The search for new members and the activists of the future is a pre-occupation of many people in the union movement. Unions 21 held a fringe meeting at the end of the National Union of Students (NUS) London Regional Conference to hear directly from some of the people that might make up tomorrow’s unions. NUS President Gemma Tumelty was joined by Paul Noon, General Secretary of Prospect and David Braniff-Herbert, Youth and Student Organiser for Unite.

Gemma Tumelty spoke about the need to bring unions onto campus - the NUS represents seven million students in the UK. More than 70 per cent of them have to work to pay for their studies, yet only 4 per cent of them have joined a union. Students are currently an untapped resource for the union movement. Student unions share many of the same values as trade unions – “it’s not just about rights at work” but also campaigning issues and a similar commitment to internationalism.

David Braniff Herbert echoed Tumelty’s comments. Working on issues that strike a chord with students helped Unite to set up student societies on a number of campuses. At Durham University the union organised a week of events on unions and the environment. This introduced Unite to students and gave the union an opportunity to identify three potential activists to run the society and create regular events. “It’s vital that the students feel they own their piece of the union,” said Braniff Herbert. This approach

ForeFrontIssue Number 7 | Spring 2008

continued...

Like many organisations keen to get messages out in a timely manner, to reach as many people as possible and concerned for environmental impact we’ve been looking at how we produce our communications.

We’ve decided that this is the last issue of Forefront that will be distributed in printed form. In future Forefront will be distributed by e-mail. create an account on our website at www.unions21.org.uk and sign up for the updates – it only takes a minute.

We hope this makes it easier for us to get Forefront to you as soon as it is published and also allows you to forward it on to other colleagues who are interested in the future of the trade union movement.

While making this change we’d also like to highlight our continued thanks for the kind support of Campaign Communications and Unity Trust Bank towards the production of Forefront.

ForeFront is published by Unions 21 in association with www.unity.co.uk

is reaping benefits – with 400 new student members and a group of around thirty core activists on different campuses across the UK.

But the challenge is how to demonstrate the relevance of unions to their lives. All too many students have very little knowledge of unions “where is it taught in history?” lamented Braniff Herbert. Paul Noon pointed out that the STUC has had some success with its ‘Unions into Schools’ programme and called for more collective promotion of trade unions to young people and school children.

Noon said the challenges of reaching out to new members and discovering new activists should not be under-estimated. Unions have to look at themselves first – union pre-occupations with structures can sometimes be a barrier to new, young members. Unions need to either improve the marketing of the product or the

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Activating future activists

Paul Moloney, Nautilus UK

Paul Moloney, Senior National Secretary at Maritime Union Nautilus UK, and Co-ordinator of the Nautilus Federation explains the background behind a historic vote currently underway among his union’s members.

A year ago NUMAST changed its name to Nautilus UK in what was a hugely significant decision. At the same time the Dutch seafarers union, FWZ changed its name to Nautilus NL, beginning a process that should lead to the first coming together of unions across international boundaries.

It is not described as a merger, but the creation of a new union, to reflect the uniqueness of this decision.

NUMAST and FWZ worked closely for many years. Both unions had in membership over 85% of those eligible to join and at the beginning of 2006, a Federation was created between the two unions. Work began on identifying those areas where both could work together as one union.

It made sense both industrially and in our campaigning work. With over 20% of Nautilus UK’s membership serving with Anglo-Dutch companies, we set about a programme of engagement with those companies, explaining to them how we would organise ourselves in the future.

For members serving with companies such as Maersk, P&O Ferries, Stena Line and Holland America Line, greater co-operation has prevented one nationality being played off against another.

In Holland America Line, we met the employer as one body and submitted a single pay claim on behalf of Nautilus UK and Nautilus NL towards the end of last year.

The benefits for both groups are already clearly measurable. A new bonus system rewarding all Officers has been introduced and for British Officers, permanent employment contracts and pension provisions have been introduced to bring them in line with their Dutch colleagues.

Similar benefits have been seen in the other companies. However, all members of both unions will benefit as we move towards creating a new union. UK and Dutch seafarers are both in a vulnerable position in the globalised market place that is the shipping industry. While there are many companies prepared to invest in the high level of training that our members have, increasingly we see quality under threat from competition on cost.

The creation of the new Nautilus will give us a much stronger platform to make the case for added value, to argue for enhanced training and to campaign for regulation where that can be effective.

