TRANSPORT & GENERAL
WORKERS’ UNION
London, South East & East Anglia
STRONGER TOGETHER: new union consultation
[red top section]
A vision for a New Union - Declaration
1. The T&G starts this voyage with a strong tradition of smaller unions amalgamating and merging with us over the years.
2. A number of key points are vital to this discussion:
· firstly, the T&G has a strong left of centre progressive tradition established under General Secretary Frank Cousins and continuing today;
· secondly, we are in a financially healthy position and we are under no financial pressure to merge;
· thirdly, our unique dual structure of regional and industrial representation has stood the test of time;
· fourthly, our union’s name is a powerful brand name for principled trade unionism
· fifthly, we are a leader in the Labour Movement on equalities issues.
3. This new union could change all that. We would, for the first time, not be the largest union in a merger. We would lose our title. The new union would possibly shift to the right. The union would be likely to centralise its power base away from the traditions of strong T&G regions. The finances would be much weaker, given debts owed by sister unions.
4. So the key question is what is this proposed merger for?
5. For Region 1, a merger must make a real difference to the members. It will be important that final merger documentation speaks to the individual member.
6. A new union must make a difference locally and regionally as well as in the much vaunted national and international arenas. A merged union should have a strong left political vision incorporated into its Rule Book, its purposes and objectives.
7. Much of the consultation document argues the business case, ie, that bigger means stronger and that bigger will mean better services, better representation, better campaigning and organising. An amalgamated union would eliminate wasteful competition between the three unions and would allow resources to be deployed in a more efficient way. It is clear then, there is a business case for merger.
8. Our established services are not really dealt by the documentation. Our members would want to maintain and improve on our:
· legal services; and,
· the Eastbourne Centre facilities
in an amalgamated union.
9. What is lacking from the merger documentation is a sense of higher purpose - that the new union could cause, or should work for, a seismic and irreversible shift in the distribution of wealth and power in favour of working people and their families; that workers should seek a measure of control over the industries in which they work; that a new union should seek new ways of working, for example, by the extension of common ownership and production.
10. These objectives are expressed in the T&G Rule Book. For example, Rules 2, Clause 2(a) states:
“…and to endeavour by all means in their power to control the industries in which the members are engaged.”
and Rule 2, Clause 2(j) says:
“… securing a real measure of control in industry and participation by the workers in the management, in the interests of labour and the general community.”
11. Our Rule Book commitment to equalities is set out at, Rule 2, Clause 2(d):
“The promotion of equality for all, including equal pay for work of equal value, through collective bargaining, organisation, education , the provision of services an benefits; to actively oppose all forms of prejudice and discrimination whether on the grounds of race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, creed, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, physical ability, age or mental health.”
12. We would support a merged union if:
· it was deeply committed to equality in its structures as well as in its policy;
· it has the vision to work for a society based on social justice;
· it had strong lay committee structures to ensure accountability;
· it was committed to left of centre, progressive change;
· it was substantially decentralised;
· it was focussed on rebuilding the shop stewards’ movement;
· it placed independent union education for reps and members at is heart, including political education.
13. We would oppose a merged union if:
· it resulted in years of internal wrangling, (we note that Amicus is the result of a recent merger between AEEU and MSF – themselves relatively recent mergers; furthermore recent mergers with GPMU and Unifi have yet to be fully absorbed into Amicus’s structures);
· the new union delivered a ‘service provider’ model, rather than a campaigning, organising and member led union;
· it dragged the union to the political right;
· it substantially financially weakened the new union;
· it weakened the traditional regional strength of the T&G;
· if the vote was for a mere ‘framework’ which left the detail of the new union unclear - this is a redline issue for us.
[blue top section]
Points for debate
Industrial vision
14. A new union might present opportunities for enhancing the amalgamating unions’ bargaining presence:
· move away from multi-union bargaining in certain workplaces;
· limit (but not stop) opportunities for sweetheart deals where one union is played off against another in beauty contest for recognition; and,
· result in fewer FTOs to deal with each workplace, freeing up time and resources for other activities.
