General Council Report 2002: Chapter 12

General Council Report

• the regional dimension
• 12.1 Introduction
• 12.2 TUC Education
• 12.3 Regional reports
• 12.4 TUC Unemployed Workers’ Centres
• 12.5 Trades union councils

the regional dimension

12.1 Introduction

This chapter reports on action and organisation in the regions, including the TUC Regional Education Service, TUC Regional Councils, Trades Union Councils and Unemployed Workers Centres.

12.2 TUC Education

Over the past 12 months, TUC Education has been working to reposition itself as a twenty-first century service to affiliates, to raise its profile amongst key union stakeholders and to seek a secure funding base for trade union education within the public sector. The results so far have been positive - 2001 was the most successful year for TUC Education since 1989 with student numbers up by over 5 per cent. 2001 was also the year that brought a long-term agreement on support for trade union education through the Learning and Skills Council. It was the year in which the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) approved three new trade union qualifications. And it was the year in which 1,000 workplace reps pioneered their learning online through TUC Education.

Expanding the programme for union representatives - and ensuring that training is designed and delivered to meet the demands of the modern world of work - remains a top priority for the TUC. The relaunch year laid firm foundations for expansion and for flexible delivery.

The core programme

The TUC runs a fully accredited national education programme which offers training to more than one in eight of the UK’s 220,000 union workplace representatives each year. Course enrolments have risen significantly against the 2000 figure - student numbers up by 5.4 per cent, course numbers up by 8.3 per cent, the highest figures since 1989. This has been achieved despite continuing difficulties for trade union representatives in obtaining paid release and against a background of decline in heartland industries such as manufacturing. The figures for 2001 show a continuing and steady demand for the range of core courses, an expansion of tailored courses for individual affiliates and a developing learning representatives’ programme. The access programme continues to grow in popularity, particularly the Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health and the short course provision continues to attract a range of learners.

The progression routes the TUC has put in place are being developed and there has been an emphasis on the infrastructure of the programme with new college partnerships being formed and established partnerships refreshed. The accreditation of TUC courses is a continuing success with high rates of take up and achievement.

Short courses remain an important feature of the programme in supporting national TUC priorities and the work of affiliates, and there has been a large increase in the numbers of students attending them. A range of issues have been covered in these courses whose titles include the Employment Relations Act, Discipline, Grievance and the Right to be Accompanied, Data Protection, Winning the Organised Workplace, Asthma, Bodymapping, Union Improvement Notices, Violence at Work, Risk Assessment, Manual Handling, and Best Value. An emerging area of work is that of company-specific courses for union representatives and joint courses for union representatives and managers - one such example is the course developed for safety reps and managers in the quarrying industry.

TUC Education depends on partnerships and, during a time of limited resources and increasing demands, the long standing link with Colleges of Further Education and the Workers Educational Association have made it possible to maintain and extend the resource base for trade union education. Trade Union Studies Units are now at the heart of wider college structures with considerable mutual benefits and the TUC continues to enjoy positive professional relationships with College managers and tutors. TUC Education also makes a positive contribution to the work of Further Education. Grade 1 inspection results were achieved by several TUC units this year. The TUC wishes to record its appreciation of the significant contribution made by Colleges, the WEA, their staff and those trade unionists who serve on TUC Education Advisory Committees and regional Learning Services Task Groups in maintaining and developing TUC Education.

The TUC also wishes to record its appreciation to the National Open College Network (NOCN) for the work undertaken in partnership to ensure maintenance of quality.

The TUC continues to play an active role as a partner in the Employment National Training Organisation (Employment NTO, formerly EOSC). Trade union nominees on the Employment NTO Council are: John Lloyd (Amicus), Liz Rees (TUC) and Linda Kelly (TUC).

Funding of TUC Education

A new funding formula to support the work of TUC Education comes into effect in August 2002. The Secretary of State for Education and Skills has agreed that courses offered through TUC Education will be fees exempt, a formula which builds the programme into the structures of further education and ensures that TUC no longer needs to pass on commissioned course fees to affiliates.

Funding systems differ within the UK’s devolved structures and separate solutions are being pursued for Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Wales, agreement has been reached with the Welsh Assembly for a grant to cover fees and course support up to March 2003. Discussions about a longer term arrangement are taking place with Education and Learning in Wales (ELWa).

The new arrangements will open up opportunities for unions to access reps’ training and to expand to meet changing and growing needs. Work is in progress with individual unions to maximise the potential such support offers.

TUC Education Online

The prospect of delivering training to a generation of reps and potential reps unable to access classroom provision and to offer supplementary training to experienced union reps is fast becoming a reality with approximately 1,000 online learners working on union and TUC programmes since the first pilots in 2000. TUC learners can now work wholly or partly online to access the same accredited courses available in the classroom, and can do so from home, from work or from learning centres. Online versions of the full curriculum are available as well as a number of programmes tailored for individual unions. A new course, Working with Figures Online, will be available in 2002 and will showcase the online medium at its most useful.

TUC Education continues to use trade union education practitioners as curriculum developers to ensure continuity of approach with classroom methods and maintain the quality and credibility of the programme. Tutors undertake the Learning to Teach Online (LeTTOL) course run by The Sheffield College and the TUC Education Online Planning workshop.

Union reps choosing to learn online are drawn from across the spectrum. The majority are fulltime employees and almost a third of applicants to date are shift workers. Over one third come from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and around a quarter of applicants are women. Tackling Racism Online has been particularly successful, with nearly 300 reps undertaking the course, and the online function means that certificate level provision is available to reps in more remote locations where TUC Education would be unable to recruit a classroom course. Work is underway to capture some of this information along with research into how trade union learners work online. A report will be available in 2002. Further work on the structures to support online learners is taking place to consolidate developments to date.

