The Activist

USDAW Activist 22

2009-11-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
October 2009

General Secretary’s wages on the up!

In the December 2007 issue of the Activist, we reported on the wages of the general secretary. The recent edition of Arena reported on the progress of the general secretary’s income and other benefits. Below is his income.

Income or benefit 2007 2009
Salary £78,050 £85,812
National insurance £10,053 £10,295
Superannuation £15,172 £17,247
Car £5,494 £10,097
TOTAL £108,769 £123,451

During the general secretary election, Robbie Segal challenged the idea that the general secretary should earn nearly £110,000 more than then many of the members who pay his wages. Robbie certainly had a point.

La Senza workers take another step towards recognition

Readers of Activist may remember that last year I wrote an article outlining the situation for workers in La Senza’s mail order department, and the prospects unionising the work force. Rather optimistically, I predicted that recognition would be achieved by the first quarter of 2009. However, due to the hard (and covert) work of USDAW activists and Socialist Party members, I am now pleased to report that recognition is now a real possibility for La Senza workers!
Over the last year, La Senza workers have continued to put up the usual bullying, pettiness and degradation that is usual for unskilled workers. The company tells us that ‘we all have to pull together’ to get through this difficult time. What they mean, of course, is that profits must be not only maintained, but increased, to benefit the hedge fund, Lion Capital, that ultimately owns La Senza. La Senza has therefore used the recession as cover to attack workers conditions, by freezing wages at the 2008 level, meaning a wage cut in real terms. Staff who have resigned or been fired have not been replaced in a bid to cut costs, increasing the workloads of those who remain. Faulty equipment has not been replaced, and investment in new systems and techniques to make the work quicker and easier has been cut. This has left the mail order department understaffed and under resourced and leaves workers struggling to achieve targets and avoid disciplinary measures.
These issues and others, including using training as a means to try and divide the workforce, have built up resentment among the staff. By pointing out the ways La Senza breaks employment law, and explaining how the logic of capitalism forces companies to force the most work from people, while paying the lowest possible wages, Union activists and Socialists have been able to tap into this resentment, and channel it into action. Now, there are enough union members working at La Senza Mail Order to ballot for recognition, and a final recruitment push will take membership to the level required for mandatory recognition. Discussions with the area organiser for USDAW have been positive, and the union is willing to push for recognition once a majority of staff have joined up.
We hope that the last 18 months of agitation, discussion and recruitment will bear fruit, and that the USDAW agreement with La Senza will include the following:

Ÿ For full training for all staff, end favouritism
Ÿ For a reform of absence policy, end punishing workers for attending hospital or caring for sick relatives
· An end to bullying management
· An end to mandatory overtime
· An end to discrimination against temporary workers: for the same conditions and levels of pay for temporary workers, for protection against dismissal for sickness or lateness, for full training of temps
· For paid breaks
· For extra breaks for those working over time, an extra 15 minutes every two hours
· For measures to be taken to protect workers from the cold during winter
· For a guarantee of job security, and for permanent jobs to be made available for a proportion of temps
· For a 35 hour week with no loss of pay

PROPOSITIONS FOR 2010

Following our appeal for ideas for propositions for the 2010 ADM, we publish below the propositions that have been received to date. If you have any other ideas of propositions and would like them to be circulated through the Activist network then please send them to: shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Jobs for Young Workers

The latest unemployment figures show that young people are suffering the brunt of job losses. As unemployment of the under 25s reaches a million, this ADM considers that urgent action is needed by the trade unions on a national basis to fight for decent jobs for young people.
Therefore, this conference calls upon the EC to press the TUC to organise a series of protests on youth unemployment at a regional level which will lead to a national demonstration in the autumn.
Further, conference believes that all the Usdaw divisions should mobilise maximum support for any TUC action.

Recruiting Young Workers

This ADM notes with the current employment policy of many of the companies in the retail sector that many young people are employed on low hour contracts.
This conference believes that the Union should conduct a major organising and recruitment drive to win young workers to the trade union movement.
Conference calls upon the EC to present an ADM Statement on the ‘Problems facing Young Workers’ which should be discussed at the 2011 ADM. This document should consider the following:
1. a new youth and student rate for under 26 year-olds who work less than 10 hours
2. an organising campaign in 2011 directed towards young workers

Union Expenses

In view of the recent scandals over MPs’ expenses, this conference believes that complete openness on the allowances paid to all members and officials in the Union is the best policy.
Therefore conference instructs the Executive Council to include in all future Annual Reports a section on expenses.
This new section should include the following:
1. all the different allowances paid to the Full Time Officials of the union, including the General Secretary and the central officials
2. the amount paid to members while on union business
3. any special allowances paid to Executive Council members.

Defend Public Services

Following the banking crisis and with the national debt continuing to grow, this ADM notes that all the major political parties have announced that there will be cuts in public services.
Conference believes that if our public services are not to be severely cut then the trade unions will have to take united, coordinated action to protect these services.
The ADM calls upon the EC to support trade union campaigns to defend our public services.
Challenging the BNP
The conference notes that the recent rise in the fortunes of the BNP and its racist policies has coincided with the failure of the three main parties to adequately deal with the problems facing working people. Many workers and young people have been conned into voting for the BNP believing them to at least represent a kick to the establishment parties that are all seen as the same.
Conference considers that if the labour movement allows the BNP to go unchallenged then racist attacks will continue to increase in the areas where the fascists elements of the leadership are active.
Therefore this ADM calls upon the EC to ensure that there are regular articles in both the Activist and Network exposing the background and fascist roots the BNP leaders, and how their policies are a danger to the labour movement and minority groups.

General Secretary: Rule change for the 2010 ADM.

This ADM considers the decision of the EC to place on the agenda of the 2010 ADM a proposition on changing the rules for the General Secretary election to be against the interest of democratic debate within Usdaw.
This ADM notes that the present incumbent of the position of General Secretary will only have served one year since his latest election and therefore we cannot understand the urgency of introducing this rule change without the branches having the same opportunity.
Therefore this ADM calls upon the EC to withdraw the proposition and raise the rule change at the same time as the branches can propose alterations to the general secretary election rules at the 2011 ADM.

Branch circulars

This ADM notes that not all members cannot attend branch meetings therefore they are unable to be fully informed of the work of the union.
Therefore, this ADM calls upon the EC to introduce a system where branch circulars can be distributed by email to any member that requests to receive them.

Life Long Learning

This ADM considers that all the Parties have pledged major spending cuts after the next election. Life Long Leaning could be one of the many cuts imposed to pay for the economic crisis.
Conference notes that Life Long Learning has benefitted many of our members to gain knowledge and to develop new skills which have resulted in many learners finding better paid jobs.
Further, Conference believes that cutting funding to the Life Long Learning project would damage many of our members’ changes for a better future.
Therefore, this ADM instructs the EC to vigorously oppose any attacks made against Life Long Learning and join with any TUC initiatives, such as lobbies and demonstrations, to save the funding for Life Long Learning.

Job share

This ADM notes the number of women being employed as full-time officials in the Divisions have changed very little since 2003.
In the ADM Report 2003 there were 34 women employed as Area Organisers, Recruitment and Development Officers, Divisional Officers and Deputy Divisional Officers compared with 78 men and in the ADM Report 2008 there were 37 women and 78 men full-time officials working in the Divisions.
This conference considers that one of the main reasons for this lack of progress is that these important positions are not advertised on a job share basis.
Therefore, this conference instructs the EC to introduce a policy that all future Area Organiser and Recruitment and Development Officer vacancies should be open to members on a job share basis.

Rule book

The conference calls upon the EC to rewrite the rule book in plain English.

Retail and Distribution Activist no 18 - Part 1

2009-04-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
ADM bulletin number 1, April 2009

‘I’d like to thank all the delegates and visitors to this conference who voted for me in
the election for General Secretary helping me achieve 40.6% of the vote’ Robbie Segal

Dear Sisters and Brothers

Unfortunately, 2009 is developing into one of the hardest years faced by retail workers for decades. During my campaign for Usdaw’s general secretary, I said that what was at stake was the future direction of the union.
My socialist message received 40% of the vote. If the election had taken place today, I am sure the bankruptcy of the present leadership’s policies - as shown by their response to the economic crisis - would have given me even more votes. My warning that there needed to be a change of attitude because the union would not be ready to face the challenges of the impending economic crisis has proven correct. It is clear from recent reports that two of the major UK banks came within hours of collapse and New Labour came to their rescue and the tax payer paid the bill. Our members have contributed millions to save the banks and yet when our jobs are threatened there is no help for us.
What is needed is a militant programme of action which includes: demonstrations, lobbying the government, occupations of the stores and workplaces, and the nationalisation of the major retailers. The trade unions have been silent, Usdaw must demand at the TUC that a progamme of coordinated action be planned which must include one day stoppages. John Hannett and the policies of Usdaw leaders’ have been tested with their response to the Woolworth closure. They have failed. We need Usdaw to fight for every job and argue for nationalisation of all large retail and distribution outlets when they threaten closure or redundancy. I am backing the No2EU- Yes to Democracy challenge in the Euroelections, see below for more info.

Comradely
Robbie Segal

No2EU-Yes to Democracy offers the only realistic alternative of persuading workers rightly disgusted with the mainstream capitalist parties not to cast a protest vote for the BNP. No candidate on the No2EU list would benefit financially from their election and they would use the nominal position of MEP to fight against the EU’s neo-liberal agenda, in Britain and Europe. No2EU is a coalition for the European elections, and is only a tentative first step to independent working-class political representation. It will at bottom provide a pro-worker alternative to New Labour in June’s poll.

