STRONGER UNIONS

Although during the primary season you could see many placards declaring the allegiance of a number of unions “for Hillary”, now that we are less than 40 days away from the US Presidential election, unions are now full square behind Barack Obama and are set to play a crucial role in getting out key voters.
Although [...]

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My last post ended with me asking if people could think of a more unlikely hotbed of trade unionism than Eton College. Heres a contender - the Church of England - another centuries old pillar of the English establishment that seems to have fallen to the brothers and sisters .
The thought of a load of Vicars getting [...]

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Interesting comment from Will Hutton here in which amongst other things he calls for future corporate borrowers from banks that have been bailed out by government to be obliged to recognise unions.  

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The TUC and the two Polish trade union confederations, Solidarnosc and OPZZ, have signed an agreement to work closely to help and support Polish workers in the UK.
The agreement commits parties to encouraging workers from both Poland and the Uk to joining a union of the country that they are working in and represents a [...]

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With the Year 10 graduation well and truly celebrated last Tuesday, it was time to welcome in the Year 11 Academy Organisers

Back Row left to right:  Neil Singh (CWU)  Richard Edwards (PCS)  Sam Harrison (NASUWT)  Robert Goddard (Wales TUC)  Pavel Krajca (CWU)
Middle Row left to right:  Joanna Sinclair (EIS)  Sarah Connolly (CWU)  Kath Clarke (NASUWT)  [...]

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Good article in the FT today, reporting that three TUC affiliated unions (the ATL, NASUWT & NUT) have secured union recognition from United Church Schools Trust, one of the largest providers of private education in the country. The article reports on the ‘growing power of trade unions’ within the sector, an important step forward because while 95% [...]

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The papers were full of speculation yesterday about the impact of the HBOS/Lloyds TSB merger on jobs - with some (usually anonymous) analysts claiming up to 40,000 could face redundancy. The true figure will hopefully be less than this, but whatever the finally tally its pretty sickening that HBOS/Lloyds TSB staff - most of whom are not [...]

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Last night, along with Organising Academy Director Liz Blackshaw and other colleagues from the Organising & Recruitment team, I was at the graduation ceremony for the Organising Academy class of 2008.  You can see more pictures from the event here.

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To coincide with the start of the Activist Academy pilots, this clip from the Building Stronger Unions fringe meeting that took place at Congress last week features PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka speak about the importance of union activists. 

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The first pilot course of the Activist Academy, a new programme launched by the TUC and unionlearn, got underway at Lewisham College in London yesterday. 
The Activist Academy was launched at Congress last week and aims to train 1000 reps and activists in organising, recruitment and campaigning skills over the next three years.  The Activist Academy is [...]

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