Progression

For many thousands of working people, TUC Education is a passport to self confidence and new learning opportunities. According to TUC commissioned research, nearly four in ten of TUC Education participants left full-time education with no qualifications and eight in ten of them now felt confident to go on to further education and training.

The TUC offers two longer programmes of study, the Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health and the Certificate in Contemporary Trade Unionism. Both are accredited as access courses and reaccreditation was achieved this year. The Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has recognised the Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health as satisfying the academic requirements for entry to the Technician Safety Practitioner (TechSP) grade of IOSH membership, on a par with the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) Diploma Part 1. Since September 1999 when this route opened up, 259 safety reps have been admitted to IOSH by this route and several safety reps have gone on to achieve MIOSH, the graduate level award. A new Certificate in Employment Law is in development and will be launched in 2003.

New pathways for union representatives are opening up through a range of degree courses including a BA in Contemporary Trade Unionism (Middlesex University) which was developed in partnership with TUC Education. All offer access through TUC/NOCN accreditation and integration of early parts of the degree through the Certificate programme and modules are offered as minors in Business Studies degrees.

Winning the Organised Workplace

Organising is an important focus of TUC Education’s work, both through the integration

of Winning the Organised Workplace materials into the core programme and through short course provision for individual unions. WOW 2 is in development and is conceived as a bank of flexible, short session materials with comprehensive tutor notes. Central to the new concept is an organising toolkit online with a range of functions including recruitment materials, quiz, electronic postcard, powerpoint induction, organising jigsaw and collection of templates. Parts of the programme are being piloted as part of individual union organising campaigns and tutor training will be held early in 2003 in preparation for a launch in the spring.

Employment law

Work on reviewing TUC Education employment law provision is underway, including the development of a new Certificate programme which will reflect unions’ unique knowledge base and contribution in this area. Tutor training on the Data Protection Act and on the Human Rights Act will feed development of short modules as well as integration into the core programme.

Two courses were held to prepare applicants to Employment Tribunals through development of interview skills and the preparation of application and self-appraisal forms. These were attended by over 70 reps.

Equalities

Equality is a key theme integrated in all areas of the TUC Programme and with a particular focus on tutor development. It forms part of the external accreditation of TUC tutors and every opportunity is taken to mainstream equality issues within the programme as well as the more specific courses on race, gender, disability etc. One priority has been to step up action and initiatives on developing black tutors to build support for trade union education amongst black activists and members. To date, 91 black and ethnic minority trade union activists have been trained at Discussion Leader courses in Birmingham, Cardiff, Barnsley and London and a further 40 have progressed to the full Tutor Training course. Further programmes are planned over the next 12 months. Regional Education Officers and Course Co-ordinators are mentoring and supporting further development and experience.

In the light of the activities of far- right groups and the consequent disturbances in the North West, Yorkshire and other parts of the UK, TUC Education issued a guidance note for TUC tutors to support activities with union reps in combating racism and fascism at work and in the community as well as describing protocols for maintaining the integrity of union courses. Tutor training is focussing on the classroom approach to tackling racism to review and refresh where necessary. A note on personal security for TUC tutors is in preparation in consultation with the relevant unions.

TUC Education is a partner with the TUC Equal Rights Department in a pilot project to equip the trade union movement’s full-time and elected representatives with the awareness, confidence and skills to open discussions with employers and work in partnership to conduct equal pay reviews at the workplace. Over 300 workplace ‘equal pay champions’ have been trained along with 166 full time officers from 25 unions, making a practical contribution to Government’s drive to tackle unequal pay. An online version of the course programme will be available next year.

The TUC Education approach to equalities in the classroom and in materials development is being fundamentally considered through a series of tutor events and development workshops. Refreshing the approach is a priority, particularly in the areas where trade union intervention is less confident. New support materials for tutors are in development and a strategy for updating tutors is in place.

Health and Safety course development

'The findings (of the research) provide powerful evidence of the extent to which trade union training supports workplace activities and achievements of health and safety representatives. However it is likely that training does not simply support the continued existence of such achievement, but acts as a stimulus for their initiation and development'. Walters and Kirby, Training and Action in Health and Safety. January 2002 TUC Education provided training for 9,546 safety representatives this year and for a further 1,500 at Certificate level, an increase of over 2,500 on Congress year 2001. The priority for the next three years is building the next generation of safety reps as well as updating and upskilling the current generation.

New materials on asthma, body-mapping and union improvement notices (UIN) were

developed and courses were offered across the UK.

Funding has been secured to maintain the TUC Education Service’s Health and Safety website for a further year. It is designed to support the work of TUC tutors but is freely available to safety representatives on the main TUC website (www.tuc.org.uk). It contains up to date news, information and contacts, access to useful sites such as the HSE and the EU Health and Safety Agency, the full updated version of Hazards at Work online etc.

Training and Action in Health and Safety, an edited version of an HSE research project (by David Walters and Peter Kirby) on the impact of TUC Education on the workplace activity of health and safety representatives was published by the TUC.

Tutor development

Thirteen national tutor training courses were held in this Congress year, reaching a total of 186 tutors, considerably more than in previous years, reflecting TUC Education’s commitment to tutor development. 92 new tutors were brought into the Programme, including 17 black tutors through a dedicated course designed to make the tutor team more representative of the communities they serve. 42 per cent of those trained (78) are women. Development Opportunities for TUC Tutors offered a range of courses including Work-life Balance, Promoting Equality in the Classroom, Writing for the TUC, Globalisation, Health and Safety and Equal Pay.

Tutors have been acquiring skills in teaching online and are encouraged to take the LeTTOL course through The Sheffield College.

The union learning representative

TUC Education has a significant role in delivering the Learning Services agenda, in particular the training, supporting and standards setting for the union learning representative. The statistics for the year 2001 show that TUC Education trained 1,781 learning reps, an increase of 300 on the previous year. This indicates that the role of the learning rep is taking shape and becoming embedded in union reps’ core activities.