We were able to take advantage of the European Union’s Green Paper on maritime issues, producing a detailed response setting out our vision for the future of our industry, calling for action that will enhance and protect the skills of maritime professionals and create better competition based on quality not cost.

So we are now balloting our members, seeking their agreement to take this to the logical next step by formally creating one union. The outcome will be known by the end of January.

We certainly believe this will be the first international trade union anywhere in the world. It is certainly unique in our industry and understandably many are watching with interest.

For us, creating a new union with other like-minded maritime professionals is the right thing to do. We believe it ensures the voice of seafarers will be heard in a way that becoming part of a larger UK union will not guarantee.

And while we believe in taking one step at a time, we believe Nautilus will grow in the future. The same logic that has led to ourselves and Nautilus NL taking this step also applies to other maritime unions based in Europe and elsewhere in the world.

We certainly take the view that our strength lies in working closely with other maritime professionals and that at long last, after much talk, the union movement will have its first international trade union.

Trade union mergers –the Nautilus UK approach

product itself. “The TUC should be a showcase for unions, not an opportunity for union leaders to blather on,” he declared.

Paul Noon emphasised that it is not just vulnerable working students who need unions. “Those in what would be considered reasonable jobs need them too, because the balance of power in the workplace is not equal” he said, referring to the need to organise graduates as they enter the workplace.

Concerted efforts have been made to reach out to such future members since the TUC and NUS signed a protocol on joint-working. Many different projects are being run as part of the protocol with unions and students trying a variety of approaches. These range from dedicated student project workers based in TUC regional offices to student support for local union campaigns.

The union Community, which organises in betting shops received student support for its ‘safer betting shops’ campaign and this relationship led to the union taking on two student activists on a summer placement scheme with the union. For some unions, such as teaching unions, it can be easier to identify their future members while they’re studying and NUT, NASUWT and ATL all have student membership packages or run on-campus student teacher societies.

The NUS has also set up its own Activist Academy – along similar lines to the TUC’s Organising Academy. Could this be the source of future trade union activists? Trade unions will be watching all these projects with interest.

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Raj Jethwa, TUC

When citizenship became a statutory aspect of the curriculum in 2002, it was introduced against a backdrop of concern about declining participation in the political process among young people. In fact the figures are quite stark. The turnout in General Elections in the UK has fallen from 84 percent in 1950 to around 60 percent in 2005. The vast majority of that decline took place over the last 15 years.

However, the reality is that the decline in turnout is not uniform for all groups in society.

Class

Although there has been a decline in turnout among all income groups since the mid-1960s, the decline has been most pronounced among those on the lowest incomes.

At the 2005 General Election more than 70 percent of people in social class AB continued to vote, compared to just 54 percent of those in DE.

The official turnout figures for the 2001 and 2005 General Elections show that the seats with the lowest turnouts were overwhelmingly poor inner city constituencies; the ones with the highest turnouts were leafy and affluent. Moreover, that only measures turnout among registered voters. In some of the poorest neighbourhoods, up to 30 percent of adults are not on the electoral register.

Age

However, the most crucial factor is age. Younger people are far less likely to vote. In 2001, 39 percent of 18-24 year olds voted, compared to 70 percent of over-65 year olds. This gap grew at the 2005 election. The gap is much wider than it was 30 years ago, when over 70 percent of 18-24 year olds voted. The determined trend has been that every generation over the last four decades turns out at a lower rate than the one before.

In 1964, 17 people out of 20 had a fairly strong identification with a political party. By 2005 that had fallen to just half. Less than 10 percent of young people would describe themselves as supporters of a political party, compared to a third of adults. Active engagement and allegiance to each of the three main political parties has declined considerably. Those people who

Trade unions and the voting gap

are still members of political parties register a weaker degree of identification with their party.

Role of institutions

Educating and informing young people about their rights and responsibilities as responsible citizens can go so far to empowering them, but only so far. What is key is that they have a framework in which to articulate their views. For people who would otherwise feel ignored, or marginalised, that requires institutions which can recruit them into and support their activities, in whatever context. This is exactly the function which trade unions play in the workplace. Traditionally, though, this has often led to greater activism in the local community.

A declining belief in political efficacy is clearly a factor, but just as important is the general decline in organisations and institutions which encourage political participation. Alongside other voluntary associations and civic organisations, trade unions played a major role in engaging people with their rights and responsibilities as informed citizens, not merely encouraging people to vote but to play an active role in the community, as a school governor, magistrate or local councillor, for example.

