Egypt: The Workers' Voice

Colleagues,

As the state of emergency in Tunisia bled (literally) into the fleeing of the ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, it was quite clear that, there after, all expectation was of an impact on the largest of all Arab nations, Egypt.

I have the priviledged experience of meeting with and working alongside the Egyptian Centre for Workers' and Trade Union Services (CWTUS) (http://www.ctuws.com/).

Historically the Centre has operated as the quasi-official centre for independent trade unionism in a country where the official labour movement has traditionally been operated and run by the state.

The ITUC's 2010 Annual Survey of the Violation of Trade Union rights provides, as ever, a critically concise snapshot of the state of organised labour in a country under siege:

http://survey.ituc-csi.org/+-Egypt-+.html

As you will see the Survey's report on Egypt charts the way in which the CWTUS has attempted to build an independent labour movement, albeit in the face of a vicious campaign of state-insprited brutality.

It is clear that as the regime of Hosni Mubarak desparately attempts to cling to power a variety of civil society organisations, including the CWTUS, are succesfullly mobilising thousands of protesters across Egypt.

The end game for the Mubarak regime is part testament to the resilience of many organisations like the CWTUS who have, despite the harsh realities of life under dictator, maintained their strength largely through the spirited resolve of the Egyptian working class.

I have maintained contact with the CWTUS and have followed closely the yearly waves of strike action that bursts through the constraints of the official labour movement. Although this has typically result in sackings, jailings and assault it has not diminished the willingness of Egyptians to engage in action that is deemed to, in part at least, challenge the authority of the state.

Clearly the next few days will be critical in determining Egypt's future. And in ensuring that the voice of the Egyptian worker is part of the next stage in dialogue the CWTUS will no doubt continue to play their essential role in building a free, independent labour movement.

I am sure that I speak for many in the UK trade union movement when I send the CWTUS a message of solidarity and strength for the period ahead.

Ian

And So I Stood: David Kitson (25.08.19 - 09.11.10)

Colleagues,

For over 20 years I have kept and treasured a (now dog-eared) large poster which was printed to celebrate the release in 1984 from a South African prison of David Kitson ANC activist, SACP member and pivotal cadre member of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK, or Spear of the Nation) the armed wing of the ANC.

With David's death in Johannesburg before Christmas we should both mourn the sad loss of a true fighter in the South African liberation struggle, but also remember the acts of treachery and collusion that led to his political isolation when he moved from South Africa to London following his release.

As a student at Ruskin College in the 1980's I am my contemporaries knew of David's connections with Ruskin as a Ruskin student himself and then, disgracefully, in the way that he was mistreated by his own union (TASS a forerunner of MSF) which withdrew his union-funded opportunity to teach at Ruskin having been shunned by the ANC.

There are some wonderful tributes to David Kitson that do greater justice than I could in recording and celebrating his life. Please take the time to read these and please post comments when you have read these.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/17/david-kitson-obituary

http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/international/2008-obituary-david-kitson-principled-communist-and-freedom-fighter-frfi-218-dec-2010--jan-2011.html

Thanks

Ian

Thank you LabourStart!

Colleagues,

Apologies for my late start to blogging in 2011. I have been heavily tied up with teaching since the start of the New Year and have just finished a great 3-day course with local reps of the Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) in London.

To kick off 2011 I am using the LabouStart picture of 2010. The caption for the winning entry reads:

The 2010 Photo of the Year winner: Farmworkers early in the morning, waiting to start the Pilgrimage for Freedom, a 50 km march for migrant workers rights, from Leamington to Windsor Ontario on Thanksgiving 2010 .

Sticking with LabourStart I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by its range and shape of current industrial unrest across the globe. From protests in Tunisia to the on-going strike action in Cambodia LabourStart provides the global labour movement with an essential service - long may Eric Lee and his team of labour correspondents thrive to perform this function.

So, my first posting for 2011 is a short reminder to, as LabourStart suggests, make sure this site is the one where you start your day (http://www.labourstart.org/).

My very best wishes for 2011.

Ian

2011: We are the Lions

"What you are running is not a factory, it is a zoo. But in a zoo there are many types of animals. Some are monkeys who dance on your fingertips. Others are lions who can bite your head off. We are those lions, Mr Manager."

When I heard the sad news that Jayaben Desai has passed away on 23rd December I couldn't decide whether her death signalled, once again, the irrevocable decline of the of the British trade union movement or instead provides a helpful narrative from which we can draw lessons for what will be a challenging period ahead.

Whichever your view will depend on the significance that you apportion to the famous Grunwick indistrial dispute of of 1977-78. For many people, including me, the importance of the dispute was the extent to which the dispute, led by Desai, challenged the government with the demand that workers automatically have trade union recognition when the majority of the workforce wanted it.

Although the strike was ultimately broken it became a rallying point for the majority of the British trade union movement and smashed the racist/sexist myth that black and Asian women could not of themselves build for and lead industrial protest.

There is a good (albeit) brief obituary in today's Guardian which I commend to you all of you as an excellent way to pay respects to Jayaben and to prepare for 2011:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/28/jayaben-desai-obituary

I would like to wish you all the very best for 2011 and I look forward to documenting all of the challenges and changes to labour and social movements both in the UK and internationally.

Ian

A Winter of Discontent - or not?

Colleagues,

On the same day that a number of trade union leaders are meeting Cameron at No. 10 to threaten, amongst other things, a programme of industrial action during 2011, I have just issued a press release (in my role as Projects Officer at the General Federation of Trade Unions) to announce a major European transnational project which will promote alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms - is this good or poor timing?