Support the Union Led Challenge to New Labour

THE MILLIONS of people now facing job losses, home repossessions, short-time working and wage cuts can expect nothing from the pro-market establishment politicians. After all, these are the same people who got us into this mess in the first place!
It was Gordon Brown, for example, who boasted at a speech before business leaders at London’s Mansion House just 18 months ago, that the New Labour government had helped create “a new golden age for the City”. He speaks now of the need for ‘new global rules’. But then he hailed the unleashed financial markets for creating a “new world order”, achieving “the greatest restructuring of the global economy, perhaps even greater than the industrial revolution”! Workers and young people suffering the consequences of his pro-big business policies have no mass political party to represent them as the crisis of the free market system deepens.
That’s why the announcement that the Rail, Maritime and Transport workers’ union (RMT) is backing an electoral alliance to contest the forthcoming European elections in June is so important. For the first time ever a national trade union, the RMT, the most militant industrial
union in Britain, is mounting an electoral challenge to New Labour, under the name No2EU-Yes to Democracy.
No2EU-Yes to Democracy concentrates on opposition to the European Union (EU) constitution (now re-packaged as the Lisbon treaty), which enshrines free market economics into EU law. It also stands against the EU’s directives instructing governments to privatise and cut public services, and the anti-trade union rulings of the European Court of Justice that are driving our wages, conditions and job prospects down in ‘a race to the bottom’.
No2EU-Yes to Democracy is a coalition for the European elections. But it represents another step towards rebuilding political representation for working class people, absent from Britain since the 1990s transformation of the Labour Party into the completely capitalist New Labour.

Come to the Broadleft meeting tonight (Sunday)

Speakers will include Robbie Segal EC member (in a personal capacity) and Mick Cotter Unite member to speak about the Visteon dispute, where 600 workers were informed 5 minutes before their shift end that they had no job and no redundancy pay or pension intitlements. A discussion will also be had on the No2EU- Yes to Democracy electoral challenge.

Retail and Distribution Activist no 17

2009-04-30T06:36:00.000-07:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
March 2009

Usdaw Activist Public Meeting

· Do the Usdaw leaders have the strategy to defend members in the recession?
· Come along and discuss where next for the campaign to change Usdaw into a Union that fights for its members

4 April, 11am-3pm,
Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street,
near Euston station, London

Join the Struggle – Against the Rich
G 20 demo –
“8th April, the Demo leaves the Embankment at 12.00
Youth Fight for Jobs
Starts on 2 April and is passing through London’s highest areas of unemployment and end at the ExCel Centre where the rich countries leaders are meeting. If you want to know more ring 02085587947

The Credit Crunch and Poverty

The economic crisis has pushed a further 60 million people into absolute poverty which means living on less than $1 a day. This will mean that over an extra one million children will die prematurely. The world’s governments have provided millions of pounds to save the banks but have never provided even a small fraction of this sum to save the starving children of the world.
The Activist and the supporters of the Socialist Party believe that the failure to solve the problems faced by the world even in the good times shows that the capitalism is a bankrupt system. In the long term, unless we rid ourselves of these parasites, more and more people will slip into the poverty trap,

Billionaire Crisis

OK, So you may have lost your job, are hopelessly in dept and are having your house repossessed as a result of the capitalist economic. But spare a thought for the real losers – those pinnacles of society. According to Forbes magazine, the world’s billionaires have, on average, lost a quarter of their wealth – some £2 trillion – due to the financial meltdown and developing recession. In fact, things are so bad that 335 of last year’s billionaires have been regulated to the ranks of the mere millionaires.
How will US speculator Warren Buffet pay hie electricity and gas bills after his wealth dropped from $41 billion last year to just $24 billion today? And how will the Russian oligarch and Chelsea FC sugar-daddy, Roman Abramovich, afford his season ticket now that his bank balance has shrunk from !^ billion to less than £6 billion.
If any reader would like to assist in the rehabilitation of these tragic victims of capitalist greed – through socialist expropriation.

Campaigning to Save the Post Office and the £500,000 donation to New Labour

Usdaw has just donated £500,000 to New Labour. Our members are asking why are we handing over the cash and we get nothing in return.
In the last edition of the Activist, we called for Usdaw members to support the campaign against New Labour’s plans to part-privatise the Post Office. At a meeting between the trade unions and New Labour at the Warwick University in 2008, Labour promised to keep the Post Office in the public Sector. Now they are willing to sell part of it off. We hope that when Usdaw’s leaders handed over our money, John Hannett mentioned to Brown of his Post Office commitment.
John Hannett, along with other trade union leaders, signed a protest letter to the Guardian (26.2.09). The letter is interesting because it shows the bankruptcy of New Labour and how they serve the interests of big business rather the working people. We print extracts of the letter below.
‘Within that Warwick agreement was a clear commitment to maintaining Royal Mail in the public sector: "We have set out a vision of a wholly publicly owned, integrated Royal Mail group in good health providing customers with an excellent service and its employees with rewarding employment."
This commitment was agreed by all affiliated trade unions in the belief that it guaranteed the future of Royal Mail as "wholly publicly owned". This was our belief in the summer, and it was the belief of the 2008 Labour party conference, which voted to support this policy.
We are deeply concerned that the Labour party now appears to be willing to break that commitment by adopting the recommendations of the Hooper report. Its proposals to bring in a "strategic partner", via an exchange of equity, clearly constitutes the part privatisation of Royal Mail.
The affiliated trade unions believe that the part-privatisation of Royal Mail is electorally unpopular, politically unwise and damaging to the concept of universal service provision. Furthermore, to break a pledge so recently made undermines the legitimacy of our policy process and raises questions about the validity of other agreements reached.
We are unanimous in our opposition to the proposed privatisation of Royal Mail, and ask that the government reconsiders its response before it becomes a dividing line within our movement.

The New Labour government has announced plans to part privatise the Post Office. In a recent survey, nine out of every 10 people oppose its privatisation.
The CWU, the post office workers’ union, has launched a campaign against the government's intention to privatise Royal Mail. They are calling for people to sign their petition opposing privatisation at: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Royal-Mail-Sale/

Letters to the Activist

Dear Activist,
As a shop worker on £6 an hour, I earn £240 a week and that makes a yearly income of £12,480. So if I earn the same wage for the next ten years, I would have received £124,800 and in a lifetime of work (50 years) the grand total will reach £624,000.
I will earn £624,000 over a lifetime and one parasite banker will get a yearly pension of £693,000. The politicians say there is nothing to be done. He has a contract. They can nationalise bankrupt banks and I say let’s nationalise Godwin and share out his wealth.
A Scottish Usdaw member

The Activist: Well it is not only bankers who have fabulous pensions, even our own Terry Leahy, the Tesco boss, has £10 million in his pension pot and that will give him £710,000 a year. But don’t feel too sorry for him as he earned £2.4 million last year.

Dear Activist
Today, I heard Mr. Gordon Brown on a question & answer programme on BBC RADIO 4 today circa 12.30 hours. He was challenged by a number of people really fed up as they were just coming up or reached retirement and when they got told what Pension they were about to receive, it was way short of what they had planned for. In fact one person said that he could not now afford to retire on what he was quoted, typical Mr. Brown sidestepped the answer. This is just disgusting in my opinion, & I have found when recruiting for USDAW, people ARE BEING FORCED BACK TO WORK SO THEY CAN PAY THEIR EVER INCREASING BILLS.
SO PENSION PLANNING IS VERY IMPORTANT, MIND YOU, TO THOSE WHO HAVE," THE GOVERNMENT APPEARS TO BE PENALISING THEM", JUST LIKE THE 10p RIP OFF, BROWN keeps hitting the people who cannot fight back, OH WHY IS THIS???.
Good luck in your news letter,

Derrick Frost,
VERY angry retired USDAW member!!

Dear Activist,

As I was walking to do the local shops I passed the recently closed Woolworths. The shutters were down and the doors shut. It had been a regular shop to visit in our high street since I was a boy. Now it is gone and I am sure it won’t be the last store to close.
As I turn the corner, there are more empty shops and along with the post office they are all boarded up. My next stop was my bank. All my working life, I have called for the nationalisation of the banks. Now I own it. Alas the Government have left it in the hands of the same lot of criminals that ruined it before.
Clearly, the New Labour government pose no threat to the power of the rich. If the ruling class were really concerned then they would be clamouring for their removal.
I see you are calling for nationalisation under workers’ control and management. Well done and keep up the good work. Robbie got my vote.

Yours fraternally
A retired retail worker

Email addresses needed

If you have a colleague who would like to receive a regular copy of the Activist or other materials to democratise our union then send their e-mail address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Retail and Distribution Activist no 16

2009-03-05T08:03:00.000-08:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
February 2009

The campaign they tried to hide... and still 10,000 voted for Robbie

With the votes now counted, we can confirm that Robbie got a very respectable ten thousand members' votes for the position of President of Usdaw. That means a third of the votes for President of the fourth biggest union in the country!

Robbie was also reelected onto the Executive Council with nearly 500 more votes than the next person and despite a dramatic increase in the number of members standing for election in the south.