Today, outside of the trade union movement, only one person in four is a member of any community organisation. Only five percent are members of tenants’ or residents’ organisations and only three percent are members of parent teachers’ associations.

Most crucially, though, only three percent are members of political parties. In 1960, nearly four million people were members of political parties. By 2002 this figure had declined to just 700,000.

Against this backdrop, trade unionism – which in comparison to political parties and other civic institutions, is actually looking much healthier – has to be acknowledged as a legitimate form of democratic participation. However, there is still no explicit mention of trade unionism within the curriculum. Perhaps it’s time to revisit the issue?

A fuller version of this article will appear on the Unions21 website www.unions21.org.uk

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Unions 21 launched the latest in its Debate series at TUC Congress 2007. Jenny Watson, the last Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, introduced her paper on how unions can tackle sex inequalities. Responses came from Unite’s Assistant General Secretary Gail Cartmail and Ged Nichols, General Secretary of Accord. The meeting and publication were kindly supported by Thompsons Solicitors.

Jenny Watson opened by saying how proud the EOC is of the work it has done with unions for over thirty years. She praised the group of campaigning women workers at Ford that fought for equal pay in 1969. “The Equal Pay Act may never have been introduced without their action.” These women made the car seat covers but only earned 92% of the pay of the unskilled men who swept the floors. Their industrial action, when the company failed to take their claim seriously, meant that no car coming off the line could be sold - thus demonstrating the value of their work.

Jenny outlined the difficult journey that had been taken since then and indicated some of the challenges on the road ahead. Unions had made the transition from being focused on the working man and his ‘family wage’ to its current situation where is now a higher proportion of female than male union members. As more women enter the workforce it is crucial to trade union growth that unions reach out to those women. This will mean organising in notoriously difficult sectors with low trade union membership such as the hotel and catering trade, which employs a huge number of women.

But Jenny was quick to highlight that recruitment is not enough.

Gail Cartmail, Assistant General Secretary, UNITE; Jenny Watson, former Chair of the EOC and author of the debate piece, Sue Ferns, Chair of Unions 21; Ged Nicholls, General Secretary, Accord.

Unions need to respond to the issues raised by the current social revolution. This revolution means that more women are in work, more men are actively involved in bringing up their children and more and more people are having to care for elderly relatives. These concerns about work-life balance are compounded by the pressures of technology and globalisation and are “putting our time at a premium.”

Gail Cartmail outlined some of the remaining barriers. Affordable childcare is still a long way from being a reality and means that many women can be trapped on the ‘mummy track’. She echoed Jenny’s comments about the impact that increasing demands on both men and women of caring for elderly relatives will have on sex equality. As the officer with responsibility for public services in Unite- Amicus, Gail knows only too well the effects of reductions in public sector support for caring. The increased costs of caring impact on women and are increasingly impacting on men too.

Gail also talked about the internal challenges for trade unions and how the fact that the front row of the platform at the TUC looks like “the casting couch of Reservoir Dogs” shows that there is much more work to be done.

Ged Nichols brought a unique viewpoint to the discussion as a male general secretary of an overwhelmingly female union. He talked about what Accord had done to tackle unequal pay within HBOS. An equal pay audit has already been carried out but he recognised that there needed to be far greater action in the private sector on issues such as equal pay: “it’s not just about policy it’s about enforcement.” Ged argued that equal pay is a systemic rather than an individual problem and in his opinion collective bargaining is the best way to deal with systemic issues.

Completing the Revolution

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Completing the Revolution

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Introduction

Much of the work of trade unions in Britain is performed by a workforce of approximately 3000 paid officers, who recruit, bargain, represent and advocate on behalf of union members and the wider working population. In 2002, Cardiff Business School carried out a survey of union officers, which generated 585 responses from officers working for 19 unions. Most of those responding were regional officers working for big unions, such as UNISON, USDAW, GMB, and TGWU. The survey provides a benchmark, offering a unique record of the nature of union work and the characteristics of those who perform it. For those wishing to renew unions it gives a profile of a critical resource that unions have at their disposal.