The TUC provides the following initial training modules for union learning representatives:

· front line advice and guidance

· identifying individuals learning needs

· working with employers

Representatives who complete and gain accreditation for at least two of these modules (including identifying individual learning needs) will - once they have successfully completed a workplace assignment - receive a TUC/NOCN, qualification at level three as a trade union learning representative. Follow on modules are also available.

Basic skills

TUC Education is an active partner in the EQUAL project and is working on two strands in particular to maximise the opportunities which the project affords to address basic skills needs. The first part of the project will screen TUC Education materials for basic skills awareness and as part of that process, a style guide, Writing for the TUC, is in preparation. In addition a framework and implementation plan is being developed on addressing the basic skills needs of union representatives on its training courses. The second part of the work involves developing appropriate guidance for TUC/Basic Skills college partnerships.

European partnerships

TUC Education continues to be involved in transnational work that reflects TUC priorities. It provides Trade Union Studies tutors for courses and projects organised through the European Trade Union College (ETUCO/AFETT) and for a range of projects in Central and Eastern Europe.

TUC Education manages a European Information project for Greater London, including the publication of a quarterly journal, The European Review, part-funded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

NOTE: Tables 1-5 can be found at the end of chapters 10-12, as a PDF file)

International work

Internationalism remains a key theme of much of the work of TUC Education and Target 2015, the international targets for the elimination of world poverty, will be themed throughout the provision during the coming year. The Department for International Development (DfID) is part-funding a project which will introduce all reps on TUC courses to the issues around Target 2015 by means of a workbook and a short action-based activity.

Trades Union Studies tutors continue to contribute to the work of the TUC European and International department and to that of the Commonwealth TUC through projects across the world.

12.3 Regional reports

Introduction

As in previous years, the regional agenda has continued to have an impact on the operation of the TUC. With the emergence of devolved assemblies, regional development agencies and local learning and skills councils, the TUC in the regions has been increasing its capacity to engage with regional decision-making. TUC regional offices have also supported the work of affiliated unions to recruit and organise new groups of workers and to build links with local communities. A number of regions this year have made a special focus of equalities issues.

Elected Regional Assemblies

In May 2002 the Government published its White Paper Your Region: Your Choice which progressed its manifesto commitment to legislate for directly elected regional assemblies in those regions that want them. The General Council in its response to the White Paper welcomed the commitment to elected regional assemblies as supported in Composite 17 passed at last year’s Congress. The response supported the principles set out in the composite of decentralising power to the lowest level and providing opportunities for joined-up government at local level to give citizens easier access to quality services.

Under the proposals, before an elected regional assembly is established in a region, a referendum must be held and a majority of those voting must be in favour of having an assembly. The Minister responsible will determine whether a referendum will be held after considering the public support

for one. The first referendums will be held in regions where there is sufficient interest in establishing assemblies, with the first one likely to be in the Northern Region. In practice, the Northern regional assembly could be up and running early in the next Parliament once the legislation has been introduced. The Northern Regional Council, with the support of the TUC nationally, has been developing a strategy which includes maximising public support for a referendum and campaigning for an emphatic ‘yes’ vote in a referendum (see Regional Council report). A major national TUC event in the North East is being planned in spring to launch such a campaign.

The General Council very much welcomed the recognition that unions will be key regional stakeholders and that they should be involved within the structure of an elected assembly. The General Council took the view that unions should have a statutory right to such involvement in an assembly’s decision-making machinery. They have consulted unions and regional councils on how this could be secured. The TUC is working closely with its regional councils, especially the Northern Regional Council, on developing a model for stakeholder involvement and a seminar to discuss the issue with the responsible Cabinet Office minister is planned.

The General Council supported the White Paper’s recommendation that the assemblies should have specific responsibilities for drawing up and delivering strategies for key policy areas including economic development; skills and employment; transport; planning and housing. In doing this, an assembly would have direct responsibility for the Regional Development Agency and directly influence other relevant quangos.

The Government has indicated that before any referendum, there will first be an independent review of local government structures to recommend the most effective wholly unitary local government structure in the region. The General Council have indicated to the Government that the unions representing staff in local authorities would need to be fully consulted in this process.

The General Council have continued their dialogue on devolution and on cross-border issues with the Scottish TUC, Irish Congress of Trade Unions and Wales TUC. The annual meeting of representatives of the national union centres was held in Glasgow in January and this was preceded by a discussion with the First Minister for Scotland.

Regional Development Agencies

The White Paper also signalled greater freedom and flexibility for Regional Development Agencies

(RDAs). The General Council welcomed this approach. In particular, the TUC has been pressing the Government to strengthen the role of RDAs in regional economic policy, particularly in relation to manufacturing policy (see chapter three). The February White Paper Opportunities for All set out a number of common priorities for RDAs. From April 2002, the RDAs have been given more direct control on activities outside the remit of central government programmes. Although their budgets have been increased, the direct budgets of the RDAs are still relatively small in relation to regional GDP. The General Council argued that there was a need for a 25 per cent increase as part of the Third Spending Review. The Spending Review went some way towards this by increasing expenditure by 4.5 per cent a year in real terms to 2005-6.

The General Council has stressed the need for RDAs not to be perceived as just the voice of business in the regions. They need to do more to develop a social partnership approach if they are to meet both employment and community needs. Union members of RDA Boards are promoting this approach with support from the TUC. There are already three TUC Regional Council/RDA projects on social partnership capacity building (see regional council reports). The TUC report Half the World Away: making regional development work highlighted some very effective union partnerships with RDAs which are helping to tackle economic and social disparities between and within regions. A TUC seminar was held between unions and the Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury and the DTI to discuss the main findings in the report.