With a turnout of 9% and a muted campaign to say the least, it is hardly surprising that the incumbent President got re-elected, the New Labourite Jeff Broome, with the entire union machinery backing him. It is disgraceful that the election was hardly mentioned to the majority of members, no debates were allowed and the only available official election material for Robbie being the ballot paper itself. 10,000 leaflets were distributed by Socialist Party members and others on the left in Usdaw getting an overwhelmingly supportive response.

Robbie stood for President following her 40% vote in the General Secretary election over the summer. She has been standing on a platform of opposing any job losses in the retail sector and was the only person on the EC to raise the demand for nationalisation of Woolworths. While she was issuing press releases and contacting workers about the need to demand the companies open their books and show us where the money has gone, the Usdaw leaders were falling over themselves taking part in debates and interviews defending the job losses and arguing that nothing can be done other than spout praise on Brown's government (see John Gorle's interview with Paxman or Hannett's statements in Arena and Network).

Robbie's demands have been focusing on the urgent need for Usdaw to give retail workers a strategy to fight the barrage of job losses and the attacks on terms and conditions the bosses are trying to heap on the plate of workers. Retail is one of the main industries that have recently been in the firing line, bearing the brunt of the economic crisis the bankers and speculators got us into.

Robbie pledged to launch a campaign to raise the minimum wage to £8 an hour from 16 to retirement, which got an enthusiastic response from members struggling to make ends meet on the pittance we get.

Robbie says: 'What shop workers need isn't conciliation with New Labour and the bosses but a strong democratic fighting leadership. I will continue the struggle and now with a stronger left network of activists behind me we are heading for our most successful ADM for a long time. The voice of the members won't fall on deaf ears for much longer'

Usdaw Activist Public Meeting,

4th April, Exmouth Arms (near Euston station) 11am-3pm.

No announcement of the result on the website

Again we wonder why there is no mention of the President and EC election results on Usdaw’s website. Even the press release concerning the President’s result was not placed on the website. So as a service to Usdaw’s members that our union does not provide, the Activist publishes the results of the President and EC elections.

President

Candidates	Votes Cast
Jeff Broome	19,962 (Elected)
Robina Segal	10,559

Executive Council

South Wales and Western

Candidates	Votes Cast
Dennis Stinchcombe	Elected Unopposed
Barbara Wilson	Elected Unopposed

Eastern Division

Candidates	Votes Cast
Allan Newanga	1,148
Sharon Newson	942
Sheila Thomas	993
Simon Vincent	1,901 (Elected)
Barbara Woodford	1,622 (Elected)

Midlands Division

Candidates	Votes Cast
Maureen Bowman	1,267
Kevin Davies	1,287 (Elected)
Javid Iqbal	442
Barbara McAlister	1,846 (Elected)
Di Mitchell	659
Graham Parkin	1,150
David Stokes	906

North Eastern Division

Candidates	Votes Cast
Peter Capper	2,139
Mike Dixon	2,522 (Elected)
Pat Fitsgerald	2,143 (Elected)

Scottish Division

Candidates	Votes Cast
Susan Coutts	Elected Unopposed
Harry McAlister	Elected Unopposed

Southern Division

Candidates	Votes Cast
Maria Aldred	623
John Barstow	383
Dennis Hart	1,069 (Elected)
Alan Higgins	391
Margaret Hughes	735
Peter Millward	1,001
Amy Murphy	834
Richard Mustonen-Smith	210
Su Patel	336
Bernadette Phillips	757
Robina Segal	1,502 (Elected)

North Western Division

Candidates	Votes Cast
Ann Hickson	4,248 (Elected)
Jan Jervis	2,880 (Elected)
Julie Keenan	1,223
Joan Lyall	1,605
Tony Threlfall	3,832 (Elected)

Fight every job cut

Over the last year and since the launch of the Activist in November 2007, we have consistently pointed out that the policy of developing a partnership with the bosses would prove disastrous in an economic crisis. Our argument was that the tactic of acquiescence to the demands of the big retailers would lull our members into a false sense of security and prevent a united fight back.

Now when the announcement of redundancies is a daily occurrence, the response of Usdaw leaders is to issue a press release. These press releases contain nothing that would encourage our members there is a way of saving their jobs. Members are ‘left reeling’ or are ‘devastated’ at the news they are joining the dole queues.

Our members know the threats to their living standard. What members are asking is how is our Union going to stop this job massacre. A press release is not a strategy. This is a continuation of the partnership strategy but in an economic downturn has proved catastrophic.

Over the past few months thousands of jobs have been lost in retail. It is time to start the fight back. Every time we do nothing another boss will look at this weakness and say I will sack some more employees.

A coordinated response, including lobbies, demonstrations and even factory sit-ins, is necessary to involve our members and send a warning to the bosses that we fight every job loss.

Join the Fight to save the Post Office

The New Labour government has announced plans to part privatise the Post Office. In a recent survey, nine out of every 10 people oppose its privatisation.

The CWU, the post office workers’ union, has launched a campaign against the government's intention to privatise Royal Mail. They are calling for people to sign their petition opposing privatisation at: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Royal-Mail-Sale/

More retail crisis

The Icelandic run Baugur retail empire is in deep crisis-brands include: House of Fraser- (62 shops, 6,500 staff),Iceland (667 shops 20,000 staff), Jane Norman (192 shops, 1,600 staff), Wyevale garden centres (122 shops, 4,100 staff) & other investments include; Debenhams, Karen Millen, Principles, Oasis, Warehouse, mapping & Webb, Goldsmiths, French connection. Where is the fight back from our union?

The crisis, women, pay and waiting lists

Even Jim Rogers co-founder of Quantum fund with financial guru George Soros, said “It’s quite simple the UK has nothing to sell” The City of London is finished, the financial centre of the world is moving east” and the latest official employment figures show that the number of women in fulltime employment fell by 53,000 compared with a fall of 36,000 for men. Women are losing jobs at twice the rate of men because men significantly outnumber women in the workforce but meanwhile the average contribution of female earnings to the family budget is rising at a far faster rate than for men. And lone parents now make up a quarter of all families-and 90% of lone parents are women. More women than ever are supporting families on their wages and council tenants face rent rises of an average 6.2% in next financial year. There are 4.5 million people on the housing waiting list.

Will ‘Welfare to work’ get work for unemployed?

The governments answer to the predicted rise in the long term unemployment is to finance privately run 'Welfare to work' programmes but even private industry are skeptical. The cost of the governments programme to get the long term unemployed back to work looks set to double and possibly triple as the numbers out of work for more than 12 months rocket.

Email addresses needed

If you have a colleague who would like to receive

a regular copy of the Activist or other materials to democratise

our union then send their

e-mail address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Retail and Distribution Activist no 15

2009-02-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
January 2009

Vote Robbie (Robina) Segal For President

No return to the 1930s!

The Activist sent the following questions to Robbie Segal, candidate for Usdaw President and we print below her reply.

What do you think about the present economic crisis?

There does not seem a day that goes by without another announcement of redundancies affecting our members. Clearly the crisis is going to be deeper and longer lasting than the pundit’s are predicting. The present economic system is based on greed of the few and now this global elite, after exploiting the world’s resources and people, now want us to bail them out - so they can keep their privileged life style. Do they think we are mad?

How is the economic crisis affecting those still working?

Apart from the continued announcement of job losses, retail companies have virtually stopped hiring new staff. Not replacing those who leave means that workloads are increasing. Pressure is being applied to those who are lucky enough to have jobs to give up hard won conditions: Workers are being asked to work beyond their contractual hours without pay and overtime premiums are being stopped. Pressure is being applied to ignore health and safety issues.
The TUC has estimated that 5.24 million people work unpaid overtime in 2008, bringing the bosses a bonus of £26.9 billion. For those who are forced into this form of slavery, if they worked unpaid from the beginning of the year then they would not receive any pay until 27 February. This must stop.

Usdaw have many women worker in its ranks, how do you think the current crisis will affect them?

Many of the workers losing their jobs are women and for many families the woman’s wage makes a major contribution to the family income. For 21 per cent of all couples the woman’s contribution is over 50 per cent and for all families women contribute 32 per cent to household bills. Usdaw Women do not work for pin-money anymore and we should defend their jobs.

How do you think Usdaw should respond to the crisis?

Usdaw is handicapped by it years of slavish acceptance of a partnership strategy with the big retail companies. Usdaw’s leaders have no clear strategy to solve the crisis. There has not been one attempt to mobilise the membership to fight against these attacks. In previous crises, the union leaders organised demonstrations and national marches. This time even the verbal protests have been subdued because it would mean attacking the policies of Gordon Brown and New Labour.
The leaders have surrendered many of the best part of our terms and conditions to the bosses without even a protest. Usdaw is the fourth biggest union in the TUC and should be playing a major role in mobilizing workers to fight these attacks. However with the present Usdaw leaders this will never happen. I am standing for the Usdaw’s President so the voice of struggle can be raised amongst retail workers.

Why do you call for nationalisation of the economy?

For over 100 years, the labour movement called for the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy. Although the Labour Party leaders never really took the nationalisation seriously, nevertheless it was one of the aspirations of activists. The socialists understood that capitalism never worked and would one day fail. The old clause 4 was passed in 1917 under the influence of the Russian revolution and it called for.
To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service

The Labour Party’s socialist clause was ditched in 1995 and a woolly alternative put in its place.

The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect."