15. However, and we believe that a major case must be made for this, we should be seeking to use the opportunity of a new union to rebuild the shop stewards’ movement and campaign for stronger protection, more facilities and better social recognition of the job lay reps (including shop stewards, staff reps, safety reps, union learning reps and equality reps) do.
16. A new union should help with the creation of shop stewards’ combine committees as rivalries between the different unions on separate sites could disappear.
17. The institution of shop stewards’ quarterlies on a statutory basis throughout the new union should be supported, which appears to be articulated in the “green top” section as area committees.
18. Also we need to consider how best the shop stewards’ movement can be resourced by the new union, eg, how can shop stewards and other workplace reps have access to telephone and on-line helplines, internet information, better training, etc.
19. This opportunity should be taken to ensure that approval for new collective agreements and other bargaining outcomes is seated at the base rather the top of the new organisation, ie, the workers most directly affected should decide.
Lay member democracy
20. All full time officials of the new union should be appointed. However, the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary should be elected by the combined membership of the amalgamating unions. This method has stood the test of time in the T&G, with lay committees ensuring proper and regular accountability.
21. The executive committee of the new union should be made up exclusively of elected lay members. As the new union will organise in at least two jurisdictions, the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the executive committee should not be called the “national” … which is why the T&G Executive is called “general”.
22. The industrial structures of the new union should be such that full time officials are genuinely held to account by lay committees for the work that they do in the bargaining arena.
23. The geographic structures of the new union should be robust, including being financially robust and accountable, so that the lay leadership at regional level is able to pursue and fund its regional agenda.
24. In the T&G, the regions are powerful because they exercise a high degree of autonomy. This tradition must be maintained and the new union be decentralised. This will be vital to all regions and particularly in those regions of the new union that are also separate countries (Republic of Ireland) or have devolved regional government (Scotland, Wales and London).
25. As a guiding principle we should try to establish in the new union a mechanism that ensures that every branch should have a delegate at the policy conference. To meet this end members should be grouped in branches that are larger than is currently the case.
26. This is a potentially controversial issue. Branches in the T&G are normally required to be over 50 members strong, but the financial and organisational strength of branches based on a geographical area with members in the hundreds or even thousands should be considered. A case could be made for national branches in certain cases. A branch might be required to have a much higher minimum number of members than 50.
Organising
27. Region 1 was one of the first in the T&G to develop an organising culture. Our BDC has endorsed the T&G’s Strategy for Growth and this is being made operational in all parts of the Union.
28. This ethos needs to be carried into the new union with the proviso that organising must involve all sections of the new union, employees and lay members, and not be confined those deemed to be specialist. The regions should have a clearer role in organising work.
29. Whilst the new union should not over-value industrial (servicing) work at the expense of organising work, it should not do the reverse either. The balance has to be struck by a policy of growth through effective and sustainable organising along with professional industrial support for stewards and members in organised workplaces.
30. There should be substantial resources devoted to organising. Organising is a comprehensive activity that has to have a systematic approach. There needs to be a linkage between organising and collective bargaining.
31. In a cross over with the equalities section, whilst “youth” is seen as an equal opportunities issue it is also an organising and development issue. Young workers will always become older workers and we should prioritise organising the young for trade unionism.
32. Region 1 would not support unreformed joint arrangements (eg the electrical industry JIB) where employers apparently pay over sums equivalent to membership contributions although its not always clear if the workers covered are members of the union.
Campaigning
33. A campaigning union will be vitally important for the new union. It will need to campaign internally to win members to its policies. It will need to campaign externally and lobby government and other institutions at all levels to win support for its policies. It will need to be resourced to campaign in the political arena, for example:
· to deal with the rise of fascism, racism and xenophobia; and
· to campaign for the repeal of the Tory anti-union laws and for trade union freedoms.
34. The new union would look to improve its communications with members, particular through the union newspaper, but also using media such as e-mail bulletins.
Equality
35. There are two important aspects to be taken up with the equalities agenda:
· delivery in the workplace; and,
· changing the face of the union.