TUC Regional Consultative Meeting

In December, a consultative meeting of Regional Council Chairs and TUC regional officers took place to map out key themes and priorities for the year ahead. The meeting also discussed the Pre-Budget Report, developments around Learning and Skills Councils and New Unionism campaigns and priorities.

Midlands

The TUC continues to have a member on the boards of both the East Midlands Development Agency and Advantage West Midlands. 2001 saw the establishment of the Learning and Skills Council and its local arms, and the TUC was successful in achieving representation on every local LSC in the Midlands. The TUC also has representation on Rapid Response task groups and the Regional Council is represented on both East and West Midlands Regional Assemblies. The TUC has continued to press the case for manufacturing at every opportunity including meetings with Members of Parliament from the East and West Midlands.

The Midlands TUC was honoured to receive Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress of Ghana during his visit to the midlands during September 2001.

Equality

In 2001 and 2002 significant work was delivered in the field of tackling racism. This included developing strong partnerships with the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and with local Race Equality Councils (RECs). Work centred around producing an agreement on how Racial Discrimination cases should be handled where more than one agency was involved, and the production of a prompt card for shop stewards. This led to the signing in March 2002 of a protocol - entitled ‘Seamless Representation’ - which detailed the steps needed to ensure that union members receive the best service possible when pursuing racial discrimination cases. The protocol was produced following extensive consultation with unions the RECs and the CRE.

The production of the prompt card reflected the concern that shop stewards may need further support when faced with a case of race discrimination. The cards were designed to prompt stewards into asking a series of questions when dealing with a potential case of race discrimination. Some 19 affiliates in the Midlands customised the cards by having their own contact details and logo included. The reverse side of the card included the TUC, CRE and RECs logos showing the support for the cards from all the major partner organisations that deal with racial discrimination. The cards were launched across the region at various union and TUC events. In all 86,000 cards were produced in 24 different versions.

The launches received good coverage in the press and on regional radio. Articles advertising the launches were also submitted to a number of trade union journals.

As part of the continuing work on discrimination issues, The TUC in the Midlands produced a series of posters and advice leaflets on sex, disability and race discrimination. The TUC was invited to speak about its partnership work by the East Midlands Regional Local Government Association and by the GMB Midlands and East Coast Region and these commitments were honoured in September 2001.

The Women’s Committee held its annual seminar on International Women’s Day in March at Walsall Town Hall on the themes of work/life balance and domestic violence awareness. The event included stalls from unions and local women’s groups and entertainment was provided for parents and for children. The event attracted a high number of women including many from the locality who had not previously participated in union events.

For the second successive year the TUC exhibited at Birmingham Pride over the Bank Holiday weekend in June. The first steps have also been taken towards establishing a network for gay and lesbian trade union members across the Midlands.

Union City

Summer 2002 saw the pilot Union City campaign held in Leicester and launched at a reception at the Leicester Tigers Rugby Football ground by Tony Burke, Deputy General Secretary of the GPMU. The Midlands TUC, in conjunction with Congress House, organised a series of events to mark the campaign including conferences on information, consultation and union recognition; partnerships against racism; and organising and learning. Leicester Trades Union Council hosted an event on health and safety and ran a street stall in Leicester City centre. The TUC took out a series of billboard and bus shelter advertisements using the strap line ‘Unions are winning for you at work’. Unions and the TUC had stalls at Leicester Pride and the Leicester Mela festival, distributing leaflets and free skimmers advertising the TUC ‘Know your rights’ line and encouraging festival goers to join an appropriate union. Individual unions ran specific recruitment campaigns including a joint GPMU and NUJ campaign at the Leicester Mercury; and Unifi at a Barclays call centre while Amicus highlighted its equal pay campaign in Leicester (see chapter ten).

Education

The Education Service in the Midlands has re-launched two centres at Sandwell and in Shrewsbury, both being opened by the general secretary. These events were supported by many unions and partner organisations which took the opportunity to exhibit at the launches.

Northern Region

The TUC in the Northern Region has undertaken a wide range of work in the last 12 months on a range of core issues including public services, equalities and the continued economic regeneration of the North East and Cumbria.

Equality

The TUC in the Northern Region celebrated 2002 as its year of equality, under the banner of ‘All Different, All Equal’. The year of equality saw the launch of two important publications focussing on women at work in the region. The first, Women at work: gender inequality in the North East Labour Market, was published in February and launched at a high profile press event with speakers including Barbara O’Toole MEP. The report revealed that 37 per cent of women at work in the North East felt that they had experienced discrimination at work because of their sex; and that only five per cent of women in the North East work in higher managerial or professional occupations, compared with 13 per cent of men.

A conference examining health and safety for women at work, was held to celebrate International Women’s Day, one of a series of events organised by the region’s Health and Safety Forum.

Unions: Working for Women in the North East was launched at the ‘All Different, All Equal’ conference held in Newcastle in March 2002. Speakers at this event included the Government Chief Whip, Rt Hon Hilary Armstrong MP.

Another key aspect of the year of equality was the continued development of the region’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Network. This network, based around a committed group of lay activists, published a range of campaign materials and organised a TUC presence at the Pride on the Tyne festival.

The regional TUC also published an All Different, All Equal rights card, containing contact details for advice on equality issues.

Importantly, the regional TUC also continued to work closely with groups such as the Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Association, to monitor and counter the British National Party’s recent attempts to gain an electoral foothold in the North East.

Economy

The TUC continues to be a key player in the development of the regional economy. Four highlights illustrate the sort of work that the TUC has been doing in this area over the last year. Firstly, the TUC helped to initiate and organise the North East Manufacturing Summit in November 2001, which attracted over 150 trade unionists, business representatives and policy makers. John Monks was one of the keynote speakers at this event and combined his visit to the North East with a visit to Electrolux in County Durham, where the TUC is working with Amicus and plant managers on a range of lifelong learning initiatives.