The driving force behind the change was Tony Blair. Since leaving parliament, Blair’s yearly earnings are estimated to be in excess of £7 million. Obviously the part ‘to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential’ worked brilliantly for ex-Prime Minister Blair.
Usdaw’s leaders fully supported the abandonment of the socialist clause. As the supporters of the British establishment in the Labour Party understood, if the clause on nationalisation remained on the Labour Party membership card then it would act as a reminder to members when capitalism faced a crisis and that there was a socialist alternative.
As part of the Usdaw’s objectives, it states, ‘To work consistently towards securing the control of the industries in which its members are employed.’ But this is never mentioned as an alternative to the ownership by the few.
With New Labour' s and the Usdaw’s leaders abandonment of socialism, it means it is the responsibly of the Socialist to call for a new society which would be based on the public ownership of the means of production. Instead of the current crop of parasites who have bankrupted their capitalist system controlling the new public owned banks they should be controlled of the people. They would be run for the benefit of the majority rather than the few.

Email addresses needed
If you have a colleague who would like to receive a regular copy of the Activist or other materials to democratise our union then send their e-mail address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Retail and Distribution Activist Issue 14

2009-01-19T07:12:00.000-08:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
January 2009
Issue 14

Vote Robbie (Robina) Segal For President

Tens of thousands of retail workers are being laid off. These workers are facing a bleak future, many of whom have been working on low wages for the big retail companies for years. Woolworths is now closed, yet all those workers are getting is the statutory redundancy payments of less than a few hundred pounds.
Gordon Brown is promising schemes to create new jobs. But what will these jobs be like? Will they be on decent wages with good working conditions and pensions, or will this be another New Labour gimmick?
Woolworths and other retail workers deserve better than empty promises from Gordon Brown, after all our union Usdaw subsidises New Labour to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds every year.
All companies threatening redundancies should be nationalised but under democratic workers’ control and management. We should open the books and find out where all the profits have gone – profits made by the workers.
I am standing for election to become president of Usdaw because our union needs to be a fighting union, we should be building a mass campaign against job losses but also demanding a minimum wage of £8 an hour without exceptions. The union should be taking workers' wages and conditions forward, not watching them go backwards.
And why are mainly female and part-time shop workers treated as if they are only earning pin money by the trade union leaders? It is time for all shop workers to get active to build Usdaw as a democratic and independent campaigning trade union.
I have been a trade unionist since the age of 19, a Tesco union rep for 21 years, and a member of the Usdaw executive Council for nine years.
The election runs from 19 January to 13 February.

Robbie Segal

Slaughter in the high street

As Robbie has explained the slaughter of retail workers continues. Always looking for some publicity and when all around are announcing redundancies Tesco is creating 10,000 in their UK business, Morrisons over 5,000, Sainsbury’s up to 4,000 and Iceland 2,500.
However, the Activist receives reports explaining the real life in the retail sector. What is needed is a union that can use the anger of our members to fight against the attacks by the bosses. We publish below two articles from out members explaining life in retail.

Christmas is over and the cutbacks begin

After dragging almost the entire workforce in over the Christmas period to do extra shifts to capitalise on the usual higher sales of that period, the Morrisons I work at (and the others in the area) have decided to repay the workforce by cutting back on hours. Of course, there are usually cutbacks on temporary staff that are taken on for Christmas, but this is much more.
In the name of saving money (or in reality keeping up their profits), staff have had their hours cut on a temporary basis with someone losing 24 hours of work per week! Others have been moved from working on Sundays (for which we get paid time and a half) to other days of the week. Although it is not a large proportion of the staff who are affected directly, it will affect everyone indirectly as we’ll all be expected to pick up the slack. It’s another story of workers who have mortgages and rents to pay, suffering for the effects of the capitalist economic crisis.
Shop workers need a fighting trade union to represent them and fight for better conditions, and that’s why I’d urge all USDAW members to vote for Robbie Segal in the upcoming elections.

A Morrisons Worker

No festive joy for shop workers

CHRISTMAS IS finally staggering to a close at the lingerie company I work for. After 23 December, I was able to take four days off for Christmas. To be allowed this luxury I worked almost continuously for the previous six weeks, between 8.5 and 10 hours a day, having taken only one day off.
We were informed that on the first two work days after Christmas (Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 December), we would be required to work 12 hour shifts, to make up for lost time. For all staff, including Christmas temps, this is technically overtime, although the consequence of refusal would be a straight dismissal for temps.
For permanent staff the punishment for refusing to do overtime is consignment to making boxes for a couple of days, general harassment and threats of disciplinary action.
Of course, Christmas is the busiest time for retail workers and no unskilled worker will complain about the offer of overtime during the period when extra money is most needed.
What we have every right to complain about, however, is being bullied into doing overtime, being bullied and threatened into working harder than is reasonable (or even, in some cases, than is humanly possible); being forced to work in near freezing temperatures because the company is too cheap to heat the warehouse (despite grossing over £500,000 a week, for six weeks); for the temps having to accept the poverty wage of between £5.50 and £6.00 an hour, depending on their agency and being made to feel ashamed of the human weakness of illness. Sick days are not paid, nor are breaks.
What the workers at this workplace need is a trade union, and that is exactly what Socialist Party members who work there are building. We are aiming to achieve the 51% membership (out of 30 permanent staff) that is required to force the company to recognise Usdaw as our union. Having built a core of five activists we feel ready to begin a more general recruitment policy in order to get recognition before the end of the January sales.
The majority of the young workers are angry, and starting to realise what a life of unskilled work will mean. The older workers are starting to see that this company has no great intention to look after them.

Programme

We are recruiting union members with the following programme:

An end to bullying management. An end to mandatory overtime.
An end to discrimination against temporary workers. For the same conditions and pay levels for temporary workers. For protection against dismissal for sickness or lateness. For full training of temps.
For paid breaks. For extra breaks for those working overtime, an extra 15 minutes every two hours.
For measures to be taken to protect workers from the cold during winter.
For a guarantee of job security, and for permanent jobs to be made available to a proportion of temps. For a 35-hour week with no loss of pay, which could be accomplished by paying breaks.

We are confident that in the first quarter of 2009 we will achieve recognition. Workers are sick and tired of accepting poverty wages to line pockets of certain rich ‘Dragons’. We will continue to build the union, and with it the Socialist Party.

A retail worker

If you have any stories about what is happening in your workplace
then please send them to the Activist
at shopworker@socialistparty.ork.uk

If you have a colleague who would like to receive
a regular copy of the Activist or other materials to democratise
our union then send their
e-mail address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Retail and Distribution Activist no 13

2009-01-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
December 2008
Issue 13

New Year Greetings From Robbie (Robina) Segal (Usdaw President Candidate)

Dear Sisters and Brothers

Unfortunately, 2009 will be one of the hardest years faced by retail workers for decades. During my campaign for Usdaw’s general secretary, I said that what was at stake was the future direction of the union. My socialist message received 40% of the vote. If the election had taken place today, I am sure the bankruptcy of the present leadership’s policies - as shown by their response to the economic crisis - would have given me even more votes.
My warning that there needed to be a change of attitude because the union would not be ready to face the challenges of the impending economic crisis has proven correct. It is clear from recent reports that two of the major UK banks came within hours of collapse and New Labour came to their rescue and the tax payer paid the bill. Our members have contributed millions to save the banks and yet when our jobs are threatened there is no help for us.
What is needed is a militant programme of action which includes: demonstrations, lobbying the government, occupations of the stores and workplaces, and the nationalisation of the major retailers. The trade unions have been silent, Usdaw must demand at the TUC that a progamme of coordinated action be planned which must include one day stoppages.
John Hannett and the policies of Usdaw leaders’ have been tested with their response to the Woolworth closure. They have failed.
I ask you to help mobilise your members in the President and EC elections to ensure they vote for candidates who want change. Have a good new year but let us make 2009 the year that Usdaw starts the fight back.

Comradely
Robbie (Robina) Segal

The slaughter of retail jobs

We reported in the last issue of the Activist of the slaughter of retail jobs and unfortunately it has been proven correct. Woolworth is now gone and so as many other high street names and thousands of jobs will be lost in the coming months. Already in the days following Christmas the following have announced problems: Whittard, tea sellers; UCS, fashion; Zavvi, music; Olan Mills, the photo shop; and Adams, the children’s clothing retailer. How many more jobs will be lost before our leader start the fight back?
Understanding the recession
The Activist welcomes the decision of the Union to try and come to grips with a strategy to fight the recession. At the officials’ jamboree, in Alton Towers at the beginning of the New Year, there is a session on the recession. We have to ask will it establish the fighting programme that is clearly needed by our Union. The key is to understand the nature of the crisis. The Activist argues that it is a crisis of capitalism. And without a understanding of capitalism then there can be no real strategy to defeat the onslaught of the bosses.

