International Organising Strategies

Colleagues,

Just a brief report on a weekend spent amongst a wide-ranging, inspiring group of friends and colleagues.

From Friday to Saturday lunchtime I joined an eminent group of trade unionist activists, researchers and academics to form a rountable on international trade union organising strategies as part of the Northern College Social Forum.

Pictured left (speaking to group) is Keith Hodgson (REO for UNISON Northern Region)
who focused on the work of the Cuban Medical Brigades as part of a strategy to engage younger workers with trade union activity. We also heard from Mary Compton (past President of the NUT and now a divisional secretary) the driving force behind the webs-site http://www.teachersolidarity.com/blog/index.php which documents the global neo-liberal assault on teachers and on teaching trade unions - well worth checking on month-by-month.

We were joined also by the well-respected writer on labour and trade union issues Celia Mather who, amongst a strong body of work particularly on organising workers in the informal economy, was reporting on the work she had completed just this week with a global group of trade unions and NGOS representing domestic workers who had achieved the momentous goal of negotiating an ILO core labour standard on the rights of domestic workers.

There is some background information from the ILO on the plight of domestic workers here:
http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Feature_stories/lang--en/WCMS_140916/index.htm

More important however, is the web-site of the global group behind this drive:
http://www.domesticworkerrights.org/?q=node/13

It was also great to see and hear from a good friend, Ian Fitzgerald of Northumbria University. Ian is widely respected across the labour movement for his analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses of trade union organising strategy following A8 accession, and in particular of Polish migration to the UK.

It was a pity to see the end of the rountable not least as, for a small group, the breadth and depth of experience and knowledge was phenomenal.

I did have to leave however, as in the afternoon I had the opportunity to join an equally well-respected body of speakers at an event that forms part of Co-ops Fortnight.

The event, at Methodist Central Hall (Westminster) was one of many and titled Co-operatives and Trade Unions: Working Towards a Common End. The event was chaired by Dan Whittle (Director of Unions21 - seated on right side of screen). I spoke of recent developments within the UK and US labour movements that suggested incremental steps towards greater degrees of forms of employee ownership.

I was pleased that we were joined by a good friend James Stribley (GMB Regional Convenor South Yorkshire - seated to my right) who spoke of the fantastic achievement of a group of GMB members who had been made redundant by Remploy but who have formed a co-operative (with the backing of the GMB) and who are baseed in York.

A key feature of the workshop was a presenatation by Stirling Smith (Co-operative College - standing) on the ILO core convention of the role of co-operatives within economic development and the valuable role of the convention in securing workers' rights and enabling greater degrees of mobilisation and collectivisation by workers, particlarly those in the informal economy in developing countries.

The last piece of news I want to report on is an event at Northern College that was running simultaneously to the Social Forum.

Given Northern's place in the history of the UK labour movement, and in particular of the mining communities of South Yorkshire, I was really pleased to see that the College was the venue for the 25th anniversary conference of the 84/85 miners' strike. The event 25 Years on – Reflections on the Miners Strike of 1984/85 was being run by a number of Northern Staff who were ex-miners. More details at:
http://www.northern.ac.uk/doc/events/25_Year_on_Northern_College_Conference_June_19_2010.pdf

I was really pleased a good friend at Northern, Phil Fitzpatrick, ex-miner turned librarian (now there's a great story!) on the reception desk for the event.

As ever Phil was able to coin a perfect phrase to match the mood of the event, when he suggested that, as a result of the Tories (with Lib Dem connivance) being back in power, the miners were once again grouping and coming together at Northern - did David Cameron know?

What a lot to pack into a weekend but still I was able, surrounded by women and men connected to trade unionism locally, nationally and globally, to witness events that mark our history and spell out our future.

Any comments welcome.

Cheers!

Ian

52 Ways to Change the World (Co-operatively)

Colleagues,

As part of Co-operatives Fortnight I am speaking at an event this Saturday at the Central Hall in Westminster with the theme: Co-operatives and Trade Unions: Working for a Common End.

See more: www.thereisanalternative.coop/node/7024

Some of you may remember the event last year that I organised in collaboration with Unions21 and Co-ops UK with a very similar theme. Coincidentially Dan Whittle, who is the Director of Unions 21, and who chaired last year's Manchester-based event, is also chairing Saturday's discussion.

The issue of the overlap (or not) between trade union membership (and activism) within the context of an employee-owned enterprise is one that is little-debated within the trade union movement in the UK (on the continent, this is not a problem and, as usual, they are much further ahead in investigating and supporting collaborative activity) although, where it does arise, it tends to lead, in my experience at least, to be killed off fairly quickly, not least now that Cameron has 'found' co-operatives as a useful vehicle to further assault the public sector.

Regardless of this we must, again from my own personal perspective, firstly acknowledge the legacy that co-operativism has bestowed on the wider labour movement and try and make sense of this within a modern context. We cannot contine to ignore what employee ownership can mean to trade unionists.

For example, on Saturday I am speaking on a platform with James Stribley (regional lay convenor for South Yorkshire with the GMB) who will outline the inovative way in which former Remploy employees have formed a workers' co-op following the closure of their workshop in York earlier this year. The co-operative (which formally became a legal entity in May) has its own web-site: http://www.disabledworkers.org.uk/

So, for me, a knee-jerk reaction against employee ownership within the UK labour movement is no longer (and never was) a legitimate, credible response, not least (as in the case in York) for workers able to own the means of production and create a form of employment in the face of unemployment.

I do hope that this posting elicits some robust (although respectful) feedback.

Cheers

Ian

A Moral Outrage

Colleagues,

The latest e-mail from Labourstart's Eric Lee is headed A Moral Outrage and his anger is not misplaced.

For Eric is commenting on the increase (yes, sadly an increase) in the number of trade unionists murdered last year and whose deaths are identified in the ITUC's latest Annual Survey of the Violation of Trade Union Rights:

http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-annual-survey.html

The ITUC has been able to gather evidence that indicates a 30% increase in the rate of murders.

Please go to the link for the 2010 Annual Survey to download a copy and also view the shocking video (available via YouTube) that accompanies it.

Please do what you can across your own trade union and labour networks to help share details of the Survey and to ensure that this issue receives the attention it deserves.

I'd welcome any comments on the report once you have had a look and suggestions for methods of being able to raise the Survey during workplace and branch discussions.

Cheers

Ian