A March for the Alternative

Colleagues, a great day was spent in London yesterday for the highly successful TUC March for the Alternative. I was able to travel down with Manjit Singh (TSSA Steward at Coventry Railway Station) and his son Bally (last pictures shown below) and was pleased to bump into so many friends and colleagues along the route of the march. A great head of steam was built up yesterday, it is important that we use own 'kettle' to help create some momentum behind the sheer anger and force that it across the UK.

Knowledge is Power: Unity is Strength

Colleagues from Ruskin College, Des McDermott (left) and John Walker (right) support striking UCU members at the University of Oxford on Tuesday this week.

They are proudly displaying for the first time our new UCU branch banner, provided by the UCU - but lacking a UCU logo!

Ian

Guest Item: Asbestos - Still a Global Threat

Colleagues,

I am very pleased to provide the opportunity and space for a specialist guest-written item on my blog.

I have been approached by Eric Stevenson (a health and safety advocate) to help publicise the continuing global threat posed from asbestos mining, production and use.

There are a lot of resources available to trade unionists on the dangers posed from asbestos and Eric's piece helpfully identifies these, and if you contact me I can send links to these as well

Quebec is home to one of the most successful asbestos mines in history. Since 1879, residents of the town have maintained a working relationship with their namesake. The Jeffrey Mine, today the world’s largest asbestos mine, has produced as much as 150,000 tons of asbestos since 2006. However with the dwindling deposit of the ore available, production has practically halted. That is, until very recently. It has been discovered that beneath the ground of the Jeffrey Mine lies the world’s largest deposit of untouched asbestos. With the discovery have come prospective buyers and investors.

They plan to resurrect the mine and consequently the town by offering jobs to the out of work miners there.However, with the rejuvenation of [http://www.mesotheliomalawsuit.org/] Jeffery Mine comes the medical problem that asbestos poses to employees and to those to whom the product will be exported. Asbestos has been banned from commercial use in several countries, despite its low cost and its fire-resistant properties, largely because asbestos is now widely known as a potent carcinogen.When disturbed, sanded, broken, burnt, or cut, asbestos and asbestos materials release nearly invisible fibers into the air. These fibers settle on the clothes, hair, and shoes of those who handle the product and loved ones and family members are also very likely to come in contact with the fibers. When the fine fibers are inhaled or ingested, tissue scarring results in mesothelioma, a cancer that ravages the lining of the lungs, the abdomen, and the heart.[http://www.mesotheliomasymptoms.com/mesothelioma-symptoms] Mesothelioma symptom are subtle and very often lie dormant for 20 to 50 years after initial asbestos exposure.

Because workers and those with asbestos products in their homes are unaware of the cancer, it has ample time to metastasize, spreading to other vital organs without triggering symptoms. If mesothelioma is at all diagnosed before the death of the victim, it is often already at a late stage. Victims of the disease suffer from harsh treatment that often proves ineffective.Because many in developing countries are not yet aware of the danger of asbestos, the Jeffrey Mine’s potential buyer plans to export hundreds of thousands of tons of the toxic material to unsuspecting contractors and workers.

Despite the fact that [lhttp://www.mesotheliomasymptoms.com/mesothelioma-life-expectancy] mesothelioma life expectancy[/link] rates are devastatingly low and even Canada has regulations and laws against using asbestos for manufacturing within its borders, the Jeffrey Mine fully insists that the products will not harm other buyers or workers.The refusal of the Jeffrey Mine to accept responsibility for the devastating effects that asbestos will have on those exposed to it shows that ethics is being pushed aside for the more appetizing idea of profit.

As a worldwide community, it is up to all of us, to those who have been made aware of the dangers of such toxins, to put a stop to the blatant violation of human rights and to prevent the [http://www.mesotheliomasymptoms.com] Mesotheliomafrom unnecessarily affecting others.

Eric Stevenson is a health and safety advocate who resides in the Southeastern US, and has found his voice by shinning light onto commonly overlooked issues.

For questions about this article feel free to contact him at epicsurvivor@gmail.com

Please do post items around your own experience of handling cases in the workplace which relate to asbestos and do contact Eric direct with any questions/comments.

Ian

The Moral Position on the Right to Strike

Colleagues,

The Court of Appeal ruling on the appeal brought by ASLEF and the RMT has brought the UK's labour movement welcome news - not least in the context of a potential increase in industrial action in the months/years to come.

Drawing on the BBC News online piece on the story the background to the decision is this:

Aslef and the RMT challenged injunctions blocking strikes over small faults in procedure, such as polling those not entitled to vote.

The Court of Appeal clarified the law, saying unions cannot be expected to always have up-to-date membership records.

The court said in future that the information should be "as accurate as was reasonably practicable" and that allowances should be made for "small accidental failures" in administration.

Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12651785

The response of the RMT's General Secretary, Bob Crow, neatly (and typically) drew out the moral and political implications of the decision:

“This morning’s judgment is not only a victory for staff on Serco Docklands and RMT’s 80,000 members but it is also a massive victory for the seven million trade unionists in the UK.

The Serco Docklands injunction on balloting process would have taken the anti-union laws in this country to within a whisker of effectively banning the right to strike if it had been allowed to stand and would have tightened the noose around the neck.