Increase the minimum wage

The British Chamber of Commerce, the bosses’ organistion, has demanded that there should be no increase in the national minimum wage in 2009. They argue that any increase would undermine jobs and lead to unemployment. They stated:
"We're not opposed to the minimum wage going up when employment is high and the economy is doing well, but when jobs are being lost daily and a recession is in full swing, it makes no sense to increase it," said director general David Frost. "Most businesses are prioritising survival at the moment. A rise in the minimum wage would not help firms hold on to staff and would simply add to unemployment."
This is a declaration of war against the low-paid workers. The words should act as a warning for our negotiators; the bosses will want us to pay for their crisis. Our members are paid little more than pence above the minimum wage and, therefore, what is needed is a coordinated programme of action. Why not increase the minimum wage to give us workers the extra money we need to spend to make ends meet and at the same time put back into the economy?
The Activist pointed out months ago that the economic crisis, which had been caused by the wealthy and their capitalist system, that the bosses would demand the low-paid workers to pay. This is why the trade unions should be raising the need to change the political system. If capitalism is failing then we should be demanding a socialist system. Socialism would defend the rights of the majority rather than keeping a few fat cats in luxury. For a full analysis of the current economic and political crisis then check out www.socialistparty.org.uk

Email addresses needed

If you have a colleague who would like to receive
a regular copy of the Activist or other materials to democratise the our union then send their
e-mail address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Christmas is Over and the Cutbacks Begin

2009-01-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

by a Morrisons Worker

After dragging almost the entire workforce in over the Christmas period to do extra shifts to capitalise on the usual higher sales of that period, the Morrisons I work at (and the others in the area) have decided to repay the workforce by cutting back on hours. Of course, there are usually cutbacks on temporary staff that are taken on for Christmas, but this is much more.
In the name of saving money (or in reality keeping up their profits), staff have had their hours cut on a temporary basis with someone losing 24 hours of work per week! Others have been moved from working on Sundays (for which we get paid time and a half) to other days of the week. Although it is not a large proportion of the staff who are affected directly, it will affect everyone indirectly as we’ll all be expected to pick up the slack. Its another story of workers who have mortgages and rents to pay, suffering for the effects of the capitalist economic crisis.
Shop workers need a fighting trade union to represent them and fight for better conditions, and that’s why I’d urge all USDAW members to vote for Robbie Segal in the upcoming elections.

Retail and Distribution Activist no 12

2008-12-05T10:54:00.001-08:00

Bulletin of Socialist Party members working in retail and distribution
November 2008 Issue 12

Robbie to stand for President

After the excellent vote for her as a candidate in Usdaw’s general secretary election, Robbie Segal has been lobbied to stand for the position of Usdaw’s President. Robbie told the Activist, ‘I feel honoured to accept the nomination to stand for President on behalf of those in the union who want to change Usdaw into a union that’s fights for it members. I will be a campaigning President. I will fight to protect members’ jobs, and terms and conditions. I will argue for a national campaign to mobilise our membership to win a decent wage. I will see it as my role to defend the democratic traditions of the union and put the members’ first.’

Crisis in the retail sector

Woolworths and MFI have called in the receivers and Dairy Farmers have declared mass redundancies. 100,000 retail jobs have vanished in the last year and at least another ten companies with 60,000 jobs are likely to go down the same road. A managing director of one company said, ‘the worse time for job losses will be the first six months of next year, which will be a bloodbath for many retailers.’
The question is posed does the leadership of the largest retail union, Usdaw, have a strategy that can defend members’ jobs. So what has been Usdaw’s approach to the pending crisis faced in the retail sector?
Usdaw’s Woolworth’s press release states, ‘seeking urgent talks with the administrators’ and ‘we will do everything we can to help communicate the situation to the staff’ and ‘we will be doing everything we can to help them through this difficult time.’ As far as the Dairy Farmers press release it demanded, ‘an urgent meeting with the company in order that we can understand the business case behind this decision and to receive guarantees on jobs in the remaining localities.’ These are mere platitudes rather than a strategy. Usdaw members are demanding that our union must start fighting back now.
Woolworth had sales of over £1.7 billion and has a major share in many products sold in the high street. Who decided the fate of Woolworths and the other hundreds of thousands jobs likely to be axed. The various companies that own Woolworth’s debt decided it was in their interest to pull the plug. It is their interests rather than those of the workforce – profits before jobs – that determines the outcome of thousands of jobs.
From press reports it seems that the government intervened but failed to get a deal to save Woolworth. It is strange when bankers jobs are on the line there are millions to save jobs but when low-paid retail workers are about to lose their jobs New Labour don’t have a penny to spare. They can nationalise struggling banks but there is no mention of public ownership to save retail jobs.
This approach by the government, Usdaw slavishly supports all things New Labour, is the real weakness of our union’s strategy. For so long they have follow a partnership with the bosses and the government, Usdaw is tied to the strategy of the government. – which is pro-business. The Activist argues that the only real way to solve the problems faced by retail workers is to take into public ownership the major retail companies.

Defend our jobs and terms and conditions

Everyone is talking about economic crisis now. The Socialist Party has been explaining for years that there was going to be a massive economic downturn. Now it has happened the bosses will attempt to make saving my cutting our wages and conditions.
One of the problems is that Usdaw’s leadership have rolled over and accepted changes to contracts rather than fight to preserve existing terms and conditions. Jon Hannett even commented in the latest issue of Arena that ‘the distribution network of many big players is being overhauled.’ What does this mean? What have the leaders done? When members have been willing to fight, there has been no real struggle and the officials arguing for acceptance of the changes. In the new distribution sites new starters are employed on worse conditions when compared to the older sites.
The situation is no better in the establish distribution sites. Again there has been an acceptance of worse contracts for new starters. Having members on different contracts will mean that the management will divide and split the workforce when joint action is needed.
The situation is as bad in Tesco’s stores, where workers are on different terms. Using the excuse of the economic crisis, it will make it easier to attack the conditions of those on the better contacts. These show a major weakness in Usdaw’s strategy.
Another problem we are facing is that companies have stopped replacing leavers and as the economic crunch continues the bosses will implement permanent freezes on new recruits. This will force members to work harder. It will create a stressful working environment which in turn will lead to more absence disciplinary hearings.

Nationalisation and the trade unions

The Activist and the Socialist Party has always argued for nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy and this includes the banks. When we have raised this issue, we were attacked by the establishment especially New Labour supporters. We were utopians and recently this idea was rejected as being outdated. We were told that the problems of economic growth were solved and never again would we return to the days of boom and bust. Most shop workers never experience any real boom. It was a boom where the rich became even richer while the gap between the wealthy and the poor increased.
Now the rich are the enthusiastic advocates of nationalisation. Their institutions faced bankruptcy and they demanded that Gordon Brown bails them out and he readily agreed. But when workers demanded their companies needed saving, Brown’s answers in the negative. We need a socialist government and a new workers’ party.

Email addresses needed
If you have a colleague who would like to receive
a regular copy of the Activist or other materials to democratise the our union then send their
e-mail address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Retail and Distirbution Activist: Issue 11

2008-10-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Retail & Distribution Activist: Bulletin of Socialist Party members in USDAW

October 2008 Issue 11

Usdaw leaders shaken by election results

Socialist Party member Robbie Segal shook the entire shopworkers' union USDAW by gaining 40% of the vote for General Secretary in the ballot result announced today. Robbie is a Tesco worker who on shoe-string resources with a tiny band of activists in a David and Goliath battle faced the entire USDAW official machine. The whole right wing union full time bureaucracy was mobilised to crush her, but she still managed to gain over 18,000 votes winning the moral victory by far.
The incumbent, John Hannett, had the entire union behind him – except the members. He appears in the union journal and other union publications every month. Robbie was virtually unknown to most of the members other than those that have known her first-hand as a fighter over the years. As an example, three officials, one of whom a EC member, were flown into the Central London branch meeting to argue against one Socialist Party member to secure the nomination of all the London branches for Hannett. But Robbie’s programme clearly appealed to the members by calling for an £8 minimum wage for all, no to partnership between the union and the employers- as there is in Tesco, for democracy within the union, and for an alternative to New Labour for ordinary people to have a party that genuinely represents them. Robbie also pledged to reject the £100,000 Hannett took and to continue on her Tesco wage.
The result is in no way a ringing endorsement of the current leadership. The low turnout of 13.2% reflected the fact that Hannett did his very best to subdue the issue, by calling a summer election, calling no debates with Robbie and producing no other material other than the ballot paper and a letter to the branches demanding their support. So Hannett's 7.8% support in USDAW must be seen as a massive vote of no confidence in his performance in the job.
This result, for a clearly socialist candidate in the USDAW General Secretary election is testimony to the changing mood in the unions. USDAW has for many years been the bastion of the right wing with an avid New Labourite leadership. John Hannett pulled all the stops out to use the union bureaucratic machine in his favour for this election. Robbie proved his leadership severely lacking.

This article first appeared in The Socialist. www.socialistparty.org.uk

John Hannett – you are doing well

After a week of turmoil on the financial markets, it about time we looked again at our general secretary’s income. Inflation for the basic necessities is going through the roof, so John certainly needs a ‘substantial increase’. The recent copy of Arena publishes the details of the general secretary’s income.

Income National insurance Pension Car TOTAL
September 2008 £81,742 £9,801 £16,389 £6,532 £114,464
September 2007 £78,050 £10,053 £15,172 £5,494 £108,769

No mention of the GS election?
Why is the result of the General Secretary election not posted on the Usdaw website? Can you help us? Is the conspiracy to keep the 40% vote for Robbie a secret? In the EC minutes it mentions the election but again no figures. Why is there a campaign of silence?

Campaigning for a decent living wage
‘The £8 minimum wage is unrealistic.’ This was one the main arguments out of the mouths of my opponents during the general secretary election campaign. However, they never told us what would be a ‘realistic’ minimum wage.
Every wage claim submitted by Usdaw asks for a substantial pay rise. It is never explained what a substantial pay rise is nor an amount mention.
Is the Tesco pay rise for their retail workers of 3.8% a substantial rise? Of course not! The general secretary’s pay (not including the other benefits) increased by £3,692. Now that would be a substantial increase for our members in retail.