Secondly, the regional TUC has also played an important role in the development of the Newcastle/Gateshead bid to become European City of Culture in 2008. With the support of the Newcastle-Gateshead Initiative the regional TUC commissioned a report, Bread & Roses, which set out the contribution that unions make to the social and cultural life of the region.

The TUC has continued to take an active interest in the development of directly elected assemblies in the English Regions. The Northern TUC published a report in September 2001, Devolution and the trade union movement, which set out the key issues for unions in the move toward the creation of directly elected assemblies.

The creation of a regional ‘Learning For All’ fund worth £500,000 a year, and funded by the regional Learning and Skills Councils, has allowed a greater number of unions to develop learning opportunities for their members. The regional TUC education service continues to go from strength to strength, with new centres opening, and large increases in student numbers. All of this has been underpinned by the involvement of unions through the regional Education, Learning and Skills Forum.

New structures

In April 2002, the Regional Council agreed far-reaching changes to the way that the Northern TUC is structured and organised. These changes will be fully implemented in the coming year.

April 2002 also saw a change in regional staff. Paul Nowak, the Regional Secretary, was appointed the New Unionism Project Director, and was replaced in August 2002 by Kevin Rowan. In addition, a new regional policy officer, funded by regional development agency One NorthEast, was appointed to help unions play a role in the delivery of the regional economic strategy.

North West

There were four broad priorities for the TUC’s work in the North West over the last 12 months. These were the regional agenda, organising, learning and skills and tackling racism. A new structure for the region was also successfully launched.

Regional agenda

A number of briefings and training sessions were arranged during the year for representatives on European programme bodies and the TUC was represented at the majority of meetings of the Objective 1 Monitoring Committee and the Objective 2/3 Regional Committee.

The TUC has been represented in the North West Regional Assembly and has played a part in the work of the Economic and Social Partners Group, as well as supporting the work of the Constitutional Convention. Information on the work of the North West Development Agency (NWDA) has been regularly distributed and the Regional Secretary is a member of the Board.

The TUC has secured support from the NWDA and the Regional Assembly, for a project on trades union and the North West Economy to prepare for the revision of the Regional Strategy and the preparation of the Framework for Regional Skills and Employment Action.

Modernisation of the National Health Service has been a high profile issue. The TUC in the North West has supported health unions in seeking to influence practise in the Region. The TUC is represented on the Regional Modernisation Advisory Board and helped to co-ordinate the union input to the regional discussions on staff matters arising from the current reorganisation.

Organising

In the North West, the TUC has held two meetings of the Youth Network and contacted a range of union organisers and facilitated some involvement in activities amongst students.

The safety reps’ network now has over 2000 reps involved. Four events have been held; a regular newsletter has been circulated; and the network participated in the national Hazards Conference. A partnership has been developed to look at health and safety in call centres.

The North West TUC is undertaking a pilot project that links a local Early Years Partnership with a trade union education unit and union reps to undertake training and engage with their employers. Through the Women’s Committee a successful event was held on Women in Public Life.

Learning and skills

The TUC has a learning reps’ network of over 600 in the North West. A North West TUC Learning and Skills Forum has been established to bring together trades union representatives on Learning and Skills Councils (LSCs) and related bodies, affiliates and county associations of trades union councils, union education officers and senior tutors.

The TUC has been involved in the NWDA sponsored Campaign for Learning and the North West TUC Learning Services work received recognition in the Campaign’s first set of best practise awards. The TUC is also involved in a region wide Skills Festival in the run up to the national skill show, Skills City, that will be held this year in the North West region.

Tackling racism

Responding to the problems in Oldham and Burnley and in the votes gained by the far right BNP, the TUC supported the work of Oldham United Against Racism and the Oldham Trades Unions Against Racism and Fascism group and held meetings with trades unions and trades union council representatives in Burnley. The TUC played a significant role in the launch of the Coalition Against Racism, with a rally in Oldham attended by over 400 people, and its subsequent work.

New structures

Considerable activity has been undertaken in planning and preparing for the new structures. These have included establishing the web site, holding special meetings to discuss the needs of black, disabled, lesbian and gay members particularly in relation to the organising of the first Annual Conference of the TUC in the North West. The Conference attracted some 200 delegates, exhibitors and visitors. Guest speakers included TUC President Sir Tony Young; Minister for the Regions, Nick Raynsford; Joan Humble, Secretary of the North West Group of Labour MPs; and Mohamed Azam, from the Coalition Against Racism.

Southern and Eastern

Organising

The Southern and Eastern TUC (SERTUC) has undertaken a range of activities to promote the organising culture. These have included seminars to examine the factors that determine success in organising campaigns and exploring the organising potential of the learning agenda. The SERTUC conference on community unionism was attended by more than 130 delegates. SERTUC also led a ‘Defend Yourself - Join a Union’ campaign in the construction industry, with the support of the GMB, MSF, T&G and UCATT.

Employment rights

SERTUC has also been active in ensuring that workers understand and use their new employment rights and has worked to ensure that Congress policy on employment rights is achieved in full. With UNISON, SERTUC urged the Mayor of London to adopt a ‘fair wages clause’ for use in contract relationships for purchasing external services. The ‘clause’ has been successfully introduced and hopefully provides an exemplar that will become best practice for other public service employers.

Black workers

Sixty per cent of black trade unionists in Britain live and work in the SERTUC region and their interests will always be a priority for the TUC. To meet their needs, SERTUC and the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR) jointly organised a conference in memory of Stephen Lawrence to monitor the progress made towards the elimination of institutional racism. SERTUC has partly funded a long-term research programme that is designed to study the success of organising strategies and how they specifically relate to black workers. SERTUC also organised a Black History Month event in October at which Claude Moraes MEP delivered a lecture on the theme of ‘The contribution of black workers to the development of trade unionism in Britain’. This was followed by a reception featuring music and poetry. The event was attended by some 200 trade unionists. SERTUC has agreed that Black History Month will be a regular feature in its annual programme of work.

