STRONGER UNIONS

Are you ready for Work Your Proper Hours Day this Friday (26 Feb)? It’s the day when, according to official statistics, the average person who does unpaid overtime stops working for free, and starts to earn for themselves.
We reckon that’s a day to celebrate, so we’re suggesting everyone makes a real effort to work only [...]

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Here’s a video of some hardy Robin Hood Tax campaign merry men and women braving the 4am chill and nocturnal traffic wardens to beam a message ten metres high onto the side of Bank of England.
If you haven’t yet added your voice to the campaign, go do so now at the Robin Hood Tax website, [...]

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The Robin Hood Tax campaign launches today, supported by the TUC and dozens of other charities, faith groups and community organisations. The campaign is calling on the leaders of the UK’s political parties to support a global tax on the banks to help repair the human damage caused by the global economic crisis, protect public [...]

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Guest post by Marc Bélanger, Radio Labour presenter and labour educator
The labour movement has created a new tool in its efforts to build national and international solidarity: an audio news show on the Internet.  The show, called Solidarity News, is available on RadioLabour at www.radiolabour.net.  It is 20 minutes of news about workers and their [...]

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Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year! We hope you have a good break and look forward to working with you again in 2010.
If you’ve been following our Union Advent postings, here’s a download present for you. “The Union Advantage” contains all the factoids we ran this month, and more. You can download it [...]

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Trade unions are the most effective tool for ensuring good health and safety at work. Put simply unionised workplaces are safer workplaces.
That is one of the main reasons that people join and stay in a union. When asked, 70% of new trade union
members considered health and safety a ‘very important’ union issue – more [...]

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Union Learning Reps increase the impact of training.
73% of Union Learning Reps and one-half of managers reported that ULRs have had a positive impact on either employer-funded or non-employer-funded training. Three out of the five managers stated that ULRs help to address employee skills gaps.
Both ULRs and managers report that ULRs are more likely [...]

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Unions work to secure jobs in the recession.
At the car manufacturers Toyota, Unite union representative Peter Tsouvallaris says “members are reminded daily of the tremendous insecurity the recession has brought to our industry”. After negotiations with management at Toyota, and faced with cuts in jobs and wages, the union has been able to recommend measures [...]

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Legal expertise and advice.
Through the union’s own legal officers or through specialist solicitors, union full time officers and representatives have access to advice on legal aspects of working life from employment contracts, harassment, redundancy, pensions or equalities issues.
Through the union, members have an access to justice which may otherwise have been denied to them [...]

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Unions were the first to raise major concerns over levels of violence in the workplace, and RSI, and the effects of passive smoking.
When unions first raised the issue of stress, employers and the media argued it was nonsense. It is now recognised that workplace stress affects half a million people. Even today it is [...]

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