36. Influencing the collective bargaining agenda has often been by exhortation. To ensure that there is a seamless progression between policy conception and execution we propose that the new union should promote a new breed of workplace rep, the equality rep, who would have this issue as their main focus, including pressing for equal pay audits.
37. Previously under represented groups in the T&G have campaigned for a long time to have their issues raised to a similar rank as mainstream industrial issues.
38. In the T&G this has most publicly been achieved by gender and ethnic proportionality on committees and conferences and the creation of:
· National and Regional Women’s Committees
· National and Regional Race Equality Committees
· National and Regional Disabled Members’ Committees
with the same constitutional status of National and Regional Trade Group Committees.
39. At the same time, the T&G has appointed specialist officers, as we have in Organising, to drive forward the work. Officers have been appointed as Regional Women’s & Equalities Organisers in the regions, nationally we have a National Organiser and a National Secretary specialising in equality issues.
40. This structure is a redline issue for us.
41. This Region has recently carried a motion at its Regional Committee calling for defence of status of the equality structures in the new union:
The Regional Women’s Committee call upon the Regional Committee to endorse and support the following proposals.
To ensure that the women’s constitutional structures and status, and minimum proportionality in the representation of women, are retained/protected within the merger strategies.
The National Organiser for Women, Race & Equalities should be included and central to the discussions/ negotiations before any final decisions are made that would have an adverse impact on the T&G women’s equality agenda and action plans, and the agenda and action plans of all parts of the Women, Race and Equalities Sector.
All 8 Regional Women’s Committees and the National Women’s Committee should be consulted on their aims and aspirations before any merger negotiations are concluded.
That this Regional Committee sends this motion to the GEC for the recalled BDC that incorporates the RWC concerns and their proposals.
42. We believe that this constitutional status is essential in a new union and that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender work should be incorporated into the constitutional structure. Although equalities are said to be a core issue, it is marked by total ambivalence in the draft structure set out in the “green top” section.
Internationalism
43. In the globalised economy, there should be a properly resourced International Solidarity Dept in the new union that would have at least a fivefold function:
· to work with the appropriate industrial company specific officers and members on European Works Council issues;
· to work with the appropriate industrial officers and members in relations with the GUFs and their European equivalents; global bargaining with global corporations needs to be co-ordinated through the GUFs;
· to build closer bilateral relations with European unions with a view to identifying future merger partners;
· to work with the TUC International Dept, supporting the work of the ETUC and the ICFTU;
· to work with international solidarity campaigns, eg, Cuba Solidarity Campaign, Justice for Colombia and Palestine Solidarity Campaign on broader solidarity work.
44. Consideration should be given to opening a powerful Brussels office to ensure close relations with the ETUC and European unions; to closely monitor the European Commission’s agenda; to build and maintain close relations with the new union’s group of MEPs; and, to campaign at the European parliamentary level.
45. Regions should have authority and funding to respond to their regional priorities – regions should have authority to work through their regional TUCs to fully engage with partner unions in the EU designated trans-frontier regions. In the case of Region 1 that trans-frontier region is; South East England, Nord - Pas de Calais in France and Hainault - West Flanders in Belgium.
Education
46. Region 1 has for three decades been to the forefront in providing a unique and encompassing education programme for its representatives and members. We mainly have provided this as a T&G regional service, able to respond quickly to a changing regional industrial agenda.
47. There is no doubt that shop stewards have appreciated the responsive nature of regionalised service.
48. More recently, regions have picked up the life long learning agenda. Region 1 has been successful in making bids to the Union Learning Fund for support for a range of company based leaning projects across the Region.
49. All regions in the new union should have and maintain a high quality, responsive in-house Education Dept. We absolutely oppose losing this service in a newly merged union.
50. The new union should pioneer moves beyond reps’ training to include membership education. It should consider home study and study circles using internet based materials as well as standard course provision.
51. Whilst the new union should take advantage of TUC educational facilities it should provide its own widely based course provision designed to meet the needs of its members. This provision should include short courses, long courses such as distance learning pioneered in Region 1 and political education. Education should not be reduced to just a focus on organising but should embrace organising within it much wider remit.
