Pickled Eric knows the cost of everything & the value of nothing

Tory union basher Eric Pickles MP has stepped up his war against local government unions. In March 2013, dancing to the tune of the Taxpayers Alliance, Pickles issued advice to local authorities on reducing trade union facility time. Now he has ratcheted up the attack with new requirements on councils to publish the cost of trade union facility time and numbers of union representatives involved. His so called transparency code will not require the benefits and purpose of trade union facility time to be published. The rabid right winger has previous form for union bashing. Back in September 2013 he failed in his attempt to end union subscription check off in his own DCLG department - when PCS won a legal challenge – Pickles’ obsessive anti trade unionism costing the public purse £90000.

Tough times for young workers in public services

'The idea of pursuing a career in public service is also fast becoming little more than a dream, as services are contracted-out to the private sector on ideological rather than quality (or even cost) grounds; as training and development budgets are reined in; and staff restructuring reduces promotion opportunities. As trade unionists, the pressure on service delivery means it is becoming increasingly difficult to organise workplaces. From being refused time-off, to the challenges of uniting fragmented workforces, to threats of de-recognition – all present tough challenges for young workers starting out in their careers and also wanting to become active in their trade union' writes Dan Goodwin, young members representative on UNISON's NEC, in an article on the TUC blog to mark Young Workers' Month:
http://strongerunions.org/2014/03/05/weve-never-had-it-so-bad-difficult-times-for-young-public-service-workers/

Maude - Confessions of a union buster

Egged on by the Tory hard right in front organisations such as the Trade Union Reform Campaign (chaired by discredited MP Aidan Burley), the Con Dem government has set about systematically ending trade union activity in the public sector. Civil service unions have borne the brunt of this offensive and Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General, writing on the conservative home website, sets out the extent to date of the attacks on union organisation:

Screw tightens on trade union facility time

The anti union attack dogs of the Taxpayers Alliance and Trade Union Reform Coalition have run a relentless campaign against trade union rights in public services. Their political masters in the Con Dem Government have gradually been introducing restrictions to time off for union duties in conflict with the longstanding ACAS Code. In a recent LRD survey almost a third (31%) of respondents - the vast majority in the public sector - said an attempt had been made to change time off arrangements in the last year or two:
http://www.lrdpublications.org.uk/publications.php?pub=WR&iss=1663&id=id136899

What next for trade union equality representatives?

The Union Modernisation Fund has been an important source of funding of initiatives by the TUC and individual unions to promote, recruit and train trade union equality representatives in recent years. By the 2010 General Election the number had risen to 1400 - two thirds of which were in the public sector. An evaluation of the 'The role and impact of trade union equality representatives in Britain' is available online and an otherwise positive conclusion identifies the absence of a statutory right to time off (which was omitted from the Equality Act 2010) as a major barrier to the effectiveness of the role:
http://www.cassknowledge.com/sites/default/files/article-attachments/role-impact-trade-union-equality-britain-cass-knowledge.pdf

Pickles launches attack on union facility time

At the Tory Party Conference in October, class warrior Eric Pickles MP declared his intent to attack union rights in English local government: "I am delighted to announce today in relatively short time we will be offering advice to local authorities both in terms of trade union time and check-off. I want to retain the independence of trades unions and therefore it is massively important that they pay for things themselves." As Conservative politicians tend to do when in Government, Pickles has quickly delivered on his anti union agenda.

First they came for the Civil Servants...

#cpc12 The Tory right, including the Tax Dodgers Alliance and the Trade Union Reform Campaign, led by the discredited Aidan Burley MP who broke French law by wearing a Gestapo uniform in public, are cock-a-hoop at reports that Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is to launch a draconian clampdown against trade union rights. Arbitrary limits will be placed on time off for union duties and the employment rights of union representatives will be infringed, barring them from promotion. All trade unionists must speak out against this attack - as a matter of principle and in our own self defence - the Tory right are now demanding that the anti union measures be extended across the rest of public sector and basic union facilities such as access to noticeboards be discontinued:
http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2012/10/from-mrmarkclarke-francis-maudes-union-crackdown-is-a-good-start-but-a-concerted-push-across-governm.html

Cui Bono? Employers & workers benefit from trade union facility time

Excellent independent research commissioned by UNISON on the value of trade union facility time is now available on line. National Officer Gavin Edwards has posted an article on the Stronger Unions blog about the right's ideological offensive against trade union rights in the public sector. Although removal of facility time has been confined to a handful of Tory-led local authorities, the report provides useful ammunition to local negotiators forced to defend paid time off for union duties:
http://strongerunions.org/2012/06/28/the-value-of-trade-union-facility-time/

Report on Defending TU facilities fringe‏

#undc12 A well attended fringe meeting on 'making the case for facility time' was held during today's lunch break. Speakers were John Healey MP, Martin Mitchell Researcher NatCen Social Research, Joanne Cain - UNISON. Chaired by Jane Carolan - NEC

Heard the one about a Tory MP defending union facility time?

