Jackson’s life has been devoted to the struggle for equality in the US and elsewhere and he witnessed first hand some of the nost seminal events in the sruggle for civil rights. He was with Dr Martin Luther King when he was assasinated and celebrated with tens of thousnads of others in Chicago when Barack Obama was elected President on November 4th.

It was a great thrill to see him speak - especially in my home city - and whilst during yesterdays address he didn’t reach the rhetorical heights for which he is famous, there was a power and authority to his words lent by his record of activity and activism.

The title of his address was “the Struggle Goes On” and he spoke of walls needing to come down before bridges could be built and the need to see the world through an open door rather than a key hole. And he had his own musical director - who sang a song immediately before he spoke.

Great stuff!

Since April we’ve posted 100 posts on issues ranging from union busting to ‘well dressed organisers’. Some have been interesting - some really haven’t; some have been insightful - some… Ah well you get the drift.

At the moment we’re averaging 1 comment for every 3 posts - not bad but not quite ‘Premier League’ standard. Of course people will only comment if they find the stuff we post interesting, so here’s a quick plea: tell us what sort of stuff you’d like to see on this blog; what sorts of issues would you like us to cover; should we have guest contributors; what more can we do to make this blog half decent?

Answers on a postcard (comments section) please!

Union General Secretary Ghulam Mehboob in police detention. Union officers were detained for over 2 months on fabricated charges for which no evidence was ever produced, then dismissed from their jobs for...absenteeism.

For over 7 years, workers at Pakistan’s Pearl Continental Karachi Hotel have been fighting against sackings, harassment, violence and imprisonment to have their union recognized.

Now the charitable foundation established by the hotel’s owners to freshen their image is a finalist in the online World Challenge competition co-sponsored by amongst others, the BBC.

If you agree that it’s totally inappropriate for companies who treat their workers in this way to have a place in such a competition - you can support the Pearl Continental Karachi workers by sending a message to the judges, using this link.

According to a panel of “insiders and experts” trade unions (and am I being paranoid in thinking that the way the piece is worded suggests that the author thinks that the reader should feel relieved?) were perceived to have had little or no real influence on the government’s recently announced measures aimed at alleviating the effects of the current financial crisis and impending recession.

Even those on the panel who believed that unions had been fairly influential thought that the governemnt were likely to introduce the measures anyway.

So, er, that’s alright then!!!!???

This Wednesday, 3 December, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) is calling on people in Zimbabwe to go ask their bank for their money back. It’s not a revolutionary demand (although it could be described as promoting a Northern Rock style run on the banks): the point is this. In Zimbabwe, ordinary people are allowed to take out just Zim$500,000 a day, which sounds like a lot until you convert it - it’s £5.36 at the moment, but prices are doubling every 1.3 days, so it won’t be worth that for long. The ZCTU is demanding that people be allowed to take out enough to actually buy the essentials - food, medicines, that sort of thing - or that employers should be allowed to pay staff in cash.

This is a basic trade union demand, and it shows that trade unions, as well as being involved in the politics of Zimbabwe (the ZCTU warned weeks ago that the power-sharing deal was a sham, and they seem, sadly, to have been right), are still standing up for ordinary working people’s basic economic needs.

If you want to support their action, campaign group Action on Southern Africa (ACTSA), have an email action on their website, so you can contact the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to ask him to do what the ZCTU is asking.

The UFW was of course inextricably linked with Cesar Chavez, and the article argues that grass roots organising was much more important in mobilising voters than the technique of lobbying, writing cheques and then sending a mailing out to members just ahead of the vote (although I can’t help feeling that no one would want to abandon those either!)

One interesting aspect of the successful approach which is highlighted is the need for really good record keeping - how many bumper stickers distributed, how many people saw billboards etc - which UK unions and the left have been traditionally appalling at and dismissive of. All power to the elbows of those annoying people who insist we record what we do, rather than just putting in the hours!

Last night I attended a private screening of ‘Jail guitar doors’ a documentary produced to highlight the independent initiative set up by Billy Bragg called Jail Guitar doors which aims to provide musical instruments for the use of inmates serving time in Her Majesty’s prisons. It takes its name from the b-side of the Clash’s 1978 single ‘Clash City Rockers’.

This initiative is a really humanitarian cause that improves prison life for both staff and prisoners; people whom both live and work in prisons. One of the governors from Brixton prison said that since they introduced the project there is a much better atmosphere in the prison.

 Prisons is about rehabilitation and this project goes some ways toward achieving that, apparently prisoners whom take part in the music sessions  have a reconviction rate of between 10-15% compared with the national average of 61%.