52. A properly funded and regionally directed education service is a redline issue for us.
A Political Role
53. Region 1 believes that it should be a founding principle of the new union, and enshrined in rule, that the new union will (in Great Britain) remain affiliated to the TUC and the Labour Party. This is a redline issue for us.
54. The current debate about party funding is a ploy to create a split in our Movement and relegate the trade unions to the rank of any other interest group.
55. As far as Region 1 is concerned, our involvement in party politics and support for Labour impacts on local government, London regional government (including the Mayor), Westminster Parliament and European Parliament. So we welcome the intention that the new union would bring greater influence to the policy making process within the Labour Party.
56. However, recognition must given to the regional dimension in the political process. It has not been lost on many activists in Region 1 that during the first selection process for Labour's London Mayoral candidate in 1999, Central Office tried to impose a nominee other than Ken Livingstone, at variance with the wishes of the Regional Committee.
57. The Region 1 position was endorsed by a ballot vote of our members and has formed an ongoing successful relationship with Ken Livingstone, now in his second term as Mayor.
58. Therefore regions must have the authority and freedom to act on regional matters within the rules of the new union.
59. We welcome the intention that the new union would bring greater focus and influence to the policy making processes of government at whatever level from borough to Europe and to non-governmental bodies such as the regional development agencies.
60. In conclusion, we cannot stress how important we believe our relations with the TUC at every level from local trades union councils to the regional councils and the General Council and the Executive and Congress itself. Certainly at our regional level, SERTUC has the capacity that many regional unions lack in being the interface between the organised labour and many public policy initiatives.
61. It is the TUC that acts as the gateway to the European Trade Union Confederation, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the institutions of the International Labour Organisation.
Miscellaneous
62. The old fashioned employment practice prevalent in the T&G, of a strict delineation of “officers” and “staff” should be ended in the new union. There should be single status employment with all employees from the cleaners to the executive officers employed on a single spine grading system.
63. Job titles across the union, from staff “assistant” to “regional industrial organiser” should be recast to be something meaningful.
64. A commitment to equalities must be shown in deeds as well as words; the complement of employees of the new union, particularly the full time officials, must increasingly reflect the gender and ethnic diversity of the membership.
65. Consideration should be given to making most regionally based full time officer appointments at the regional level, subject to executive endorsement/approval. This would underscore the decentralised nature of the new union. Further, the appalling current backlog of appointments in Region 1 reinforces the fact that an exclusively national system is failing to deliver for the members. Regional secretary and national level appointments would be the exceptions.
[green top section]
Industrial Structure and Lay Democracy
66. We are disappointed that the basic premise of the new union’s structures did not start from an articulation of a dual track approach of industrial sectors and geographic regions, working in parallel under the control of lay committees, each with a defined scope of operation.
67. We wholeheartedly support three of the four bulleted points on the opening page of this section, ie:
· executive committee to be solely lay members
· new structures should be inclusive
· industrial autonomy over wage bargaining.
68. We also wholeheartedly endorse the concept that equalities should be at the heart of the new union but are equally disappointed that three pages later ambiguity arises when the status of equality committees is left open, “constitutional or advisory”. Our position is – constitutional.
69. We have already discussed branch organisation, above. In any discussion about the structure of higher committees, whilst we support the concept of “as many routes as possible for activists and members to participate” at the same time we also support “clean lines”.
70. This means that structures must be clear, open and transparent. Members must know exactly how they nominate for and elect their committees. They must also be clear about how members of committees obtain their places and who they are obliged to report back to. Officers of the union must service and attend those committees.
71. Our remarks about the proposed structure are preceded by the following points:
· firstly, we argue for a “democratic union”, a union which allows postal ballots with candidate statements for as many elections as possible; this places this massive new union firmly in the hands of the many and not the few.
· secondly, there must be gender and ethnic proportionality on all constitutional committee and conferences of the new union.
