It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, a phrase that perfectly encapsulates my feelings towards Unions21 hosting a parliamentary discussion space less than a week after public sector strike action. Against a backdrop of Tory hostility and opposition frontbench derisions of ‘failure’, what is the future for trade unions?
We will be there to highlight the work unions do (outside of industrial action). To share positive stories from some of our young members and to emphasize the success of hundreds of thousands of members who are involved in learning opportunity delivered through their unions every year. But we’re also there to be pragmatic; unions don’t have a future if they are seen as being insular or ineffective. The concerns of union members, working people in both the public and private sector are not alien to the political agenda; sustainable pensions, tackling unemployment, increased skills and training, fairness in the workplace, strong public services.
To engage passing MPs with our exhibition we have created a message wall on which we are asking ‘What do unions mean to you?’ Most union members would easily be able to characterise trade unionism as a movement for justice, fairness and social change motivated by collectivism. Many would also detail the positive things unions do in the workplace, including negotiating with employers over pay and conditions, representing workers in grievance and disciplinary procedures, providing training sessions. So just where are these messages going? At the end of this week I doubt that our wall will be filled with such encouraging bon mots from our parliamentarians. We’ve built our negotiating table, I hope MPs get around it and I look forward to reporting back to you at the end of the week.
Jenny Simms is director of Unions21, the trade union thinktank
is this a stupid question but … is there anything unions can do about companies going to China to employ workers for £200 per month instead of using workers here ( our min wage £6 per hour ? so £240 per week) £
China has some of the most modern up to date advanced factories in the world. Britain has slave factories in the back streets of Manchester Liverpool, paying well below the Min wage.
Yes China can make things for less money, but of course the living wage in China will be a lot lower then here, no good looking at the UK and saying we cannot make things cheap enough with modern machinery we could, sadly we are way behind Japan and China.
I think we have moved away from our head in the sand attitude where western workers were o.k but let the rest of the world starve.On clothing in the future we may have to go back to the past of less but better quality.Seeing someonwe go round Primark with a trolley , as if clothing was like baked beans was depressing.And we are also forgetting £6 in China is a lot more than in the U.K.So China needs to look at its low and false exchange rate. Unions need to work towards building an emotional bond with members thats as strong as some have with their football clubs.We probaly cant fully go back to the workshop of the world but train up for the future.