While we expect the populist publicists and misinformed scribblers of our national media to peddle generalisations about trade unions, we expect something better from Peter Mandelson. Calling on the unions to heal thyself in the last issue of Progress, he made so many sweeping assumptions about trade union organisation that any convincing challenge contained in his argument was unfortunately lost.
The majority of unions in the TUC are not affiliated to Labour, many of them are not in the public sector and very many of them have embraced the modernising agenda over the last few years. There s a much bigger picture and a whole lot of context if any constructive discussion is to be had on this issue.
I am a newly elected general secretary. My union, Connect, is not unique; far from it. Like many other TUC affiliates we represent a growing number of professional workers in the new economy. We are not big but we are specialised. We are not affiliated to Labour but we have some useful things to say to government and our members like to be heard. We have stripped away unnecessary bureaucracy and focused resources on providing first-rate services to members while trying to develop constructive relationships with the companies that employ them.
Significantly, in the context of Peter s comments, we have worked closely with the TUC to build a modern, organising union and in turn we have strongly supported the organising culture explored by John Monks and others in the TUC. To suggest that barely a single union general secretary has done much to help Monks is to miss the point completely. Many unions now see modernisation and change as business as usual, so we don t need lectures about that.
We have worked pro-actively (despite some stern opposition from certain employers) to develop constructive relationships with the companies that employ our members. Our services complement rather than compete with our organising culture. For example, we have set up our own recruitment consultancy, Opus 2, and have now established a careers advice service with support from the Union Learning Fund. We champion e-democracy and new ways of participation. We organise workplace networks rather than branches. Our campaigns are always linked directly to the key issues facing our members and so pensions are high up our list of priorities as with many other unions in the TUC at the moment.
As I stated earlier, we are not unique. There may be specific unions that Mandelson was directing his comments towards. They probably know who they are and I m certain Mandelson has a clear view of who they are; so why tar us all with the same brush?
What we would appreciate is a little less generalised finger-wagging and a greater understanding from politicians that, although the media is prone to ignore the good news, there are many of us in the Labour movement who recognise and welcome the fact that trade unions are changing. Unions are responsive to their members, are embracing technological advance and are doing it effectively and quietly. Perhaps the real problem is that we are doing it too quietly.