The secret election

Since the announcement of the result for Usdaw’s general secretary election, I have been asked numerous times why there was such a poor turnout. All the comments from friends and foes considered my vote good to excellent and John Hannett’s very poor.

Of course, Hannett’s one comfort was that he won. With the whole fulltime machine supporting him, he believed they would get out his vote which he did but it was only a fraction of the membership. Some of the officials commented to me privately that they believed the letter sent by him to Usdaw employees, which contained a near instruction to ring him and pledge their allegiance, was a form of bullying. His undemocratic and unfair methods at the start of the campaign repulsed many of the officials and members

There were a number of reasons for the low turnout. When John Hannett raised the election at the EC, I complained that if it was being held over the summer period and this would decrease the numbers voting. I was proved correct.

Another factor why so few of our members voted was because they had no idea that an election was taking place. It was truly a secret election – the Union’s members had no idea that there was an election until the ballot paper dropped through their letterbox.

There was a single letter to the branches, which is attended by a mere handful of members, informing the branch of the election. There was no mention of the election in the members’ magazine Arena which is delivered to every member’s home. There was not even a mention in the activists’ journal Network. Clearly Hannett expected the fewer members knew about his opponent’s programme and strategy all the better for him and would give him an advantage in the contest. The blame for the low turnout is the fault of Hannett’s unfair running of the election,

In fact Hannett’s whole strategy was flawed. However the real weakness of his campaign was that his promise for more of the same never found an echo with the bulk of our members. What has the Union really achieved over the five years of Hannett’s control? In the present economic crisis, many members fear the effect of the economic crisis on their living standards. They will be demanding wage increases to defend their living standards. In response to my demand for a £8 minimum wage, the officials called it ‘unrealistic’. What is realistic? The union normally submits a claim for a substantial increase. What is a substantial increase? The only thing unrealistic is members are expected to survive on or just above the minimum wage.

If Hannett had conducted a serious campaign to increase wages then the members would have voted in their droves for him. But constrained by the Union’s support for New Labour’s pro-employer policies meant that a real campaign against the big retail companies is a massive ‘no no’. With capitalism in crisis, what can Hannett and his New Labour supporters really offer the hard working and low paid members of our union.

At the start of the campaign, I suggested the Executive Council should write guidelines for the election that would take the power away from the incumbent to dictate the timing and conduct of the election. This the EC rejected. However my vote has frightened the bureaucracy. They could have lost the ballot so now they will panic and try to change the rules to ensure the bureaucracy can never be threatened again by a real challenger. We will have to be on our guard against attacks on the democracy in our Union.

After my 40% vote, the members should be aware that there is a strong possibility that right wing leaders of our Union will launch attacks against those officials who never gave their support to John Hannett. It is rumoured that a list was kept of the officials that rung pledging their support for him.

Finally after what has turned into a rather curious campaign, it appears that the union is trying to keep the result secret. The result has not been published on the Usdaw’s website and even in the EC minutes the result was not published. Curious, to say the least!

Email addresses needed
If you have a colleague who would like to receive a regular copy of the Activist or other materials to democratise the our union then send their e-mail address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Results of USDAW General Secretary election:

2008-09-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Socialist Party member Robbie Segal shook the entire shopworkers' union USDAW by gaining 40% of the vote for General Secretary in the ballot result announced today. Robbie is a Tesco worker who on shoe-string resources with a tiny band of activists in a David and Goliath battle faced the entire USDAW official machine. The whole right wing union full time bureaucracy was mobilised to crush her, but she still managed to gain over 18,000 votes winning the moral victory by far.
The incumbent, John Hannett, had the entire union behind him – except the members. He appears in the union journal and other union publications every month. Robbie was virtually unknown to most of the members other than those that have known her first-hand as a fighter over the years. As an example, three NEC members were flown into the Central London branch meeting to argue against one Socialist Party member to secure the nomination of all the London branches for Hannett. But Robbie’s programme clearly appealed to the members by calling for an £8 minimum wage for all, no to partnership between the union and the employers- as there is in Tesco, for democracy within the union, and for an alternative to New Labour for ordinary people to have a party that genuinely represents them. Robbie also pledged to reject the £100,000 Hannett took and to continue on her Tesco wage.
The result is in no way a ringing endorsement of the current leadership. The low turnout of 13.2% reflected the fact that Hannett did his very best to subdue the issue, by calling a summer election, calling no debates with Robbie and producing no other material other than the ballot paper and a letter to the branches demanding their support. So Hannett's 7.8% support in USDAW must be seen as a massive vote of no confidence in his performance in the job.
This result, for a clearly socialist candidate in the USDAW General Secretary election is testimony to the changing mood in the unions. USDAW has for many years been the bastion of the right wing with an avid New Labourite leadership. John Hannett pulled all the stops out to use the union bureaucratic machine in his favour for this election. Robbie proved his leadership severely lacking.

Voting returns are:-Voting papers distributed............348'278 100%
Ballot papers returned..................46'002 13.2%
Hannett.....................................27'320 59.4
%Segal........................................18'673 40.6%

USDAW national public meeting
'Fighting for a Democratic Usdaw'
to discuss union perspectives, election results and plans for future action
is this Saturday, 20th September 12-3pm, Lucas Arms, 245A Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8QZ. Nearest station, Kings Cross St Pancrass.

Manifesto for Usdaw Democracy

2008-09-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

Compiled by Robbie Segal

As part of my candidature for General Secretary, I launched a discussion on democracy in Usdaw. I would like to thank all those who have sent me comments on this document or who have suggested changes to the rules. Many of the comments have been included in this current document.

Many contributions have commented on the unfair nature of the election. They have called for the ending the general secretary’s power to dictate the timing and conduct of the election.

This manifesto to democratise Usdaw will be discussed at the meeting on the 20th September in London. If you want to attend then please contact me at robbie.segal@aol.com

However if you are unable to attend and would still like to participate in the debate then please contact me at either robbie.segal@aol.com or on my blog

General Secretary Election

As you are most probably aware the letter informing the branches that the General Secretary Election had been called was sent out with an endorsement for John Hannett, the current general secretary. Although individual EC members were asked point blank (I believe that this was intimidating and never gave members the chance to reflect on the question} whether they supported the General Secretary. More importantly no written motion was presented to the meeting and therefore to consider this as an EC endorsement of John Hannett is wrong.

I consider the distributing the endorsement of John Hannett on the same circular that informed branches of the election was a major infringement of the democratic traditions of the trade unions.

I will be proposing that the timing of the any future General Secretary elections will be governed by Rule and not on the whim of the incumbent general secretary. Further the conduct of the election will be decided by guidelines that will be presented to the ADM for endorsement.

Rule 11, Section 1:
The General Secretary shall be elected by a national vote of members by way of a statutory postal ballot as prescribed by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidations) Act 1992. All branches shall have the right to make nominations. She/he shall remain in office during the will and pleasure of the members who, through the Annual or Special Delegate Meetings, have power to dismiss or call upon her/him to resign.

Executive Council

The EC meets once a month and the meetings last about 2 hours. This time is not adequate to ensure the role of the EC is fulfilled under rule.

Rule 9, section 10:
The Executive Council shall have full control of the business of the Union, and shall have power to do anything not inconsistent with these Rules or the Acts of Parliament under which the Union is certified as an independent trade Union. In the event of any questions arising on which the Rules are silent or obscure, the Executive Council shall have the power to decide thereon.

Minutes of the Executive Council

The minutes circulated to the branches are considered by many members as a joke.
I will ensure that the branches can understand the workings and decisions of the EC. I will publish an account of the major decisions in Arena.

Rule 11, Section 4:
The General Secretary shall be in attendance at all Delegate Meetings and meetings of the Executive Council, and shall keep a correct account of the minutes of the proceedings.

Add at the end of the paragraph, ‘The General Secretary shall provide for publication in Arena a summary of the decisions of Executive Council meetings.’

A lay members Executive Council

There have been a number of comments on whether the rule book should be clear about whether only lay members should serve on the EC. This arises because there is now a member of the EC from the North East who has been appointed to the position of an Area Organiser in the Eastern Division. He now neither works nor lives in the Division and remains on the EC.

Control of employment issues

This is interpreted as being that it is the provocative of the general secretary to deal with all employment matters. The Union has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultants and the Leap Project. The EC have never had a full report or updates on the spending of this money or the recent Leap Project developments.

Rule 11, Section 15:
The General Secretary shall superintend and direct the work of all employees of the Union.

Add at the end of the paragraph, ‘the General Secretary will make a full written report on all employment matters to the Executive Council every three months.’

Serving on outside organisations

Rule 11, Section 3:
The General Secretary and the Deputy General Secretary shall devote their whole time to the work of the Union, and shall not be eligible to be a Parliamentary Candidate to the United Kingdom, European or Scottish Parliaments or a candidate for the election to the Welsh Assembly whilst continuing on office as General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary.

Add New Rule 11, Section 4.
‘The General Secretary and the Deputy General Secretary shall seek permission from the Executive Council to serve on all outside organisations, and any remuneration other than expenses shall be paid to the Union.’

Renumber all subsequent Sections.

The Standing Orders Committee

The SOC is governed by rule and there has been a number of comments concerning the EC’s control of the ADM. First, whether it was appropriate for an EC member who had been appointed to the position of Area Organiser to chair the committee. Second, whether the EC should control the agenda for the ADM and would it be more democratic for the conference to be controlled by a lay Standing Orders Committee.

