Amendments for Unite Policy Conference

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Delegates at Unite Policy conference 2016

The preliminary agenda for Unite’s Policy Conference 2018 is out, listing all the motions submitted by branches and constitutional committees.

Each branch and committee now has the opportunity to submit one amendment to a motion. Your amendment has to be in by Friday 11 May 2018.

Amendments can’t change the overall thrust of a motion or be on an unrelated topic. They are useful to improve or correct problems in otherwise good motions, or to add points that may have been missed or which arose after the original motion was submitted.

The motion numbers may change in the final agenda, and many related motions and amendments are likely to be “composited” (merged) before they are debated.

The conference itself will take place 2-6 July in Brighton.

Mears housing maintenance strike wins 20% pay rises

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Mears strikers with banners

After more than 80 days of strike action, housing maintenance workers at Mears / Manchester Working have won pay rises of around 20% over three years. We hear from some of the workers celebrating their victory “less chat, more bat”:

It is a testament to the strikers’ unity and determination that less than 200 of them managed to acheive such a victory against an employer with a turnover of over £500m and about 4000 employees.

Right to the end, the employer tried to divide the workforce – proposing a deal similar to that eventually agreed, but leaving out four Resident Liaison Officers (RLO’s) – a group which by an amazing coincidence included Billy Nugent, the senior steward, who had led the rebuilding of union organisation that enabled the successful strike. The money involved was trivial to Mears, this was widely seen as an act of spite. To their enormous credit, the workers voted overwhelmingly that they would continue their action unless the RLO’s were included. It is a sign of the spirit of the strikers that some are disappointed that the RLO’s will only get around £4000 extra – an impressive sum by most standards, but less than most strikers will get.

It won’t just be the younger workers who get real benefits from this victory. Many of the workers are older and have final salary pensions which will be significantly boosted by reversing the years of falling real wages.

There’s no doubt that Unite’s strike fund, into which all branches contribute 2.5% of subs and which currently stands at over £30m, played a vital role in enabling the workers to sustain the industrial action and secure this inspiring victory.

Unite’s Construction sector has seen a lot of change with the influx of former UCATT members. Whenever unions join together there is a risk of divisions on the basis of former unions and their traditions rather than issues facing members now or in the future. The Mears workforce was predominantly ex-UCATT. Workers stuck together irrespective of their former union. They have won a victory of which the whole construction sector, the whole of Unite and the whole trade union movement can be proud.

Previous report: http://uniterankandfile.org/mears-unity-to-the-end/

The Unite press release.

Mears: unity to the end

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Mears strikers with banners

This morning Unite members at Mears & Manchester Working Limited, who carry out housing maintenance for Northwards Housing, went back to work (for now). They have struck 4 days per week for the last 12 weeks, after a previous 12-week period of strikes last year. The dispute isn’t over yet, but “as for now – we’re winning”.

Members voted last week to return to work today after an offer which for most people means a 10% immediate pay rise, with a further 5% spread over two years. This is a testament to the sustained strike action, and to campaigning activity which has included protests at housing offices, leafleting tenants, and pressuring Manchester City Council, who stand behind this outsourced service.

The remaining sticking point involves four workers (RLOs) where the employer has not budged. The four include Bill Nugent, the senior steward, which nobody sees as a coincidence. In an impressive display of unity, the workers voted last week that they will be out again next week unless the employers and the council resolve this outstanding issue this week. An injury to one is an injury to all.

This video shows Unite rep Billy Sinclair explaining the situation, and many of the workers marching in to work together this morning.

Get your motions in for Unite Policy Conference 2018

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Unite will be holding its next Policy Conference in Brighton 2-6 July 2018. This is the opportunity for every member to shape our union’s policy. The process is already under way, with branches and committees sending in motions for the conference agenda. If you want to get a motion onto the agenda, you need to act now. Motions have to be agreed by a branch or committee and sent in to Unite HQ no later than 9 February 2018.

Delegates at Unite Policy conference 2016
Photo: @bluegreen_cathy on Twitter

Step one is to draft your motion. There are full guidelines here. If you’ve never done it before, don’t be put off, but do ask for help if you need it.

Each branch and each constitutional committee (i.e. Regional & National Industrial Sector Committee; Regional & National Equality Committee, Regional Committee, Area Activist Committee) can submit one motion on any general policy topic (i.e. not about a particular sector and not requiring a change to Unite’s rules). The National Retired Members’ Committee and each Regional Retired Members’ Co-ordinating Committees can also submit one motion each, but these can only be on about matters solely pertaining to members in retirement.

The meetings held round the country before Unite Rank & File launched came up with lots of ideas, including areas where we can campaign to improve union policy. Note that there’s no need to submit motions to restate existing policy – motions should change existing policy or add to it.