To find out more go to: jailguitardoors.org.uk

jgdsinvite2

On my way out yesterday this article caught my eye. With the headline ‘Ethical approach of Starbucks is hard to swallow’ it neatly brings me back to start of my little experiment in ethical living last week. According to the article,

‘…the latest concerned consumer survey, carried out for The Times by Populus, shows it [Starbucks]has also lost the most support among green and ethically aware shoppers.

Consumers were asked what they thought about the general behaviour of fast food outlets and coffee shops. Starbucks’ ethical track record was rated worse than any chains except McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC, and it was the biggest faller in the index. Its average rating fell by 7 points to 42 out of a possible 100.’

The article goes on to talk about Starbuck’s efforts to boost its ethical credentials, which among other things will mean it will become the ‘world’s largest purchaser of ethical coffee’. A good start, but Starbuck’s still won’t be recognising unions in its cafes; and such a move will do little to placate those who baulk at Starbuck’s colonising every high street.

The last week has made me think about a couple of things. The first is that I was surprised just how widespread unions are, and the potential influence we hold. Despite union density being around 28% many of the largest companies that we deal with on a day to day basis are unionised, and when it comes to making a decision about what supermarket to shop in, what transport company to use, and what products to buy you can usually find a unionised option.

The big exception to this general rule though is when it comes to large parts of the private service sector like hospitality. Finding a unionised hotel, an ethical place to eat, or a ‘better’ place to drink is difficult, and reflects the weakness of unions in some key parts of our economy.

Ultimately I think its pretty impossible to live a 100% ethical life - but that doesn’t mean the little things we do and the choices we make every day are unimportant. Being an ‘ethical consumer’ won’t change the world, but to paraphrase the advert, ‘every little helps’!

During the discussion that followed the opening comments we got round to asking the reps there how many of them, as well as being Union Learning Reps held at least one or two other ‘reps’ roles.  The answer was almost everybody in the audience.

This bears out findings from research published over recent years that amongst others things reported that;

• The proportion of UNIONISED workplaces WITHOUT an on-site reps is growing - meaning that for many members there is no one in their workplace from the union to whom they can turn to for advice and who is listening members cares and concerns
• Nearly half of the workplaces where there IS a rep, have only 1and - meaning that either reps hold a number of positions or that some vital jobs such as Healtha and Safety, Union Learning and Equality reps aren’t being carried out.
• The proportion of members to reps is increasing - meaning that where we do have reps, they are getting busier.

As someone who was lucky enough to start work in a unionised workplace I know the value that having a number of well trained, resourced and supported reps brings to workplaces, not only in respect of the service and support that they provide to members but in the impact that they have on how the union’s relevance and effectiveness is perceived.

One of the objectives of the TUC Activist Academy will be to give the reps that are already in place the skills to go out and find others to join them and build a reps team in their branch or workplace and to turn members into active members who support the union activity and campaigns that reps initiate and run.

Aside from making the uniuon more effective ande the therefore the life of members better, this can also make the reps role more enjoyable, rewarding and certainly less stressful.

If you’re interested in building a reps team in your workplace or branch get in touch with the TUC Activist Academy.  Details are available on the website - www.tuc.org.uk/activistacademy or by emailing activistacademy@tuc.org.uk

• On-line shopping at Tesco - Tesco is one of those companies people love to hate…its 30% UK market share has seen it come under fire from groups representing environmentalists and farmers alike. Its spawned a Tescopoly web-site (’an alliance of organisations concerned with the negative impacts of supermarket power’)  and a book of the same name by Andrew Simms. Like so many multi-nationals Tesco appears almost schizophrenic in its approach to unions. In Britain the company has a partnership arrangement with USDAW - and employs the largest chunk of private sector union membership in the country, over 130,000 workers. In the US the company has been accused by the UFCW of denying employees the right to organise.
• Setanta Sports- I cracked last night and ‘bought’ a month’s subscription to Setanta 1 on Virgin Media so I could watch Everton vs Wigan (a mistake - we lost 1-0). Virgin Media recognise BECTU, though this agreement currently doesn’t cover contact centre staff. The company have just announced a substantial redundancy programme and you can read BECTU’s response here.
• itunes store - I bought a couple of songs of itunes last night - my taste in music is generally considered pretty poor so I won’t bore you with the details. I genuinely haven’t got a clue how itunes works - where its based, who works on it, what sort of people they employ. I guess 99% of the process is automated, but 1%  must rely on real people. Are they based in the UK, US, India? Are they employed by ApPle or outsourced? What sort of deal do artists get from working with Apple - better or worse than the deal they get when their work is sold on CD? If you’ve got an answer to any of these questions let me know!  I guess buying on-line is better for the environment, but other than that I’ve got no take at all on how ethical ‘Apple’ is.