New technology and information

One of the election claims by John Hannett has been his boast that with Arena is now delivered to every member’s home and that they are better informed about the union. However I have received a number of comments that there is no useful information contained in Arena or Network. It has been suggested that the EC should investigate whether the branch circulars could be distributed via email and all member should be able to request copies.

Women in Usdaw

I have received many messages supporting my complaint that there has been a lack of any improvements in the position of the number of women in positions in Usdaw. There are many capable women in our union, so it has been suggested it must either be the selection process or the fact that the panel is dominated by men is the reason dor the lack of progress.

Robbie Segal.

Vote Robbie Segal

2008-08-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

You have probably received your ballot paper for Usdaw’s general secretary and you are looking at my website to find out what I stand for. My policies are explained in a series of statements. If you want to comment on any of the points please email me at robbie@robbiesegal.org
I believe the election and the campaign has been unfair and undemocratic. The only aspect were John Hannett and I have been equal is on the ballot paper. When I am elected general secretary, I will ensure that all future elections will be governed by rule; thus insuring a democratic debate and an equal opportunity for all candidates to have access to the members.
If you like what you read and would like to become part of the campaign for a democratic and fighting Usdaw then email me with your name, workplace and branch to robbie@robbiesegal.org.
Thanks you again for your support
Robbie Segal

Morrisons Pay Insult

2008-07-28T05:00:00.001-07:00

Last week staff at Morrisons were voting over whether to accept a pay deal negotiated by the union. That is if they knew about the ballot at all. Okay so we had a poster in store saying there was a pay ballot, but if you have only started at the company within the last year (like majority of the staff, at least 5% of the staff are replenished each month) and you don’t know that much about unions you probably won’t realise you are of the people who has a vote. Even for someone who is slightly more clued up like myself, I had to wait until the day after to vote as the personnel office where the ballot box is was closed.

A Morrisons worker

The terms of the deal are even harder to find out. A conversation with our union rep led to me finding out that the deal would probably mean an increase of £5 a week in our pay with our wage going up to £6 an hour in February next year. Considering that most workers at Morrisons earn 4p above minimum wage, there perhaps is a sense of at least this is going in the right direction a bit. Later I found out more about the offer, but not from the union website which I looked at first and found absolutely nothing about the offer. Rather it was from an unofficial staff forum that I finally found out that with the deal pay will go up to £5.86 in October (when the minimum wage goes up to £5.73) and then £6 in February.
Whilst this increase means that we will be an extra 20p an hour above the minimum wage in February next year it still means our pay will be very low, far below the European Decency threshold which stands at £8 an hour. Furthermore, with inflation soaring this increase is likely to be swept away very quickly. Given the £612 million pre-tax profits Morrisons made last year, the surely much more could have been fought for?
The lacklustre approach of the union leadership in relation to this is indicative of a great number of other problems Morrisons workers face and the union fails to take action over. One of the biggest problems is understaffing which means that workers effectively have to do the jobs of two or more people, unsurprisingly this leads to accidents and taking short-cuts with health and safety. My department alone has at least one accident a day if not more!
John Hannett (USDAW General Secretary) gets £100,000 a year salary plus a free Jaguar – I wonder how closely he feels the pains that the members he is supposed to represent have to endure. What we need is a leadership prepared to fight, if they took the pitifully low wage we have to accept then their might be a fight for a minimum wage of £8 for all retail workers. Such a demand is in Robbie Segal’s programme as she stands against Hannett in the General Secreatry elections, which is why I shall be building her campaign in my store.

Distribution and Warehouse workers join the Activist Network

2008-07-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

One of the outcomes of this election already has been the call by many logistic workers to establish a rank and file network. If you want your name to be added to the list and receive updates on events in our sector then send your email address to robbie@robbiesegal.org

A Tesco distribution worker

Argos warehouse workers vote to strike

2008-07-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

From the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) newsletter

Argos distribution workers have voted by 67% to strike over pay. A senior steward for Unite at the Argos distribution centre in Basildon, spoke to The Socialist about the dispute and about organising distribution workers:
“We will be striking over our annual pay deal and the move from weekly to monthly pay. Argos make millions in profits, yet they only offered us a 3.8% pay rise when inflation was running at 4.1%.
They did say they would offer us 4.1% but that would be at the cost of eating into our sickness scheme. They have already cut into this before so it is clear the company want to get rid of it.
The directors give themselves big pay rises and bonuses, so it is an insult to us to say there is no money.
On the move from weekly to monthly pay, we’ve asked for a one-off payment to cover the transitional period when we have to go without money. The union’s concern is that our members don’t lose out financially.
At the moment they are offering us loans, with £40 a month repayments, which is completely unacceptable. With the cost of living going up, an additional payment of £40 a month could mean the difference between losing our home and keeping it. Yet the company seems quite miffed that we want money for this change.
As we’ve explained to them, we’re low-waged unskilled workers. Many are already up their eyes in debt with CCJs etc and they can’t afford loan payments.
On our site the manager originally said we would bring the union in over his dead body. But we have got organised so now we have 80% membership.
We’ve had about 15 people join in the last few weeks.
We’re trying to recruit agency staff at the moment. We have been successful in recruiting Polish workers who have been really supportive of us. They are some of the most vocal for the strike.
Originally they were tied to an employment agency and tied to houses but we’ve stopped that. Now the migrant workers have broken down the barriers by standing side by side with us trying to improve our pay and conditions. The company would prefer to divide and rule.”

send messages of support (and mention the NSSN) to

Formby Jennie, T&G. National Secretary General Workers' Trade Group [Jennie.Formby@unitetheunion.com]

A Report From USDAW Distribution Conference

2008-07-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank Robbie Segal and anyone else that was instrumental in organising this long overdue conference specifically designed for the Distribution sector of the union.
The conference went well with lots of good feedback and ideas on how to progress and I look forward to further such conferences.

I believe the Distribution sector is a completely different animal to retail,with totally different needs when it comes to support from our union, and I will give just a few examples.

In retail, take Tesco for example their terms and conditions are negotiated at a national level by an USDAW national officer, in distribution we negotiate our own locally and only involve our national officer if agreement cannot be reached., therefore I believe we should be training our full time convenors in distribution in the art of negotiations,

In Sainsbury distribution centres we have an agreement that the union will spend time with new starters during their induction with a recommendation from the company that they join,my point being that whilst I understand that new members are the lifeblood of our union,we already have this important task covered and enjoy membership in excess of 90%,
I think the limited time spent when new stewards go on their introduction courses would be greatly enhanced by such exercises as role play in representing members in a disciplinary situation,health and safety regulations,and employment law rather than the present, recruitment,recruitment,recruitment, and on this point I think that as much effort should be placed on retaining current members as we do recruiting new ones, and we will only be able to do this by giving them the support and value they are seeking from well trained representatives.

I also believe that some guidance should be given from the union as to agreements we should be seeking,an example of such is a model of an enhanced redundancy package, easier to get an agreement during times when the company do not believe they will ever make redundancies yet almost impossible if redundancies becomes a reality.

I hope now that we will go forward with a true recognition as to the needs of the distribution sector and not be looked upon as the poor cousins in a retail union, which has been the perception for too long amongst many of our members.

Jon Harriss (Convenor Sainsbury`s Distribution Depot Waltham Point) C28

New video interview on Robbie’s website

2008-07-07T08:15:00.001-07:00

Robbie’s website has been updated. See Robbie’s 6 minute interview were she expands on her programme, Visit www.robiesegal.org

Second Conference of National Shop Stewards Network

2008-07-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

SECOND CONFERENCE JUNE 28TH 2008
Secretary’s Report

Last weekend around 300 stewards/workplace reps, and observers gathered in London for the Second Conference of the NSSN.

Dave Chapple (CWU) welcomed everyone remarking how the trade unions could be rebuilt through strong local action. Bob Crow, whose RMT had initiated the Network, opened the morning session outlining the enormous problems facing working people, and how trade unions needed to be vigorous so workers could defend themselves from increasingly aggressive bosses. He added also how workers needed a political voice – so they don’t have to keep fighting the same battles again and again. Onay Kasab a victimised Unison branch secretary followed, reminding us that any union leadership that attacked its own activists would be met with a strong fightback. Karen Reissman also a Unison activist sacked for exposing shortcomings in the NHS showed how a local campaign can get national solidarity support. The morning was rounded off with Brian Caton from the POA, whose rallying call to “choose freedom and break bad laws” referring to the iniquitous anti-trade union laws, was well applauded.

In the afternoon there were nine workshops. The debate on political representation was the most popular, but all were well attended and feedback very favourable. The reports of the workshops will be posted on the website.

The afternoon session was devoted to building the NSSN. I, as secretary reported our progress over the last year since the Founding Conference. The National Steering Committee had set to work making sure that the Network was both involved in all the major events of the trade unions, like conferences and demonstrations, but also covered local disputes. In the course of the year we have set up seven Regional Networks, published newsletters and generally maintained a profile. The task for the coming year was to consolidate and build. Several speakers from the floor then contributed.

The final session was addressed by Rob Williams (Unite), who described the anger of workers in the private sector as well as the public sector, and called for workers to join together in their millions to resist the bosses’ attacks. Caroline Johnson of Birmingham Council Unison described their recent huge strikes and how the union had grown out of this action and won concessions. Jack Heyman, a guest from America and leading member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, described their strike action on May Day along the entire west coast to demand the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Janice Godrich president of PCS closed by congratulating the Network. She went on to describe some of the practices, once prevalent in the early twentieth century, now being experienced by really low-paid workers; and how the PCS leadership was tackling this by working with activists to develop a strong workplace union. She also highlighted her union’s approach to elections, and raised the prospect of a conference of trade unionists in the autumn to progress the issue.