· thirdly, all constitutional committees should meet on a quarterly cycle.
area committee - this we support; in the current Region 1 these could be established at the county and London borough level, it’s a question of creating a manageable “area” – this seems to us to be the creation of area based shop steward aggregates
regional branch conference - this we partially support, aggregates of branch leaderships on, say, an annual or biennial basis seems reasonable – however, we do not support the election of the regional committee by branch delegates, who are essentially administrative branch officers; also we do not support the election of delegates to the policy conference through this forum, this must be by direct election by the members
regional sector conference – this we support, but argue that these delegates should be elected by the membership; the regional sector conference should be charged with electing the regional sector committee (and delegates to the national sector conference); the regional sector committees should elect from among themselves their delegates to the Regional Committee; this draws on successful T&G practice and ensures an industry focus is prevalent
regional committee - our comments about functions are set out below; members should be elected from the regional sector committees and from the regional equalities committees (Region 1 currently has two places for the Women’s Committee, 2 places for the Race Equality Committee and one place for the Disabled Members’ Committee)
national sector conference - this we partially support, we do not support the election of delegates to the policy conference by the national sector conference electoral college, this should be direct election by the members in the sector
NEC – we support a “general executive”, we have already voiced our concerns about the use of “national” for a union that operates in at least two countries; we support a duel track policy of industrial and geographic delegates, all should be working members – there is an unasked question here about the numeric balance between industrial and geographic delegates, regions should have the majority, similar to our current arrangements; we note also that their are no plans for “equalities” delegates to have seats in their own right, as the current two exist in the T&G, this oversight should be rectified and should include gender, race, disabled and LGBT seats
policy conference – we support a large biennial delegates’ conference; this would need to be nearer 2,000 than 1,000 delegates strong if current delegates to the individual unions’ conferences were not to feel disenfranchised, thereby leading to the view that bigger is not better; we have already made the case for direct elections to this conference.
rules conference - there is an unasked question here about a specialist “rules conference”. Will the policy conference deal with this or will a special rules revision mechanism be introduced? The T&G experience has shown the value of a separate 6 yearly Rules Conference, this avoids a regular battle over rules, which as in the Labour Party, inevitably leads to an over focus on internal structures.
72. The proposed nine industrial sectors (provided that they are sub-divided to cater for specialist interests) seem reasonable with the exception of:
· that the “not for profit sector” (voluntary sector) allocated to “Not for Profit and Commercial Services” may be more properly located in “Public Services”, and that the Commercial Services sector is renamed to make more sense to members;
· that our ACTS local government membership be included in the proposed “Public Services” sector; and
· that “retail” is added to “Food, Leisure and Hospitality”.
[purple top section]
Regional Structures
73. The English regional boundaries in the new union should logically be based on the Government Office Regions, which are also the RDA boundaries (as is the case in Unison and the Labour Party, whilst the TUC uses multiples of the GORs).
74. In the new union, regions should have the authority in rule:
· to determine their own priorities within the new union’s policies
· to have free and immediate access to their own funds to put their priorities into action.
This is a redline issue for us.
75. This position is at variance with the concept of merely “managing and allocating resources as determined by the National Executive”; our position is one of regional leadership. We would therefore delete the final paragraph under “Responsibilities” in connection with regional budgetary processes.
76. Under “Responsibilities” we would add “equality reps” to the listing of those falling under the remit of regional education and training.
77. Under “Structure” we would support the lay constitutional structure being maintained on a biennial cycle as current in the T&G. It seems to us that any longer and there is a real danger of members and activists becoming divorced from the system.
Summary & Conclusion
78. As the largest Region of the T&G, representing nearly 200,000 members we are passionate about taking the T&G and the wider Movement forward. We most certainly do not want any backward movement nor a drift to the right.
79. We have always supported and will continue to support progressive, left of centre trade unionism based on lay democracy and control.
80. To support these principles that have been at the core of Region 1’s work we have identified several key themes that are redline issues for us:
· the membership ballot should not be for a mere ‘framework’ which leaves the detail of the new union unclear;
· in the new union, regions should have the authority in rule:
► to determine their own priorities within the new union’s policies
► to have free and immediate access to their own funds to put their priorities into action;
· there should be a constitutional equalities structure;
· there should be a properly funded and regionally directed education service; and
· there should enshrined in rule, a commitment (in Great Britain) to remain affiliated to the TUC and the Labour Party.
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