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Secretarys Report on 2009 |
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SECRETARY’S REPORT
Due to a conflicting meeting, related to the Keep Metro Public campaign, the AGM was delayed until March 2009 from the usual date in February.
The long-running process around the County Court case against the Trades Council was ultimately resolved in the Summer, with the case being thrown out.
During the last year, as trade unionists, we have all felt the impact of the current economic recession; just a few will be outlined in this report.
Following discussions at May Day we invited a speaker from NAPO to the June meeting. After various structural changes and re-organisations, in recent years, most of the available funds were being spent on the new bureaucracy (NOMS) leaving a dwindling pot of fund for the front line services and as a consequence planned cuts in the Probation Service.
At the September meeting we had a report from the Trades Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee delegate, for the region (John McCormack) on recent JCC meetings. The report included a recent meeting with the main officers of the regional TUC and a group of delegates from the trades union councils from across the North East region.
At the November meeting we had a report from the local CWU branch secretary, John Woodhouse, on the dispute with Royal Mail. One issue was the impact of modernisation on jobs and the service to the general public, as more local sorting offices are closed and the work moved to larger regional sorting centres. We also discussed the increasing workload and targets for the delivery staff and the introduction of new methods leading to later and later deliveries. Subsequently to the meeting, further industrial action was postponed and more detailed talks were planned for the New Year (2010).
In recent months we have heard of a number local closures and job cuts, and we hope to address some of these in the coming months (BAe Systems, National Grid and in recent days HP - who took over EDS during the last year or two).
As I am writing this report, my thoughts are on the increasingly bitter dispute at my own employer, British Airways with the cabin crew. Like myself, most of the cabin crew are members of UNITE. Over the last eighteen months one of my concerns has been the one-sided use, by management, of electronic media (Intranet, e-mail & company newspaper). In recent weeks the management campaign has been entitled ‘I’m backing British Airways’. In response to the announcement of the second ballot of cabin crew for industrial action, this management campaign was extended to flooding the building, here in Newcastle, with posters on Thursday 21st January 2010.
This management campaign included encouraging other members of staff to ‘SCAB’ on their colleagues, in cabin crew during any potential industrial action. What I discovered later in the day was the judgement from the Employment Appeals Tribunal which upheld an earlier Employment Tribunal. In summary British Airways was found to have discriminated against a group of international cabin crew, based in Hong Kong on the grounds of AGE and RACE.
How can you possibly back the same management team who have been found in breach of anti-discrimination law? Oh, by the way, this is one of many stories about BA ignored by the team editing the Intranet and company newspaper.
As I have mentioned UNITE are about to start the second ballot of the 12,000 cabin crew. The first ballot was ruled illegal, by a high court injunction, on the grounds that some members of cabin crew had been balloted that were about to or had recently left the company (mainly due to voluntary redundancy). The numbers involved would not have changed the result of the ballot which was 92% in favour of industrial action with a turnout of 80%.
As this report suggests, we need to come together as a trades union council, learn from and support each other during these difficult times and campaign in the workplace and the wider local community on those issues that many unions support. This can only be achieved if more trade union branches affiliate to the Trades Union Council and if delegates take an active role in all the subsequent activity.
JIM SIMPKIN
(UNITE Tyneside Engineering)
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Welcome 
Secretarys Report on 2009 