Officer characteristics

In many respects union officers fit the stereotype of being ‘male, pale and stale’. Just under a quarter, were women, two per cent were from ethnic minorities, and more than three quarters were aged over 40. Just over half had been in post since before 1990. These characteristics partly reflect the importance of a ‘lay apprenticeship’ to officers’ careers. It is through dedicated voluntary service that many officers prove their suitability for union work, a process that favours men and encourages relatively late entry to the occupation. Nevertheless officer characteristics are changing. There are more women in union work than there were in the 1980s and a third of recent recruits are female. Union work also has a rising proportion of graduates, reflecting the general increase in formal education in society but also the shift to white collar unionism.

Officer roles

The survey indicated that generalist officers, operating from a regional centre, perform three primary tasks for their unions. They engage in collective bargaining, principally with individual employers, they recruit members and build workplace organisation, and they act as representatives of individuals before courts and tribunals but primarily within in-house procedures. It has been suggested that bargaining is becoming a ‘hollow shell’ in many organisations and that consultation with employers is becoming more significant. This is not borne out by our evidence. Officers see themselves as bargainers and data gathered through the survey points to continuing success in adding new items to the bargaining agenda, such as equal pay and family-friendly practices.

One area where there has seemingly been change in the officer role is recruitment and organising. Earlier research

indicated that this work was often squeezed out by other demands. Most officers today, however, report that recruiting new members and identifying activists are central components of their job. More intense involvement in organising, including identifying targets for recognition and negotiating new recognition agreements, is confined to about 40 per cent of officers and it is clear that there is varying involvement in organising across the officer workforce. For one group - largely consisting of officers in public sector unions - in-fill recruitment takes place alongside bargaining and individual representation. For another group, organising is a priority and, particularly in private sector unions, includes attempts to spread trade unionism to greenfield sites. For this group, in particular, there is a possible problem of burnout as the demands of organising are added to an already heavy workload.

Managing officers

A final element of the profile was evidence of an increasingly formal effort to manage officers’ work. The survey indicated that a majority of officers were taking part in performance appraisal, set targets and objectives for their work and were receiving formal training. Union organising featured particularly prominently in performance management and officer training and it is investment in these systems, which seems to lie behind increasing involvement in organising activity.

Despite the growth of formal management of officers they continue to enjoy wide discretion in their work and most report freedom to take critical decisions in the three main areas of their work: organising, bargaining and representation. Union officers resemble professional workers in many other occupations who are subject to a ‘loose-tight’ management regime, in which monitoring and review are combined with a high level of operational job autonomy.

The wide autonomy of officers means that they have freedom to interpret their role and select priorities. For example, the survey found that involvement in bargaining on equal pay and work-life issues was most likely when officers declared a commitment to these activities; the same was true of sustained involvement in organising. This freedom to interpret the officer role means that who occupies the job is a vital question and returns us to the issue of officer characteristics. If unions want to promote a new agenda they can use management systems and training to help re-direct the officer workforce along new paths. But the identities and commitments of officers also shape their activity. This implies a need to examine and perhaps alter union careers in general and recruitment and selection practices in particular if unions are to change.

A Profile of Union OfficersEdmund Heery, Cardiff Business School

ACM (the Association for College Management) is delighted to have become one of the newest members of Unions 21. ACM is not what might be called a traditional trade union: we represent managers at all levels within further education colleges and similar organisations.

Our members range from first line curriculum or support managers right up to senior post holders, principals and chief executives. Being a senior manager in further education can be a precarious occupation, a bit like a premiership football team manager: a couple of bad results and your out. But what also makes ACM different is that the philosophy that underpins all our work – from strategic plan to our good practice publications – is a focus on high quality public service.

Specifically for us, as an education trade union, is an emphasis on the provision of excellent education and training for individuals and employers, and the extension of good quality learning opportunities into our most disadvantaged communities. So, for example, you wouldn’t find ACM arguing that our members should not have to work with ‘difficult’ students – that is young people who are economically poor, educationally unqualified or culturally

Public sector unions Peter Pendle, ACM

excluded. For example, we strongly supported the Government’s initiative to extend the age of compulsory education and training.

At ACM we genuinely believe in the rightness of an inclusive education policy. We also recognise that if colleges fail to respond to that policy direction then political faith in colleges will be weakened. And that is not in the interests (including the employment interests) of colleges and their staff.

