health

-          Rachell Wilkins, GMB

-          Alan Hackett, NASUWT NEC

-          Gareth eales, CWU

-          Andrew Lloyd, PCS Regional Secretary

-          Penny Smith, Northants UNISON

Labour party members who have been members for more than 6 months get a vote. If you are in this fortunate position please support Anjona Roy’s campaign.

If you know other local Labour Party members please talk to them about Anjona Roy’s campaign

If you have friends and family that are not members please encourage them to join.

It’s our Labour Party and we’re campaigning for the many … Join us

Every single person who works in public services needs and deserves a pay rise. It’s time for the pay cap to be scrapped, for the government to provide additional funding and for employers to put up public sector workers pay. 

I signed a petition to Parliament on this issue a few days ago.  It’s part of the campaign on public sector pay organised by a number of unions, including my own, UNISON. The Petition has so far attracted over 230,000 signatures. This morning the Government responded with the following statement from the Treasury:

“Public sector workers deserve to have fulfilling jobs that are fairly rewarded. On 12 September we announced a move away from the 1% public sector pay policy, towards a more flexible approach on pay.

We still need to deal with our country’s debts to ensure we have a strong economy to enable us to invest in our public services. This means that we will continue to take a balanced approach to public spending.

The Government will consider each specific workforce to ensure pay is set so that we can continue to both attract and hold on to the excellent staff that support our world-leading public services.

Before we make final decisions on pay awards, we will seek the views of the eight independent Pay Review Bodies, which will consider the evidence on how we ensure we attract and retain the very best people within our public services, like giving people more flexibility over their working hours.

They will report in Spring 2018, at which point we will consider their recommendations and announce public sector pay awards for each of those workforces.”

The government response has been to:

• Ignore the critical nature of the problem.
• Divide and rule by stating the pay cap will be lifted for some workers and not others depending on what service they work in.
• Say that the pay cap will be lifted but do not fund it, placing the responsibility on implementing this with the same budget through job losses or other service cuts (in the police and schools)
• Ignore the fact that our public services need investment and are on their knees after seven years of austerity.

More and more staff are leaving the public sector resulting in the loss of billions in staff development and training. In addition to this, public sector agencies fill the gaps using agency staff often at an extortionate cost. In the last few weeks, there have been calls from a number of senior Tory Councillors and local Tory MPs for more investment. At the same time, they have been asking Council workers to accept compulsory unpaid days as a means of balancing their budgets.

After the snap general election, the Conservatives found the money to keep them in power by bribing the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) . Now they’ve found the “Magic Money Tree”, working people deserve their fair share of its fruits.

What can you do?

Sign the petition to increase public sector workers pay 

Attend and help promote the TUC and Northampton Trades Council event: 

Northampton Needs a Pay Rise

Saturday ^21st October  

12pm till 2pm

Northampton Working Men’s Cub 

Sheep Street

Northampton 

NN1 2LZ 

Speakers:

Matt Wrack General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union

Louise Regan President of the National Education Union

Sharon Wilde from the GMB

Lee Barron from Midlands TUC

Alan Hackett from NASUWT

Sara Carpenter from UNITE the union

Penny Smith Northants County Branch UNISON

Support my campaign for selection as Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Northampton North. 

If you want to support me please get in touch using the contact form on the right or by commenting on this post.

If you are not a member of the Labour Party, join today here and help fight for a future for the many not the few.