The background to the GFTU's initiative is the increasing workplace tension across the EU caused as a result of governmental austerity measures and employer belt-tightening in the face of the recession.

Naturally, as witnessed in Greece, France, Ireland etc., workers have taken to the streets and at the same time there has been an increase in the volume of workplace disputes resolved without recourse to court settlement.

A very useful snapshot on the rise of ADR was produced by the European Foundation for the Improvement in Living & Working Conditions (EUROFOUND) last year, and written by John Purcell at the Industrial Relations Research Unit (IRRU) at Warwick Univ:
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/docs/eiro/tn0910039s/tn0910039s.pdf

Although there are some understandable variances in the approaches used by European trade unions to indsutrial action and to ADR itself the report concluded:

There is some evidence to suggest that attitudes to the use of ADR in individual labour or employment disputes are becoming more positive. In the last 10 years, 15 countries have seen initiatives of some sort in ADR. Trade unions are generally in favour of ADR, while employer organisations in most countries now support it and governments increasingly view ADR as a cost-effective and speedy alternative to court proceedings. It is suggested in some quarters that lawyers and judges are less enthusiastic about ADR, while others contend that it is the judges who are pioneering forms of pre-hearing mediation. All of these findings suggest that there is likely to be an increased take-up of ADR in the future.

Perhaps this is the reason that the GFTU has been awarded the funding by the European Commission, but a starker truth is that the industrial relations scene in the UK is set to become relatively bleak, and that any measure that encourages employers to settle disputes is no bad thing.

As Bob Crow has been quoted today as saying in reference to Len McCluskey's call for strike action:

"Len McCluskey is spot on. We need co-ordinated action, and a social and political movement that mirrors the anti-poll tax campaign if we are to turn the tide on the fiscal fascism of this ConDem government."

Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12037166

Whether ADR is sufficient to respond to the growing crisis in the UK remains to be seen, but anyone who would like more information on the project is welcome to get in touch. Please send an e-mail to me: ian@gftu.org.uk

Just how do you mobilise for protest?

Colleagues,

With the news today that UNISON has set up a £20m war chest which, to quote Dave Prentis, has been created because:

"We are facing the biggest onslaught against our members, and the services they provide, in our history.

We are determined to use this money to help our members on the ground to fight for jobs and services.

"We are sending out a clear message to the coalition Government that we will not stand by and see our public services devastated, without putting up a fight.

"The money will be used to step up campaigning and to help our branches and regions combat savage cuts to jobs and services in their local communities.

"Unison members are angry and frustrated that this Government has refused to look at any of many viable alternatives to cutting public services."

Just how this money will be utilised remains to be seen. What is not in doubt however, is the significant degree of sophistication and organisation of student protest which has been undertaken for a lot less. There are great pictures of today's protests at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/gallery/2010/dec/08/tweeted-student-protest-pictures

Much of the focus in labour and trade union studies in analysing what works in catalysing protest is based on John Kelly's mobilisation theory.

Kelly's theory seeks to identfy and explain "how individuals are transformed into collective actors willing and able to create and sustain collective organization and to engage in collective action against their employers"

There are many accounts of Kelly's theory in practice, this one isn't too bad:

Mobilisation theory focuses on the social processes of collective action. Notably this involves how interests come to be defined as common or oppositional, the processes by which groups gain the capacity to act collectively, and the organisation and opportunity requirements for collective action. Kelly’s interest in mobilisation theory is in exploring how people come to see their interests as a common concern and generate within a group, a feeling of injustice, which is powerful enough to move an individual reaction or attitude to a collective response.

Various elements of relationships and social interactions are seen as important in generating this sense of injustice and persuading people to come together in collective action in the trade union context. In particular, the actions of key union activists or union leaders are seen as crucial in promoting group cohesion and identity, persuading members of the costs and benefits of collective action and defending the collective action taken in the face of counter-mobilisation.
(Ref: http://www.btinternet.com/~davidbeaumont/msf/hogan.html)

So, the principles of effective worker mobilisation are:

- Strong, effective leadership
- A collective sense of grievance
- A desire to resolve the grievance collectively

My question now then for British trade unions is the how and when?

Ian

A World to Win: The Work of Global Unions

Colleagues,

What better time for the a group of students from the international labour and trade union studies MA at Ruskin to explore the work of European and global trade union institutions than the same week of further student discontent in London and during the run up to protests in Dublin today directly attacking the government's austerit package as a result of the EU bailout.

The MA visit to Brussels allows students to investigate at first hand how national and European trade unions influence the work of the EU institutions. Similarly, meetings with global union federations (GUFs) enable a better appreciation of key global challenges to labour movements and the way in which GUFs respond.

Below is a sample of pictures from the four-day day and show (top to bottom): Isabelle Schomann (legal researcher at the European Trade Union Institute), Kathleen Walker-Shaw who heads the GMB's Brussels office, and in the final picture Duncan Smith (Education International) and Jim Baker (Co-ordinator, Global Council of Unions).

Given the proximity of the visit to national and Irish protest, which represent the phenomenon of fallout from the global recession, the student group had a perfect backdrop against which to assess how trade unions can respond to the continuity of neoliberal economic and political strategy and the way in which it is shaped and propelled by constituent agencies from the World Bank to the European Union.

A great time was had by the students and I look forward to their greater understanding of the work of unions at the European and global levels being evidenced in their written and seminar work.

Ian