Our belief is that the best way to maintain the employment security of our members is to deliver the top quality public service that is the mission of the college sector. That way we build political and public confidence in the service and protect its flourishing into the future. And we believe adopting this approach also makes good sense not only from a philosophical point of view but from a strategic one as well, because it is what professionals want to get from a modern trade union. The proof of the pudding is in the eating: ACM continues to grow year on year and in 2005 was one of the fastest growing unions in TUC membership. So we must be doing something right!

Peter Pendle, General Secretary, ACM

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Ian Brinckley, Director of the Work Foundation’s Knowledge Economy Programme, led a breakfast discussion asking “What is the new manufacturing?” and debated the implications for unions. In his opening remarks he outlined what is meant by the ‘Knowledge Economy’. It appeared a difficult concept to define and he lamented the limits of research and data available.

In terms of manufacturing, high and medium-tech enterprises could be considered part of the ‘knowledge economy’ but it could be found in any sector where there is an emphasis on investment in intangible assets such as software development and R&D as opposed to traditional tangibles such as machinery.

As these manufacturing companies became part of the ‘knowledge economy’ a new growth area had emerged for them – trading in knowledge-based services. These could include technical or business services on top of or in some cases instead of the trade in manufactured goods.

This blurring of the lines between manufacturing and services, coupled with the simultaneous growth in employment of ‘knowledge workers’ and the decline in employment of production workers or the unskilled has had a knock-on effect on union membership and density in manufacturing.

A further squeeze on union membership has been exerted by the fragmentation of manufacturing and the increased use of sub-contracting of different parts of the production process often to small or medium-sized enterprises – not a traditional stomping ground for unions.

Brinckley outlined the ensuing challenges for unions – to rebuild membership among male manual workers, to appeal to women workers, to break out into non-organised manufacturing (SMEs) and to anticipate further transformations of manufacturing towards a knowledge-based activity.

You can read more about this event, download a copy of the presentation, find out about the discussion that followed and join the debate yourself online at www.unions21.org.uk

What is the new manufacturing?

7

Since the last issue of Forefront we have welcomed several new unions into Unions 21.

Royal College of Nursing (RCN)

The RCN represents nurses and nursing, promotes excellence in practice and shapes health policies. It is the largest trade union in Britain which is not affiliated to the TUC and has more than 380,000 nurses, health care support workers and nursing students, both in the NHS and the private sector in membership.

National Union of Teachers (NUT)

The National Union of Teachers organises in England and Wales and is the largest teacher union in the UK with around 270,000 members.

We’d also like to highlight that the Alliance for Health professionals have reaffirmed their commitment to Unions 21. The Alliance is the trade union confederation consisting of the following organisations:

British Dietetic Association;British Orthoptic Society;Chartered Society of Physiotherapy;Federation of Clinical Scientists;Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists;Society of Radiographers.

Unions21 now brings together an increasingly wide range of trade unions and organisations that work within the movement to debate the future of the movement and address the issues that need to be discussed.

We hope that as more unions participate in the activities of Unions 21 the debate will grow in depth and breadth and together we’ll help shape a trade union movement for the UK which is not only sustainable but growing.

Unions �1 Supporters

contact details

Matt Ball, Unions 21 Director at info@unions21.org.uk

Tel: 0207 239 1224

Web: www.unions21.org.uk

Secretary of State for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) John Hutton MP was the keynote speaker at the annual meeting of the Unions 21 Advisory Council. He gave his own assessment of the current state of the unions and some thoughts on the road ahead for the trade union movement.

The Secretary of State argued that despite a more favourable legislative framework on issues such as recognition, union membership is still in decline. As he saw it there are three options currently available to unions for the future.

First would be more militancy and confrontation to demonstrate the relevance of trade unions, which he feels would not benefit unions or the economy. Second would be further adjustments to the legal framework – again, not an option for the Government. Finally, his favoured option, unions could establish a good working relationship with employers and demonstrate their ability to improve productivity.

There are a number of reasons, according to Hutton, for selecting this approach. A lot of employers say unions are a good thing. Unions have an interest in creating a prosperous economy and working with good employers. This does, however, need to be a two-way, reciprocal partnership. But the modern argument for trade unions is not being heard enough. The pace of change has greatly increased, which has posed problems for unions in keeping up. Hutton suggested that potential and current members are more consumerist – unions need to find out and deliver what they want.

This sparked considerable debate amongst the members of the Advisory Council and a considered response from Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary. You can join the debate online at www.unions21.org.uk .

]ohn Hutton at the Advisory Council

Hutton speaks to Unions 21 Advisory Council

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