Organising

Unite Policy Conference – day two

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Tuesday of UPC2021 was dominated by a presentation and Q&A session with Sharon Graham, the new General Secretary. Conference also discussed motions on Economy & Industry, and Covid-19 and the Coronavirus crisis. Most of the key documents were published here. The texts of Composite motions are here and the accounts are here.

Sharon Graham’s presentation

There’s a copy of Sharon Graham’s presentation here.

Economy & Industry

Motion 16 Working Time – agreed

Motion 17 Modern Industrial Nation – agreed

Motion 18+A Trade Union Facility Time – agreed

Motion 19 Employment Charter – agreed

(Amendment fell – no mover)

Motion 20 Road from Casualisation – agreed

Motion 21 Fair Tips – agreed

Covid-19 and the Coronavirus crisis

Motion 145 A New Deal in the Post Covid World – agreed

Motion 150 A New Deal in the Post Covid World – agreed

Motion 151 A New Deal in the Post Covid World – remitted

Motion 152 A New Deal in the Post Covid World – agreed

Composite 21 (motions 146, 147) Organising Post Covid – agreed

Motion 162 Organising Post Covid – agreed

Composite 22 (motions 147, 153, 155) Covid-19 Sick Pay and Support – agreed

Composite 23 (motions 149, 156) Covid-19 and Mental Health – agreed

Composite 24 (motions 157, 158, 159) Covid-19 and Equalities – agreed

Motion 160 Covid-19 and Equalities – agreed

Motion 144 New Ways of Communicating / Meeting – agreed

Victory for health workers in Lincolnshire

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The long-running Lincolnshire health visitors’ dispute is coming to an end with a pay victory that sees the vast majority of the workforce being upgraded.

Unite, Britain and Ireland’s largest union, today (Thursday 5 December) hailed the victory, which will see most of the union’s members move onto the grade 10 pay scale, as ‘highly significant’.

Unite regional officer Steve Syson said: “Thanks to the tremendous solidarity that our members have shown since this dispute started in the summer, we have achieved a highly significant and welcome victory.

“The health visitors’ determination against what they considered as a gross pay injustice was buttressed by the firm backing from the people of Lincolnshire and from supporters across the UK.”

The dispute had centred on the council’s insistence on different contracts for grade 9 and grade 10 health visitors, while Unite has consistently argued that as all health visitors have the same qualifications they should be paid the same.

The health visitors have now suspended their month-long strike action while the authority upgrades the health visitors; however, Unite reserves the right to reinstitute strike action if the council does not abide with the agreement. Besides the grade 10 job roles, the health visitors will receive between £2,000- £6,000 in a one-off transitional payment.

More than 70 Unite health visitors voted for the month-long, now suspended, strike that started on 18 November. Of those about 58 will now be fast tracked to the grade 10 posts with 16 further Agenda for Change AfC) staff awaiting confirmation; about 13 have left or are departing to take up alternative employment within nursing, which leaves a handful of relatively new health visitors on grade 9.

Unite pledged today that it would explore every avenue to get those still on grade 9 uplifted to grade 10 as soon as possible.

Unite regional secretary for the East Midlands Paresh Patel added: “I think that a number of factors contributed to this positive outcome, including the fact that the council was, and even now, is continuing to lose highly skilled health visitors at the rate of knots, as our members are offered alternative roles elsewhere in recognition of their experience.

“There was also the stark realisation by council bosses that our members were prepared to take further strike action on top of what they had already taken in the summer, after a second ballot confirmed they were prepared to continue on with further industrial action.

“This victory should be seen in the context of a broader campaign for a fully-resourced health visiting service across England – that fight will continue across the country in 2020.”

London Rank & File meeting Thursday 7 November

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Site icon, reads Unite rank & file - solidarity across our union

Members of Unite Rank & File in London are next meeting at the following time and place:

7 pm Thursday 7th November at The Dame Alice Owen in Clerkenwell The Pearl & Feather, 360 St John Street, Clerkenwell

This follows a successful meeting earlier this month at which decisions were taken to work with trade union activists involved in the current Extinction Rebellion protests and plan for solidarity around a possible strike by Royal Mail over the autumn.

The forthcoming meeting will allow people to review progress so far and think through the next steps.

We look forward to seeing you there!

As we are meeting in a pub, food (slightly pricey) and drink will be available. If you are planning to attend please email londonurf@gmail.com to let us know you are coming.

Extinction Rebellion from October 7th

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Extinction Rebellion has invited Unite Rank and File activists to join the rebellion against climate change planned for two weeks starting 7th October.

Extinction Rebellion is the fastest growing environmental non-violent civil disobedience movement in history. It launched on 31st October last year and already has established 485 groups across 473 cities in 72 countries.

From the 7th October, they are planning to launch an International Rebellion that will peacefully take action against criminal inaction on the environmental and ecological crisis of those in power.  They are calling on activists to blockade large sections of London in what they intend to be the biggest act of non-violent civil disobedience in British history.

Extinction Rebellion have in particular gained a profile through asking supporters to risk arrest. They ask this because they believe the urgency of the threat of climate change and ecological collapse requires that some people sacrifice their liberty to disrupt the status quo and draw attention to the urgency of this existential threat.

Irrespective of views on this tactic, Unite Rank & File have previously made the struggle against climate change a key priority, so supporting this campaign fits in with that context.

More information can be found on the XR website: https://rebellion.earth/

 

London members to meet 5 October

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Site icon, reads Unite rank & file - solidarity across our union

Following two initial meetings over the summer, London Unite Rank & File will be holding a further meetup for all members in the London area.

It will take place at 2 pm on Saturday 5th October at The Dame Alice Owen, 292 St John St, Clerkenwell EC1V 4PA.

The meeting will be an opportunity for members to raise and discuss issues of importance to them that Unite Rank & File members in London can take on to campaign. It will also enable us to discuss how to build among Unite members in London.

The current political situation is very fluid and the meeting will follow the conclusion of the Labour Party conference. One key topic of discussion is likely to be whether and how Unite Rank & File can best take advantage of the current situation.

As we are meeting in a pub, food (slightly pricey) and drink will be available.

Any members planning on attending are asked to please email londonurf@gmail.com to let us know you are coming. Also email that address if you have any agenda items.

London members’ meeting

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Unite rank and file icon

Come to our meetup of London members on Tuesday 13th August from 7 pm.

Members of Unite Rank and File in London will be meeting up at The Dame Alice Owen, 292 Saint John Street, Clerkenwell, LONDON EC1V 4PA.

For full details visit our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2556488434361922/

This week’s Unite Policy Conference

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Image of UPC2018 leaflet

This weekend delegates from across the UK, Ireland and Gibraltar will gather in Brighton for Unite’s 5th Policy Conference. The final agenda suggests there should be some lively and important debates.

Unite Rank and File has produced a leaflet highlighting some of the key issues. If you’re at conference, please help distribute it.

Image of UPC2018 leafletAnd if you haven’t yet signed up for Unite Rank & File, please do.

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