Organising workers and the question of race

Within recent memory part of the substantive debate around trade unions and equality was centred on the question of the extent to which white workers were seen to benefit from racism and working class men to benefit from the oppression of women. That debate has moved on significantly in the face of the collapse of trade union density. From the high of the 1970s with 13 million union members in the UK to the present day with 6 million there is less debate about the `social location` of members and much more about the sheer absence of members.

Dr Jane Holgate (Leeds University) in her review of `Racism, class and the Radicalised Outsider` (Satnam Virdee Glasgow University) draws on her vast knowledge of organising to remind us that those debates still have something concrete to say about the decline of union membership. In particular, in this work, with regard to the paradigm of race and class. Set against a background of two widely accepted trends – most trade union members are female and proportionally workers from an ethnic background are more likely to be trade union members – it is essential that organisers and activists consider the implications of this question.
http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/the_challenge_of_whole_worker_organising_in_struggles_for_social_justice

The compelling case against TTIP

#StopTTIP John Hilary, Executive Director of War on Want, sets out the case against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - the proposed trade agreement between the European Union and the United States - in a video recording of a seminar held in Stockholm on 27 November 2014 which was convened by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykSvJpyxHDI&app=desktop

A Symphony for the New World by Sam Silva

Huge expressive violins
in symphonies of meat and work
and struggle
on the farm
or in the factory

made for the record player
to spin in sin
against tobacco smoke
perfuming night

A Tale of Two New Year Messages

A comparison of the New Year messages issued by the CBI and the TUC reveals a far more assertive and upbeat mood from the employers organisation. The CBI Director General John Cridland sets his stall out for a hard line on deficit reduction (aka cutting public spending), for business friendly restructuring of the education system, EU reform (aka deregulation, notably singling out the Working Time Directive).
   Ever hungry for new markets for his profit seeking affiliates, Cridland promotes the EU/US trade deal TTIP and calls for a radical ‘structural reform’ of public services including integration of health and social care.
   TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady focuses on the unrelenting decline in real earnings in the UK (a reduction of £487 in 2014 alone and £2,509 since 2010) and challenges employers and politicians to ‘make wage-led growth a policy priority’. While the TUC leader is right to raise the alarm about the Tory threat to the right to strike it is unclear what evidence exists (given the austerity consensus) to support her sweeping statement that the ‘Autumn Statement opened up a huge choice in British politics between radical cuts and pay freezes versus investment for the future and a strategy for decent jobs, homes and living standards’.

What workers read in 1909

The discovery of a time capsule left in the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh by joiners in 1909 has thrown a fascinating insight into where the workers of the day got their news. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-30552613

It contained a copy of ‘The Labour Leader: A Weekly Journal of Socialism, Trade Unionism and Politics’, a paper set up by Keir Hardie in 1888. Stories covered in the 19 March 1909 edition included the Paris Strike of postal and telecoms workers, ‘The Liberal Betrayal’ (what’s new?), ‘Welsh Notes’ on the threatened coal strike and the Russian Azeff Affair.

Phoney Deficit Mania

Since the publication of the Con Dem Autumn Statement a new reverse paradigm has been introduced into the economic debate in Britain - cutting the deficit versus borrowing. Self serving Tory assumptions about the need for permanent austerity rule the roost. The deficit must be solved, taxation on big business and the wealthy must be minimised, public services outsourcing should be extended to everything but core functions and, of course, public sector pay should continue to be held down despite 6 years of wage stagnation.

Seumas Milne, writing in today's Guardian, challenges this new orthodoxy using the ample evidence of failed austerity policies since 2010: 'where Cameron, Osborne and their friends have succeeded, of course, is in convincing large numbers of people that Labour spending was somehow responsible for the crisis – which it wasn’t – and in turning the budget deficit into the central issue of economic policy – which it isn’t. In reality, the deficit was below 3% when the crisis was triggered by a financial crash – and up to that point public spending under New Labour, at 38.7% of national income, was lower than under every other government since the 1950s. And the budget deficit is only a reflection of the real problems in the economy and cannot be controlled by the government, as Osborne has demonstrated so comprehensively'
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/17/deficit-mania-political-fraud-osborne-economic-nonsense

Brendan McCarthy - a union man with a big heart

Brendan McCarthy former Joint Regional Convenor for UNISON Northern Ireland and Branch Secretary of the NUPE North & West Belfast Health Branch and the UNISON Royal Hospitals Branch died last week.

Brendan was a member of NUPE and UNISON for most of his life. He loved the union. He met his late wife, Frances, while working in the Royal Victoria Hospital. His mother, his brother George and many of his family members worked there too. His son Conor McCarthy is the current Joint Chairperson of the Branch. He loved his family.

Throughout his long service as a trade unionist Brendan helped thousands of members and they, in turn, consistently elected him as their chosen union rep. In the 80’s and 90’s he led some of toughest strikes we have ever experienced, including the longest strike in the NHS in Northern Ireland, which we won. Brendan went on to work for the union as a Regional Organiser.

Brendan believed passionately in the dignity of working class people. His service to the members is a matter of record. He also had a big heart. Few people know that he worked quietly to bring some joy to lonely pensioners in his community. He was our friend and colleague and we will miss him.

Patricia McKeown

Police Chief disregards compelling evidence

Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, writes in today's Guardian and calls for 'radical structural reform' to deal with the impact of Government funding cuts. His solution includes proposals for force mergers and predictably the 'opening up all but core policing functions to competition'.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/14/reform-cuts-public-risk-police-emergency-services-austerity
    Clearly Hogan-Howe has not applied his detective skills to the track record of outsourcing companies in the criminal justice sector. Barnet UNISON has compiled a useful list of private sector commissioning failures. Maybe the branch should contact Crimestoppers?
http://falseeconomy.org.uk/blog/top-ten-private-sector-commissioning-failures
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/dec/14/police-cuts-public-safety-bernard-hogan-howe

Italian unions stage General Strike in defence of workplace rights

Yesterday Italian unions staged a General Strike in protest at the Jobs Act which seeks to deregulate employment rights by weakening national bargaining and removing protections against unfair dismissal.

CGIL leader Susanna Camusso addressing a strike rally in Turin said: 'The government has to change its policies on employment. The Jobs Act and the budget do nothing to revive the economy and create jobs' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30447158

An Account of Despair by Volker Braun

When she entered
And set down her empty bags on my tabletops
I felt caught out in my
Missed deeds.

The evening news dripped bloodily from the screen
And the bed stood encircled
Aside in the uninhabited zone.

She approached and embraced me
At once as though she could not be wrong