Chapter 1 - the Millennial Challenge

Chapter 1: Millennial Challenge

1.1 Introduction

The advent of the new millennium and the arrival of new employment legislation made the summer of 1999 an appropriate time for British trade unionism to begin an examination of how we might meet the challenges of a new era that would certainly be different from any we had previously known and which offered far more potential than the immediate past.

It was on this basis that the General Council undertook the Millennial Challenge exercise which is reported in this chapter. It began in May with a document setting out the background and posing questions which unions were asked to address. It continued with a conference of senior officers and the discussion will now go on at Congress and at the autumn special meeting of the General Council, to which all general secretaries have been invited.

The chapter begins by noting one aspect of the changing environment, the welcome affiliation of four new unions to the to the TUC and a significant merger.

1.2 Affiliations and amalgamations

During the course of the year four new affiliates were accepted into membership of the TUC. They were: the Alliance and Leicester Group Union (January); the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (January); the Association of Educational Psychologists (April); and the Britannia Staff Union (July).

In May, BIFU and Unifi merged and together with the previously non-affiliated Nat West Staff Association formed the new union UNIFI.

1.3 Consultation Paper

In May, the General Council considered a document British Trade Unionism - The Millennial Challenge. The document identified a range of issues which the General Council would need to address in order to equip trade unionism for the new age. Some issues were long term, in that they addressed fundamental questions on, for example, the current structure of unions. Others were short term, as they addressed issues which needed swift resolution, such as how to ensure that applications under the new statutory union recognition scheme did not result in greater tensions between unions. These issues were looked at in the context of evidence that in 47 per cent of UK workplaces there were no union members and in only two per cent of workplaces were all employees union members. In small companies (ten - 24 employees), the major growth sector of the British economy, only one in five had a single union member present. Just over half of those workplaces which had existed for ten years or more recognised unions; in newer workplaces the figure was just over a quarter. Workplace union representatives existed in 64 per cent of workplaces where unions were recognised. In a number of cases these representatives only had limited rights in respect of issues such as individual grievances.

The Government's new employment legislation would provide exciting newopportunities for growth and development provided these were handled in an orderly and professional manner. The document looked at the world of work in 2010 to see what sort of trade union movement might be appropriate. It addressed the issue of building an organising culture and building campaigns to support this.

The document looked at specific issues, such as how to handle inter-union issues. Various options were explored, including a 'knock for knock' approach, in which unions would accept that they may lose members to another union on one occasion, and gain some elsewhere. The TUC needed to be able to respond more swiftly where a dispute was referred to the office. It was suggested that a network of key union officers could be established, with a particular remit to monitor applications to the CAC under the statutory recognition procedure. The TUC should promote bilateral agreements between unions wherever possible. The issue of remedies for genuinely aggrieved unions needed further thought. The TUC should also revise its Disputes Principles and Procedures to take account of the new statutory recognition scheme.

The document also covered the issue of supporting workplace representatives to back up collective agreements. This would become particularly important in the light of the new law on recognition and representation. It looked at trade union structure and whether the TUC could have a role in re-shaping unions, by encouraging mergers and amalgamations, while respecting the important role played by specialist unions, for whom mergers were not desirable. It explored the possibility of allowing union members to move smoothly from one union to another when they changed jobs. The issue of TUC 'branding' of some union services was explored, so that members of unions would be guaranteed certain services when they joined an affiliated union.

The TUC could have a role in developing the professionalism and efficiency of unions. The issue of union subscriptions needed to be re-visited, with the TUC exploring the possibility of setting a minimum fee.

1.4 Consultative conference

The TUC sent the consultation document to all affiliated unions, inviting their comments. On 12 July, the TUC organised a consultative conference for senior union officers, at which all responses to the consulation document were circulated and discussed. The conference, which was chaired by Bill Morris, was attended by 74 participants, representing a broad spread of affiliated unions.

Union contributions to the conference

After the General Secretary had opened the discussion, a number of contributions were made, covering all the issues highlighted in the consultation document and in the unions' written responses. These are described below, under subject headings.

General points

Unions all welcomed the conference and the decision of the TUC to start theconsultation process. The TUC had come a long way in the last five years, with great improvements in services to unions and effective campaigns, with good resource materials. Union officers were commenting on how much better the TUC was; it was more relevant to them. A number of general points were made, relating to the role of the TUC. Consideration should be given to the TUC's role as a centre of excellence, both in terms of providing advice to unions on management issues and also as a centre for research on issues of general importance to unions. The TUC could commission research into what draws people to unions and the TUC could develop a recruitment strategy which took account of the changing structure of the labour market, looking at issues such as the employment of agency workers and casuals.

The image of the TUC and unions was still a problem. Unions did not appeal to young people, particularly young women and black workers. This was partly because of past image problems but also because of inappropriate union structures and poor promotion. Young people did not share the experience which older workers had of unions. Unions should take account of the growth in small businesses, the flexibility of workers and the growing number of women in the workplace. Sector bargaining was unlikely to re-appear where it had disappeared; unions would need to be able to cope with the more fragmented structure of the labour market. Recruiting in new industries and small businesses was resource intensive.

