Latest News - December 2009

Sectors Activity Report - from Bob Douglas

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As members know Amicus was divided into industry Sectors. UKAPE was in the Federation of Professional Associations (FPA) Sector. Unite the union is also divided into Sectors but the FPA is no longer one of them. The various groups from the FPA have been placed in other Sectors deemed appropriate by those who did it. UKAPE has been placed in the Servicing and General Industries Sector.

I was invited to the first meeting of the regional activists of this Sector in September. Only a few turned up so all those who attended, including myself, were elected on to the committee.

The next important meeting was for the national conference of the Sector which took place on 25th November in Brighton.

During the week of 23rd to 27th all Sectors of the union held their conferences. For part of the time the Sector groups were assembled together as at the start of the day for a report by both of the joint general secretaries followed by a question and answer session.

Tony Woodley spoke first. He said that this was a "landmark week, activists are the union, only as strong as the members, a tolerant union". The structure is "not just a talking shop or social club". He also spoke out about how the Labour government had not implemented changes to employment legislation and profiteering companies should be hit with windfall taxes. The whole speech was very political.

Derek Simpson then spoke. He is a very good public speaker and spoke of his delight on the new union, its sector structure giving it core strength. On the reports of disagreements between Tony Woodly and him he said that was all newspaper fabrication and there was not a cigarette paper of difference between them on policy. He was displeased with the conduct of many MPs and suggested that "all of the people in this hall could be an MP and most would be better than several cabinet ministers". He also spoke about an international company attempting to control the market in strategic minerals. The need to build an international union was explained and it was suggested that only Unite could do this.

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There were a number of questions from the floor. On the answer to a question on why has the Labour government not repealed the anti trade union legislation Tony Woodley said "we need to win Labour back from the bandits who stole it". Derek Simpson in answer to a question expanded on the construction of a global/international union; describing the work done so far in enabling unions to work together across national boundaries. This is largely not with European unions as the relationship between workers their unions and employers in Europe are different.

As there were only four motions for discussion there were a number of speakers to the conference.

The first was Lord McKenzie the parliamentary under secretary DWP. He was previously at the Health and Safety Executive and much of his speech was on that topic. Amongst his comments were "paperwork does not save lives. Commonsense should apply and judgement must be used". This does not sound like the "banned because of H & S"! He said there should be a "sensible, responsible and well balanced approach to health and safety". There was a Q & A session on which a lot of discussion was on asbestos related illness.

The next speaker was Hugh Scullion the general secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions. Most of his speech was devoted to the 35 hour working week. As little progress has been made on this recently and many firms have made their own local arrangements. A fund was set up many years ago to campaign for the 35 hour week and apparently to government is attempting to seize the fund unless all original contributors are contacted to say what they want done with it.

The other groups then dispersed to their own conferences.

From Columbia we had a speech from Martin Sandoval via an interpreter. Even without being fluent in Spanish it was easy to understand him. Columbia is the most dangerous place for trade unionists or others with social concerns. There is a high risk of imprisonment or death to those who oppose government policies. Hundreds have been killed in recent years. He thanked Unite for the support that has been give. He is only free due to an international campaign on his behalf.

The Sector conference then started.

A lay member Chris Grimshaw was in the chair.

The National Officers Mike Smallwood and Ian Tonks then gave a report on activities within the Sector. The difference between single person working and lone working was made as these terms are not synonymous. Single person is working alone but other trained workers are available on site if requires. Lone working is you are on your own. It was also mentioned that highly trained Engineers were part of the Sector and I thought "he is speaking about me". A DVD on employment rights for cleaning workers followed. They are also part of the Sector.

The afternoon started with a report on the cooperation with the United Steelworkers Union (of USA and Canada). Other international activity was also discussed. Two members of the USU spoke and explained how the owners of a mine in Sudbury, Ontario were trying to "starve out" the workforce in their efforts to gain global control strategic minerals, in this case nickel. The owners are a Brazilian company. The strange workings of the health system in the USA was explained and why a government controlled system more like the NHS would be better and how vested interests in the USA are trying to thwart attempts to set it up.

Eventually the four motions submitted by delegates were discussed. They were not controversial. However there was total confusion when the delegates for the TUC conferences for 2010 and 2011 were elected.

Overall it was an interesting day and it is always useful to meet other union members who have a different outlook on working and the workplace. Roll on the policy conference in 2010!

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