Tackling racism

To celebrate diversity, tolerance and the massive contribution of black people and black cultures to life in London, SERTUC, in partnership with trade unions, the Mayor of London and NAAR, organised the Respect Festival 2002 in Victoria Park. This family event was attended by even more than the 60,000 people that attended the 2001 festival and was widely regarded as an immense success. The event built on the ‘respect’ brand that the TUC established in the 1990s and provides a major platform for trade unions to demonstrate their positive role at work and in the community.

Together with Searchlight Educational Trust, SERTUC organised a conference to analyse the performance of the British National Party at the local elections, to recognise the historic role trade unions have had in opposing fascism and to continue to build trade unions’ contribution to the struggle against the ongoing threat.

Public services

SERTUC organised a major conference in defence of public services with a view to strengthening joint campaigning between trade unions and community campaigns. The conference was addressed by several general secretaries as well as lay activists and spokespeople from community campaigns. At the conference we launched the SERTUC ‘Public Services Charter’. The dangers to workers and passengers resulting from privatisation and fragmentation of the rail industry were, regrettably, again demonstrated by the Potters Bar accident. The Regional Council has continued to oppose the proposed Public Private Partnership for the refurbishment of the London Underground and has sought to lobby the Government and to explain its objections.

Regional governance

SERTUC has continued to work very closely with the Mayor of London and has worked increasingly closely with the Greater London Assembly, liaising with Assembly Members, giving evidence to Scrutiny Inquiries and contributing to standing policy commissions. As such, London provides a working model for regional governance in other English regions as proposed in the White Paper, Your Region: Your Choice.

A joint project with the South East England Development Agency to promote regional social dialogue has made an impact with employers and trade unions. With the London Development Agency, SERTUC has established a capacity building project and appointed an economic development liaison officer for London. These projects demonstrate that Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) have recognised the contribution trade unions are making, and can increasingly make, to the achievement of a better quality of life for all through the design of better regional strategy and the successful implementation of regional policy.

The relevance and strength of the trade union voice has been demonstrated by the TUC’s success in persuading the RDAs for London, the South East and the East of England, that the future of manufacturing is crucial to the health of regional economies. Each RDA had a senior speaker at the SERTUC manufacturing conference. The conference was also addressed by Alan Johnson, Minister of State at the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) and John Monks. At the conference SERTUC launched its Manufacturing Strategy which has informed RDA negotiations with the DTI in regard to the manufacturing sector and the more than 1.1 million manufacturing jobs in the region.

South West

Equality

In the South West the TUC continues to push the campaign for equal opportunities and has promoted the idea of a new body to support representative networks and promote equal opportunities as a driver to boost business and social inclusion in the South West.

A successful Black Discussion Leaders Workshop was held to develop potential tutors. TUC Education materials have been reviewed to avoid stereotyping and to promote equality on all courses.

To help mainstream equal opportunities the RDA leads a project managed by the South West TUC. The project has run a series of focused conferences and events along with offering training and advice. Regular newsletters and promotional work has been well received throughout the South West.

A new self-organised group, Unions Out West, has been formed to bring together union members who want to campaign for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers. Unions Out West has been meeting with the support of the South West TUC and has produced a new leaflet inviting lesbian and gay workers to join a union.

A new group is being formed to promote the rights of disabled people at work. Supported by the Regional Council, the committee will highlight the needs of disabled people across the South West.

The South West TUC Women’s Committee, chaired by Margaret Petts, organised a workshop on lone working in Swindon. Julia Drown MP, Hope Daley, UNISON Safety Officer and Nicole Vazquez from the Suzy Lamplugh Trust informed women of the dangers of working alone and measures to reduce the risks involved.

A well-attended event in Exeter looked at the practical steps unions can take to improve the balance between work and home life. This conference heard from a range of speakers including Jo Morris, Senior TUC Policy Officer, and Carole Maye of the Government’s Work-Life Balance team. Case studies and workshops looked in detail at the examples across the South West where unions and employers have worked hard to get the balance better.

Fair trade

The South West TUC is working closely with Oxfam in the South West and hopes to raise awareness of issues such as global trade and fair trade products. Rt. Hon Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development, recently launched a new initiative by the South West T&G who have committed themselves to promoting Fair Trade products.

A debate was held on the Euro in Bristol. John Monks joined Ruth Kelly, Treasury Minister, Tony Shepherd, Chair of South West in Europe and Sir Michael Lickiss, Chair of South West RDA.

Learning and skills

South West Union Learning Services is linking together a growing network of Learning Representatives. As the number of reps grow there will be more need to provide local support systems. The Dorset Network is helping to share good practice and keep reps up to date with learning ideas and opportunities.

Cornwall TUC Learning Services, using Objective 1 funds, has helped workers from actors in Equity to china clay workers, bus drivers, printers and engineering workers.

The Union Learning Fund has helped unions raise learning as a core part of their work. There have been several projects in the South West including the GPMU’s Sight Project, Xerox and the USDAW Deliver Project at Wincanton Distribution in Gloucestershire.

The South West TUC held a conference for union delegates to consider the priority issues to develop the food and drink sector. It provided a showcase for good practice in developing skills and raising productivity. The RDA presented their work in promoting the sector and John Monks spoke of the need to harness the full potential of people and for employers to recognise the workers’ contribution. Workshops on safety issues and globalisation were held along with a discussion on the use and often exploitation of migrant workers in the sector.

Economy

In the South West the TUC supported unions in their protests against Xerox who announced the transfer of work to a contract manufacturer in the Czech Republic with the loss of hundreds of jobs in the Forest of Dean. The unions supported the sale of the Mitcheldean site to a local industrialist who hopes to win new companies and jobs to the area.