Workers looked to unions to provide support in the workplace; this had considerable resource implications for unions, as members moved from job to job. The new right to be accompanied in a disciplinary or grievance procedure would put demands on unions resources but it was important to make the most of this new opportunity and do a good job. There was an apparent problem with positioning the TUC so that the partnership approach was encouraged where it worked but it was also recognised that unions recruited well when they ran campaigns against poor employers. The TUC had been promoting both approaches. Partnership, in order to be effective, must encompass effective collective bargaining, and should not involve giving in to employers' demands.It worked in some industries but not others.

The issue of union subscriptions must be considered afresh by the TUC. The previous consultation exercise on this issue should be resurrected. A process of undercutting would lead to inadequately funded unions and an inadequately funded TUC.

Longer Term Issues: Union structures

There was a clear difference between unions which were strictly single industry unions and those which covered a number of sectors. These differences were likely to remain.The TUC should be given a clearer role in directing potential members to affiliated unions, particularly following TUC campaigns on new rights. The General Secretary should be given scope to assist with brokering mergers where appropriate, with due regard to the sensitivitiesof specialist unions.

Groups of specialist unions working in one industry, for example, those working in the criminal justice system, had developed structures within which they could work together on common issues. There were also professional divides within industries, for example, in the railway industry. Unions should look at their own internal structuresto ensure that they did not act as a disincentive to potential activists, particularly to those with caring responsibilities outside the workplace. Unions should learn to work more closely with voluntary organisations where appropriate; the TUC had not moved quickly enough to embrace such potential alliances.

If there were too many unions operating in one industry in competition with one another, they would end up competing on the basis of price, rather than quality. The ability of specialist unions to participate in all TUC activities was reduced because of their relative lack of resources. The TUC could assist unions in setting up umbrella alliances based on trade groups, such as the Federation of Entertainment Unions. It was important that the General Secretary of the TUC had made it clear in his introduction to the debate that the TUC would not try to impose mergers on specialist unions.Current union structures were often bewildering for young people who were considering joining a union.

Shorter term issues: inter-union disputes

The length of time involved in going through existing TUC procedures for dispute resolution made the process unsatisfactory. Not all unions would want the TUC to have a formal role in union applications to the CAC. Further discussion was needed on the proposal to establish a network of union officers to handle inter-union issues but it was generally welcomed. Unions should try harder to sort out conflicts for themselves. TUC involvement should be seen as a last resort. The TUC must come up with proposals in this area at the Special General Council meeting in the autumn. This would require a degree of openness among unions.

Role of the TUC

The work of the New Unionism project was important and the TUC should continue to support the efforts of unions to recruit new members. A new generation of activists should be developed. The TUC should continue to assist unions with training and educating representatives.Partnership could deliver in terms of recruitment; the TUC was right to encourage partnership initiatives. The TUC should be doing more to educate young people about the role of trade unionism in modern society in schools and colleges; many young people were ignorant about what trade unions did or had poor images associated with the past. Unions should consider associate membership for students. The TUC should consider organising a graduate recruitment campaign. Young people looked to voluntary organisations to campaign on matters which were important to them.

The TUC should be given a more direct role in helping potential union membersto join unions. People had a more consumerist approach to unions today, wanting to know what they would get for their money. Workers no longer had homogenous needs; there was a growing number of casual and freelance workers whose needs were more difficult to service. Unions had to be excellent in servicing their members in the workplace. This included education and retirement provision. The TUC should consider organising a conference on recruiting and training a new generation of representatives. Recent TUC campaigns had been well received by union members and had done much to improve the image of the TUC. New employment legislation would give the TUC and unions further potential to demonstrate to workers the ways inwhich unions could support them. The TUC should consider a new phrase to replace the current 'New Unionism'. The TUC should take up the issue of time off for representatives; increasingly, it was difficult for them to get sufficient time off to represent members effectively. The TUC should give further consideration to biennial Congresses, with conferences on topical themes in the intervening years. Too much time was taken up at Congress with diverse issues which were only of limited general interest to the Movement and which the TUC no longer had the resources to service.

The TUC should identify areas where there were key issues for trade unions, for example, the interface between childcare and school, and form alliances with other interested parties. The TUC should analyse information about labour market and other relevant issues and produce guidance for unions. The TUC should also do more to support unions when they developed and improved their own internal structures and management systems, sharing best practice and becoming a centre of excellence.

1.5 Conclusion

In conclusion, the General Secretary said that the contributions had given much to think about. In particular, the TUC would concentrate on inter-union relations; the role of the TUC in supporting unions in developing their service provision and their support for representatives; the structure of unions would continue to be a matter of interest although the points made by the specialist unions had been understood and would be taken into account; the TUC would consider working more closely with non-government organisations where appropriate but the emphasis would remain on relations with the Government and with employers; the TUC would consider as a matter of urgency how to proceed in relations to CAC applications under the new statutory union recognition scheme. In closing the conference, Mr Morris said that it was important that there was discussion at all levels in the Movement about the main points. The Conference would be reported to Congress, then some more detailed proposals would be discussed at the Special General Council meeting in October, to which all unions would be invited.

In July, the General Council additionally agreed that the consultation document would be amended to take in some of the points raised at the Conference and circulated to unions for further comments. It would include a number of specific questions on which the views of unions would be sought.

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