Here are some suggestions to get you thinking – feel free to comment with your own ideas or what you’ve already submitted:

Organising / industrial action:

  • Disputes unit support, focused on winning, not just legal compliance, for all disputes from an early stage
  • Improve support for company and sub-sector combines
  • Increasing lay member involvement in organising
  • Response to the Trade Union Act 2016
  • Review / overhaul Unite education in the light of government funding cuts
  • Facility for levies (e.g. for strike funds) by workplace / employer, not just branch – for many members branch doesn’t directly match employer / workplace
  • Recruitment and organising of migrant workers and refugees

Democracy / accountability:

  • Review of Unite structures to better support members in multi-region employers
  • Investigate the role of union officials in blacklisting, and support the Blacklist Support Group
  • Policy against officers approaching employers over the heads of reps / branch officers
  • Tackle non-functioning branches so members aren’t left without a functioning branch for long periods
  • Improve Unite grievance and complaint procedures
  • Change General Secretary elections to Single Transferable Vote
  • Ban branches passing member data to campaigns or third parties during Unite elections
  • Ban Unite employees (other than candidates) from campaigning in Unite elections
  • Official videoed hustings for Unite elections
  • Limit the General Secretary’s wage
  • Facilitation and control of communication with members during union elections
  • Require disclosure / control over fundraising and expenditure during union elections

Equality:

  • Put equality on the agenda of all branch and constitutional committee meetings
  • Make regional women’s and equality officer roles full time (or job share)
  • Review equality structures to ensure they are effective in representing each equality group, championing its issues, and promoting participation
  • Extend the recommendations from the report on women officers in Unite to all employees
  • Improve equality training for lay and full-time officers, reps and members
  • Including impact on members without UK citizenship and members working overseas in materials about impact of Brexit on workers’ rights
  • Workers’ rights to live and work where they want
  • Trans rights and Gender Recognition

Miscellaneous:

  • Cuts and privatisation
  • Councils implementing cuts
  • Diversification from destructive projects to good, socially useful, jobs
  • Trump visiting the UK
  • Housing after Grenfell
  • Automation and Artificial Intelligence
  • Brexit
  • Labour Party
  • Universal Credit

Leaflet for Unite Sector Conferences

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Leaflet headed "Solidarity Needed" highlighting various strikesThis week Unite members will be meeting in Brighton for our 2017 sector conferences. Unite Rank and File has produced a leaflet explaining what we are and encouraging solidarity with various disputes. If you can, please lend a hand distributing it to delegates and encourage them to sign up for Unite Rank and File.

The timetable for the conferences is as follows:

  • Sunday 12 Nov: Retired Members. Docks, Rail, Ferries & Waterways
  • Monday 13 Nov: Civil Air Transport. Passenger Transport. Road Transport Commercial, Logistics & Retail Distribution. Food, Drink & Agriculture. Service Industries. Government, Defence, Prisons & Contractors
  • Tuesday 14 Nov: Local Authorities. Energy & Utilities. Education. Health. Community, Youth Workers & Not for Profit. Unite Construction, Allied Trades & Technicians. Finance & Legal.
  • Wednesday 15 Nov: Aerospace & Shipbuilding. Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Process & Textiles. Automotive Industry. Graphical, Paper, Media & Information Technology. Metals (including Foundry). General Engineering, Manufacturing & Servicing.

Delegates normally arrive the day before the conference to register, and delegates normally stay over after the conference to travel home the next day.

Launch: Unite Rank & File – building solidarity across the union

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“Unite Rank and File” launchedUnite rank and file icon

Working class people face huge challenges at work and in our communities. We have endured decades of high unemployment, deregulation, anti-union legislation, privatisation, cuts and outsourcing, alongside an inadequate response from our unions. Many have felt powerless and vulnerable as our jobs, pay and conditions, services and rights are attacked.

Yet workers continue to resist, and when we do, we usually achieve some measure of success. Workers create all the profits, and we have enormous power – if we have the consciousness and organisation to use it.

The low turnout and lacklustre results of the senior officials standing in the Unite elections earlier this year showed that there is a large and growing disconnect between our union’s leadership, structures, and members. They also showed that a significant minority of members want to see a more radical, robust and bottom-up response to the challenges facing us – just as the response to Jeremy Corbyn shows that millions want something more than a fresh gloss on the same old free-market fundamentalism. There is a widespread desire for a more democratic culture, where discrimination is not tolerated. This is essential if we are to maximise involvement in building a strong union.

“Unite Rank and File: solidarity across the union” is a new network of Unite members which aims to:

  • Build solidarity
  • Encourage resistance and make our union do more to encourage it
  • Put activists in touch with each other, share information and ideas
  • Champion independent workers’ organisation and challenge the toxic “in partnership with management” culture so widespread in Unite
  • Supporting the development of rank and file networks and campaigning initiatives throughout our union
  • Campaign to reform and reinvigorate Unite’s democratic structures to promote a bottom-up culture where members participate, challenge discrimination and are in control
  • Campaign to change Unite policies e.g. against Trident and for workers’ rights to move freely and be treated equally

While the impetus for the new grouping came out of the campaign to elect Ian Allinson as General Secretary, we are not seeking to create yet another electoral faction within Unite. We welcome your participation irrespective of your views on the recent elections or whether or not you are affiliated with any of the electoral groupings such as United Left.

Please leave your details if you want to get involved. As well as our web site www.uniterankandfile.org you can also follow us on Twitter @UniteRankNFile and like our Facebook page @UniteRankAndFile.