The loss of skills from Westlands, Rolls Royce and other advanced engineering firms was a particularly heavy blow. Some came as a response to the 11 September attacks and collapse in air travel. The South West TUC called for a more long term approach to jobs and skills rather than the roller-coaster ride of skill shortages and redundancies.

The region was especially hard hit by the Foot and Mouth crisis. Anthony Gibson, Regional Officer of the National Farmers Union spoke to last year’s South West TUC Annual Conference on the impact of the disease and several unions had members closely involved as the emergency unfolded.

Wales TUC Cymru

The past 12 months have provided the Wales TUC with a number of challenges and opportunities. Publicity about manufacturing job losses and the proud steadfastness of Friction Dynamex workers in their dispute over employment and trade union rights at their Caernarfon factory has clearly shone a light on the darker side of Wales’ industrial landscape. There have, however, been many notable successes in equalities, partnership and lifelong learning. Wales TUC has also provided detailed responses to some 20 National Assembly consultations on subjects as diverse as public finances, economic development, transport and housing.

Equalities

The Wales TUC has placed great store on putting equality into a mainstream and sustainable context. Its high profile equal pay campaign with the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) and the EOC aims to close the gender pay gap in Wales. Launched across Wales, Close the Gap aims to close the 13 per cent pay gap between men and women in Wales; promote co-operation between key partners such as employers, trade unions and enterprise bodies to achieve the campaign’s objectives and encourage employers to conduct pay reviews to identify and correct any pay inequalities. Wales TUC expects to train hundreds of workplace representatives across Wales this year to push equal pay up the bargaining agenda.

A rule change has brought reserved black and ethnic minority representation onto the Wales TUC General Council for the first time. The Race Equality Committee once again organised a very successful Challenging Racism Conference in Cardiff. A forum of the Wales TUC, the Disability Rights Commission and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has been set up to provide a round table for disability issues between unions and employers in Wales. The Wales TUC is also committed to an over-arching equalities forum encompassing representation from women, disabled members, gay and lesbian and ethnic minority members.

Partnership

Wales TUC has continued to campaign on the benefits of social partnership, not least within the workplace. The workplace partnership agenda informed debate during the National Assembly’s Economic Development Strategy consultation. The strategy, re-launched as ‘A Winning Wales’ now recommends the workplace partnership agenda. This agenda was moved forward with a major partnership event organised by the Wales TUC. The event was attended by Welsh Assembly Ministers, business organisations and the Welsh Development Agency and was chaired by the Secretary of State for Wales, Paul Murphy. Wales TUC has also sought to work with a wide range of social partners in helping to utilise the major European funding streams. WAG also recognised that it needed to do more to fulfil its statutory obligation to consult with social partners such as trade unions and business organisations. The Wales Social Partners Unit, jointly managed by the Wales TUC, CBI, Federation of Small Businesses, the Engineering Employers’ Federation and Chambers of Commerce is now assisting us to support trade unions throughout Wales to have an even greater impact on the WAG.

Lifelong learning

Lifelong learning has formed the third key priority in the Wales TUC programme of work. The WAG has been clearly appreciative of the growing importance of the ways in which the trade union movement is promoting and delivering workplace learning and has been highly supportive of our work in these areas. The WAG has doubled the amount of money it makes available to trade unions through the Wales Union Learning Fund and is currently discussing with us the future objectives and funding requirements of Wales TUC Learning Services. There has been a marked increase in the number of workplaces and individuals who have been involved in union brokered learning initiatives supported by Wales TUC Learning Services. During the past 12 months the Wales TUC has trained over 110 Learning Representatives, worked with 100 companies, given advice guidance and support to over 6,500 individuals and in partnership with unions brokered additional workplace learning opportunities for around 400 people.

The Wales TUC has been particularly successful in facilitating basic skills provision with 120 people accessing courses in workplaces across Wales. By promoting the TUC Education Service in Wales, which is now separately funded by the WAG, there has been an increase in the number of unions that the Service is working with. The WAG funding enables us to fund course provision that meets the needs of unions in Wales on an individual basis. The TUC Education Service in Wales, will continue to work with unions to maximise the opportunities for union representatives to access training and education.

Yorkshire and Humber

Tackling Racism

During the last year there have been worrying trends in some of the region’s city centres. While there has been rioting in the past, and this in itself is of concern, this year there has been a new more organised attempt by the far right to turn fears into election advantage. The TUC in Yorkshire and the Humber worked hard with the public sector unions, particularly UNISON, to make sure that members of the local community understood the consequences of voting for the far right.

John Monks visited Bradford as part of a tour of some of the northern cities and was well received by young people and activists. The Regional TUC is now planning to build on this by organising a conference in the Autumn that will include a wide range of groups.

The TUC also ensured that the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward has funded some work being organised by Bradford Trades Union Council in the communities to counter racism, and is currently trying to find trade union funding for further work in schools.

Regional governance

The Regional TUC continues to be represented on the board of Yorkshire Forward. The work that the TUC has done on racism in the region has been partly funded by Yorkshire Forward, as has its work on training. A major ongoing activity at the moment is the review of Yorkshire Forward’s Regional Economic Strategy. The Regional Executive has met with officers of Yorkshire Forward to review the strategy.

Yorkshire Forward is also engaged in the Framework for an Economic and Skills Agenda, and the Regional TUC is represented on its Design Group. The purpose of this initiative is to pull together at regional level the Economic and skills policies to stimulate growth in the region’s economy.

In Yorkshire and the Humber, the TUC is represented on the Regional Assembly. The possibility of a directly elected assembly in the region has created the need for unions in the region to consider their response. The loss of the North Yorkshire Council will involve unions in protecting their members interests while the broader movement will wish to ensure that it is adequately represented as a key partner in any new assembly.