This landmark victory for working people in this country could not have been secured without the sterling work of Richard Arthur and Doug Christie from Thompson’s solicitors and the advocacy of RMT’s standing counsel John Hendy QC."

RMT Press Release: http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=143021&int1stParentNodeID=89732

Naturally we can expect the government to attempto to 'reform' the law on industrial action partly as a result of its current 'consultation' of resolving workplace disputes.

In any case the CoA decision is a thumbs up for the thousands of trade unionists facing job loss and a great boost for the TUC March on 26th March.

See you all there!

Ian

Ma nitkellimx bil-Malti

Colleagues,

Just a brief item before I head off for a week of sunshine (hopefully) and (some) rest in Malta with my family.

All being well I'll also be meeting colleagues from the General Workers Union (http://www.gwu.org.mt/) and labour studies department at the University of Malta (http://www.um.edu.mt/cls).

The image posted with this item is of the GWU symbol on the first class stamp printed in 1983 to mark the 40 year anniversary of the formation of the island's largest union.

The historical development of the labour movement in Malta mirrors that of the UK given the strong historical links and is definitely worth investigation - send me an e-mail and I can send some reading.

Will post a new item when back.

Cheers!

Ian

PS The title of this post translates to 'I don't speak Maltese' as this has to be one of most difficult languages to read let alone speak, although I will be giving it a go. As stated in the Encyclopædia Britannica Maltese is the Semitic language of the Southern Central group spoken on the island of Malta. Maltese developed from a dialect of Arabic and is closely related to the western Arabic dialects of Algeria and Tunisia. Strongly influenced by the Italian dialect spoken in Sicily, Maltese is the only form of Arabic to be written in the Latin alphabet.

There is Power in a Union

Colleagues,

A friend of mine has recently brought this new book (published in September last year) to my attention. To my shame I wasn't aware that it had been published but on reviewing it found it to be one of the most readable and honest books on the development of the labour movement in the US - of which there are hundreds.

To save time (forgive me for this) in doing the book justice I have lifted the book's review from the UCS bookstore - from where all good trade unionists should buy a copy:

This sympathetic, thoughtful and highly readable history of the American labor movement traces unionism from the textile mills of Lowell, Massachusetts in the 1820s to organized labor’s decline in the 1980s and struggle for survival and growth today.

Philip Dray’s ambition is to show us the vital accomplishments of unionism over the past 200 years and illuminate its central role in our social, political, economic, and cultural evolution. There Is Power in a Union is an epic, character-driven narrative that locates this struggle for security and dignity in all its various settings: on picket lines and in union halls, jails, assembly lines, corporate boardrooms, the courts, the halls of Congress, and the White House.

The author demonstrates, viscerally and dramatically, the urgency of the fight for fairness and economic democracy — a struggle that remains especially urgent today, when ordinary Americans are so anxious and beset by economic woes at the hands of employer greed and a new global capitalism that threatens to create a permanent underclass. He notes that security of full-time employees is also threatened in the new 24-hours-a-day workplace dominated by computers and e-mail, which he calls "the electronic collar." Illustrated with dozens of photos, posters and more.

"The unending struggle between unions and big business has never been more vividly told. Philip Dray is a marvelous storyteller who brings history memorably alive, and you will not soon forget the tales of murder and greed, commitment and sacrifice that fill these pages. But this is more than history; the compelling saga of labor as a crucible for social change should prompt some honest and hard debate about what’s happening to workingmen and -women today."
BILL MOYERS, JOURNALIST (HOST OF PBS'S BILL MOYERS JOURNAL)

http://ssl30.pair.com/unionist/ccp7/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=powerunion

Ian

The Slippery Slope Starts Here

With the formal start of the Government's consultation exercise on 'reforming' the process for resolving workplace disputes the sledgehammer is just about to swing on the weak framework of employment rights that UK workers have in comparison to our brothers and sisters on the Continent.

If you look at the consultation paperwork (http://www.bis.gov.uk/Consultations/resolving-workplace-disputes?cat=open) it is no suprise that the Tories have cast this assult on rights within the context of their own austerity measures and, as a result, they wish to
'remove barriers to growth and job creation'.

It beggar's belief that the Tories retain their ideological assumption that a weakening of employment protection = an increase in employment within the economy. This was the same assumption that decried the introduction of the minimum wage (a downward pressure on wages and mass unemployment the lunatics cried) and instead we saw an increase in employemnt and a flattening of wage variance at the lower end of the labour force.

One of the more worrying features of their proposals is the extension back to two years of the qualifying period for the right to take to Employment Tribunal a claim of unfair dismissal. The consultation documents delights in the fact that such a change would result in
'3,700-4,700 fewer claims being made to tribunal' and what of the legitimate claims of unfair dismissal within this number who will fall foul of the change?

The Tories (as it is they who control the government and the attack dogs here) are clear that they will continue, perhaps at even greater a pace than Gordon Brown, the neo-liberal assault on social and welfare protection within the British economy.

As the labour movement prepares for industrial action this year we can expect a new wave of 'reform' that will bite deeply into our capacity and capability to organise and respond to the large scale assult on the public sector and standards in British society generally. We have to resist this in any way we can.

Please take the time to read the consultation document and make sure that your trade union is providing a response. Your general thoughts on this piece are also welcome.

Ian