Yesterday the Commons spent 90 minutes debating ‘union funding’, a pretext for some Tory MPs to attack trade union facility time in the public sector. Aside from many excellent interventions by Labour MPs, the intervention by Robert Halfon, Tory MP for Harlow was notable for his defence of union facility time: ‘...nevertheless, some facility time is good. A local employer in my constituency, the bus company Arriva, says that facility time is incredibly beneficial’. The whole debate, including a cameo performance by shamed Nazi stag party MP Aidan Burley, is well worth a read:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120229/halltext/120229h0001.htm#12022953000001

A day in the life of a UNISON Branch Secretary

The Guardian visits Stockport to spend a day with Angie Rayner, UNISON Branch Secretary, and gets an insight into the hard work of the much maligned local union officials who carry out union duties on paid facility time:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/money
/2012/feb/17/working-life-union
-official-unison
‘Rayner spends her working day, not to mention huge chunks of her own time, negotiating with senior council officers and councillors on behalf of around 4,000 Unison members.

Tory led Swindon Council leads the attack on union facility time

After 18 months of hysterical denunciation of trade union facility time in local government by Tory MPs and the Tax Dodgers Alliance, it was only a matter of time before a Tory led Council became an outrider for future legislation and ‘guidance’ hinted at by Tory front benchers in response to the clamour for action by their far right fringe. Lo and behold Swindon Council in Wiltshire is now mounting an attack on the paid facility time of its UNISON convenors using the pretext of ‘efficiency savings’:
http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=7603

New TUC report - Facility Time for Union Reps: Separating fact from fiction

In an excellent riposte to the union bashing Tory right and their tabloid mouthpieces, Professor Gregor Gall has written a TUC report highlighting the value of workplace union representatives, featuring a number of case studies including Angela Rayner, UNISON local government branch secretary in Stockport, Greater Manchester: http://www.tuc.org.uk/tucfiles/206/FacilityTimeSeparatingFactfromFiction.pdf

A right wing 3 way dance on union facility time

Today’s Sunday Telegraph offers the latest instalment of the sustained attack on the statutory right of union representatives to paid time off for trade union duties - waged by the reactionary triumvirate of the Tories, the Tax Dodgers Alliance and the Telegraph Group of newspapers over the past two years:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8815280/Taxpayers-pick-up-68m-bill-for-thousands-of-union-reps.html

UNISON NEC debates upsurge in protest & strike action as whole union mobilises against austerity

The national industrial action ballot on pensions - involving 1.1 million UNISON members and over nine thousand employers - was the dominant issue at today's NEC meeting in London. General Secretary Dave Prentis gave a comprehensive report on negotiations and preparations for the industrial action, supplemented by reports from national officers responsible for communications, mobilising in regions and planning at UNISON Centre. http://www.unison.org.uk/news/news_view.asp?did=7264

Tory Ministers play to the right wing gallery

Few trade unionists were deceived back in 2009 when David Cameron's 'envoy' to the trade union movement Richard Balfe claimed that employment law in the UK was now a "matter of national consensus. After 11 years of Labour, the Thatcher legislation remains on statute. We have no plans for any major labour law reform" http://www.personneltoday.com/articles/2009/01/15/48985/interview-richard-balfe-conservative-trade-union-envoy.html

Shropshire UNISON branch under attack for fighting cuts

In yet another act of retribution by a Tory led Council, the local UNISON branch in Shropshire faces drastic cuts in union facility time. UNISON members have this week voted to take strike action in opposition to imposed cuts in pay and conditions: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-14898257

No end to cynical attacks on union facility time‏

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" wrote Oscar Wilde in Lady Windermere’s Fan. The same might be said of the media jackals relentlessly attacking trade union facility time in the public sector. Latest to enter the fray is the Evening Standard with a report on time off arrangements in Transport for London: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23979286-taxpayers-foot-scandalous-bill-for-full-time-tfl-union-activists.do

TU Facility Time & EDM 1978 - Ask your MP to back it!

Hard right elements in the Con Dem ranks along with the Tory newspapers have declared open season on trade union facility time over the past 12 months.