Europe

Over 200 trade unionists attended a meeting in the Leeds Civic Hall in February to listen to a high profile panel including Ed Balls and Baroness Williams.

A further extension of activity in Europe was the visit to Strasbourg by region. This visit coincided with the March sessions of the European Parliament giving the delegation the opportunity to lobby Labour MEPs.

12.4 TUC Unemployed Workers’ Centres

In the past year, despite persistent difficulties in fund-raising, Unemployed Workers’ Centres have still been responsible for a remarkable range of services and campaigns for unemployed and other socially excluded people.

As always, Congress House was the venue for the Centres’ Annual Conference, which, in 2001, was held on 18 October, and chaired by Marge Carey, of the General Council. There were speeches from the general secretary, and from Tony Monks of the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed, Dave Simmonds of the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion. A new edition of the Directory of Unemployed Workers’ Centres was launched on the day of the conference, and the two events succeeded in winning significant coverage in local news media.

For many of the delegates, the most important session was probably a discussion on fund-raising. Centres are more experienced and increasingly effective in diversifying their funding sources, but maintaining their incomes is still difficult. Continuing relatively high overall employment is obviously welcome, but this has the paradoxical effect of making it harder to raise funds to provide support for the thousands of people who still need their help.

Most centres were established in the early 1980s by trades union councils and local union campaigns as a response to rising unemployment. Although the TUC established guidelines at that time, the way in which centres developed in response to local needs has resulted in a very diverse network. This diversity is reflected in the geographical coverage of centres - at present the TUC recognises 71 Unemployed Workers’ Centres, which are far from being evenly spread about the country.

Number of Unemployed Workers Centres by regions

Midlands region 9

Northern region 7

North West region 17

Southern and Eastern region 20

South West region 2

Yorkshire and Humber region 5

Scottish TUC 10

Wales TUC 2

Even within regions there can be significant differences - there are 20 centres in the Southern and Eastern region, for instance, but none of these are in London. With this huge variety, it is difficult to summarise the work of centres across the country, but a few examples can illustrate the range of work done by UWCs:

· In Blackpool, the centre estimates that the help it provided with social security claims and appeals boosted the local economy by nearly £900,000 in 2001/2.

· The Chesterfield centre has been campaigning against JSA sanctions. This campaign was prompted by two pilot projects, one imposing benefit sanctions on claimants who fail to attend literacy classes, and the other on people breaking community service orders. The centre, working in association with Napo, produced information papers, held public meetings, and lobbied officials, illustrating the centres’ mission to influence policy, as well as provide services.

· At the Cleveland centre, thousands of trade unionists and unemployed people have taken part in their computer courses, including telematics, PC Maintenance, Keyboarding skills and Computer Literacy.

· ‘Advice Rights’, in Nuneaton, offers a unique website (www.advicerights.fsnet.co.uk) with online advice and information on unfair dismissal, redundancy rights, wrongful dismissal, working time, bullying, health and safety, the national minimum wage, discrimination, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Income Support and Maternity Grants.

· In the East Midlands, the Nottinghamshire Trade Union Safety Committee is in effect the health and safety arm of the Mansfield centre, offering a range of health and safety services to community groups and individuals. The Committee runs seminars, training and information sessions and offers a basic screening service. Including audiometric and lung function testing, this service has helped hundreds of workers, with three quarters then going forward to make civil or social security claims. And the benefits are not confined to individual workers - businesses (mainly small companies) have incorporated the tests into their own health screening programmes.

The people who deliver these services and campaigns are both full-time employees and volunteers drawn from across the trade union movement. They win unions a great deal of credit from other service organisations and - even more importantly - unemployed and other socially excluded people themselves.

12.5 Trades union councils

There are 148 trades union councils and 24 county associations registered in the TUC’s directory of councils. Over the last 12 months, the Trades Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee (TUCJCC) has made revitalising trades union councils one of its main priorities.

Throughout the year the TUC has continued to distribute the leaflet orginally launched at the 2000 Conference to promote affiliations to trades union councils. The Committee has continued to consider the problems experienced by many trade union councils of declining affiliations from trades unions. The publicity leaflet was produced to explain the modern role of trades union councils stressing their unique position as the community arm of the trade union movement as well as their continuing role to co-ordinate vital joint union campaigning and solidarity.

In January a Directory of registered trades union councils and county associations was circulated to all trades union council and county association secretaries. This contains contact details of trades union councils and county association secretaries by region and lists the members of the Trades Union Councils’ Joint Consultative Committee. This Directory has also been circulated to affiliated unions through the TUC MAIL, encouraging union branches to affiliate to their local trades union council.

To help trades union councils in their local campaigning, the TUCJCC produced a leaflet entitled Racism at Work for use by trades union councils. The leaflet was distributed through TUCJCC reps and TUC regional offices. The leaflet asked: 'Is there racial bullying or discrimination in your workplace?' and suggested that workers suffering discrimination contact their union workplace representative, their union equality officer at head office, or ring the TUC’s Know your rights line on 0870 600 4 882 for help. The leaflet contains ten different languages through which readers are invited to join a union. The languages are: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu, and Welsh.

This year’s Annual Conference took place in Cardiff. Guest speakers included Sir Tony Young, President of the TUC, Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary and Rhodri Morgan, First Minister for Wales. There were also specific sessions on the subject of challenging racism and on encouraging women’s participation in trades union councils. As last year provision was made for additional black and young delegates, building on the current positive action arrangements for women.

As in previous years, the General Council have agreed to allocate £20,000 from the TUC Development Fund to provide for grants to be awarded to trades union councils or county associations to undertake activities in accordance with the Programme of Work. This money is distributed to TUC Regional Council offices on a formula which incorporates a fixed sum per region and a proportion based on union membership as indicated by the Labour Force Survey. Key campaign priorities include: community unionism, rights at work, health and safety, racism and fascism, public services and re-building trades union council organisation.