There was a call for everyone at the Conference to ensure that they attended their next regional conference; to promote the Network particularly amongst younger and newer reps; and to get donations and sponsorships from their unions and workplaces.

A new National Steering Committee was agreed through a simple process of nomination. Those names will be published on the website, and the new committee will get to work, aiming to ensure that the Network plays a valuable role in all workplaces in the coming year.

Linda Taaffe (Secretary 2007-8)

CAN YOU HELP!

2008-07-03T02:24:00.000-07:00

Can you help with the distribution of our leaflets to stores, distribution centres and factories?
If you can then please email me at robbie@robbiesegal.org
Thanks
Robbie

UK union refuses to smear Tesco - Tesco: under fire in US

2008-06-27T01:58:00.000-07:00

Taken from

PR Week.com
FRONT PAGE: UK union refuses to smear Tesco -Tesco: under fire in US
Clare O'Connor 12-Jun-08
A major UK trade union is declining to join US counterparts who have vowed to damage the reputation of Tesco around the world.

America's 1.3 million- member United Food and Commercial Workers' Union (UFCW) has pledged to shame Tesco into improving treatment of employees at its US Fresh & Easy chain. Labour MP Jon Cruddas is backing the campaign, and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have urged Tesco to co-operate with the UFCW. But, in a boost for Tesco, the UK's Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) says it will not publicly come out in support of the campaign. ‘Obviously we're aware of the American campaign,' said Usdaw general secretary John Hannett. But he insisted: ‘Tesco has a record of recognising unions across the world.'But a trade union insider said Usdaw was not entering the row for fear of upsetting its partnership agreement with Tesco. ‘If Tesco picks up the papers and sees Usdaw criticising it, that will rock the boat,' said the source.Tesco and Usdaw's agreement means there are union representatives covering each shop, with Tesco paying for recruitment and training.
document.

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN - Build the Usdaw Shop Steward Network

2008-06-25T02:05:00.000-07:00

At the National Shop Steward Network Conference this Saturday, I will be announcing that I am arranging a meeting of all those who want to oppose the partnership concept and the way our union is being run.

The conference will take place on Saturday 20th September in London.
If you want to know more about the conference
then email me at robbie@robbiesegal.org

Fight for a living wage
Against partnership
Fight for trade union democracy
A General Secretary on a workers wage

The Activist - Issue 10, June 08

2008-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

Usdaw needs a fighting leadership

Socialist Party member Robbie Segal is standing for general secretary of the shop and distribution workers’ union USDAW.

Why are you standing?
The current general secretary, John Hannett, told the union’s executive council (EC) meeting in May that he was standing for re-election. It was in ‘any other business’, it was not an itemised agenda item. The election is to be held over the summer, when workers are on holiday.
The election will cost the union an enormous amount of extra money. I argued that the election should be held at the same time as the presidential, EC and divisional councillors’ elections later this year. Our low-paid members have just had an increase in their subscriptions. The extra money earned will be squandered on his unnecessary and opportunistic election.
John Hannett’s campaign is engineered to run roughshod over democracy, allowing very little time for other candidates to organise, to get nominated or to raise finance. It shows the real weakness of the bureaucracy at the top. Now the officials will be going round branches and distribution centres to persuade branch officers to nominate John Hannett.
I feel that it is necessary for a candidate on the left to stand up for democracy. Union members in retail need the return of their right to vote on their terms and conditions, rather than having deals done with the bosses over our heads. We need power returned to elected lay members on the executive council.

What do you feel about the union’s ‘partnership’ deal with Tesco?
Our members demand national free collective bargaining rather than partnership that has negated the power of the union. There has to be principled negotiations rather than class collaboration. You have to have that line in the sand that you do not cross over as a negotiator. You must put terms and conditions deals to the whole membership. What in real terms has partnership really done for us? The only one who seems to have benefited from partnership is Tesco.

What is your attitude to the Labour Party now?
Labour’s leaders have abandoned any pretence of representing working-class people. Despite John Hannett’s continued mantra on the achievements of the Labour Party, shop workers are worse off than ever with gas and electric prices going up by 17% and 15% just this year. We work hard stacking shelves and wasting away on checkouts and how are we repaid? By the bosses getting larger pay-rises while ours dwindle!
We need a party that genuinely represents our views and that won’t be afraid to be the voice for our anger. This is why Socialist Party members are involved with the Campaign for a New Workers Party (CNWP).

What will be your initial campaign?
I will launch a campaign to fight for a living minimum wage of £8 per hour for all retail workers from 16 years to retirement age. I will fight to link pensions to earnings. £8 is the European Union poverty threshold below which you are regarded as working poor. Why should we receive benefits from the state and a poverty wage from big business when they are making enormous profits?

I am standing for a general secretary on a workers’ wage. I reject John Hannett’s wage and benefits totalling over £100,000. I will take the wage that I earn as a Tesco worker and all necessary expenses will be open to scrutiny so that any member can check them.
How can you sit on the low pay commission drawing that sort of wage when your own union members in retail earn barely above the national minimum wage?

This article first appeared in The Socialist. www.socialistparty.org.uk

Robbie Segal calls Shop Steward Conference

Robbie Segal, candidate for Usdaw general secretary, has announced that she and others are calling a conference to discuss the direction that the current leadership is taking Usdaw. The Partnership strategy has proved to be a disaster for our members. The leadership has allowed many of our best terms and conditions in our best agreements to be eroded.
Join the fight back. Come to the Conference and help change the direction of Usdaw.

If you are interested in attending the conference or want to participate in the debate then send your email to robbie@robbiesegal.org or mob-07776195563

The conference will take place on Saturday 20 September in London

Nominate Robbie Segal for General Secretary
Dear Usdaw member, I am asking for your nomination for the position of Usdaw’s general secretary. I have been a trade union member since the age of 19. I have worked for Tesco stores in Folkestone for the past 22 years and I have been an active shop steward for 21 years. I have held senior positions at branch, regional and national levels of USDAW. I have served on the EC for nine years.

Name: Robbie Segal

Trade in which Nominee is employed:
Retail
Address: 29 Hawkins Road, Folkestone, Kent, CT19 4JA
Occupation: Wages Clerk
Nominee’s Branch: H084
Age: 59
Nominee’s Membership Number: 00098216
Name and address of Employer:
Tesco Stores Ltd, Folkestone, Kent, CT19 4QT

If you have a colleague who would like to receive
a regular copy of the Activist or be part of Robbie’s campaign
then send their
email address to shopworker@socialistparty.org.uk

Women and Usdaw

2008-06-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

Usdaw is a union with 205,672 women members and women make up 58% of the total membership. I believe one of the key weaknesses in Usdaw is the lack of women in the key leadership positions. All the four Central Officials are men and the president is a man. Importantly in the Divisions: the seven Divisional Officers are men, the seven Deputy Divisional Officers are men, there are 92 Area Organisers and only 30 are women, and of the 7 RDO’s left six are women. In the Divisions, there are now 77 men and 36 women making a total 113 officials.
The situation is not improving. In the 2001 Annual Report there was a total of 117 officials working in the Divisions of these 81 were men and 36 were women. I am sure you can work out the record of the Usdaw leadership on supporting women in Usdaw.
Usdaw on a weekly basis is run by four men – the Central Officials. A male only cabal is not an effective way to run a modern day trade union. When elected, I will change the composition of the Central Officer’s weekly meeting to ensure that there is an equal number of women to men plus the general secretary.
One of the barriers to involve our women members in the higher positions of the union is that they are not allowed to job share. As the general secretary, I will investigate and introduce a method that will allow all the members of our union to apply for positions within the union.

Robbie Segal
(Candidate for Usdaw General Secretary)

Two Upcoming Conferences

2008-06-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

This coming weekend there are two conferences coming up that readers of this blog will no doubt be interested in.

National Shop Stewards Network Conference Saturday 28 June, 11.30am-4.30pm. South Camden Community School, Charrington Street, London NW1. Speakers include Bob Crow RMT, Janice Godrich, PCS, Brian Caton POA. Delegates fee £5. See www.shopstewards.net or ring 020 8522 1156.

Campaign for a new workers' party Conference
Sunday 29 June 11am - 5pm
South Camden Community School, Charrington Street, London NW1
Nearest stations - Kings Cross & St Pancras, Euston, Mornington Crescent
Speakers confirmed so far include:
Bob Crow, RMT general secretary
Dave Nellist, Campaign for a New Workers' Party national chair
John McInally, PCS vice president
Simeon Andrews, Labour Representation Committee secretary
Rob Hoveman, Respect co-ordinating committee
Dave Church, Walsall Democratic Labour Party
Mike Davies, Alliance for Green Socialism chair
For info visit www.cnwp.org.uk

Build Affordable Homes Now!

2008-06-12T02:12:00.000-07:00

Like any working mother one of my concerns is the future our children will face in the decades ahead. One of the issues that I feel strongly about is the lack of affordable housing. Many of Usdaw members are on low wages and even affording to put down a deposit for a house is an unobtainable dream. So what chance for our children?

One of the campaigns I believe the trade union should be shouting about is the housing crisis. There is embarrassment by some of the leadership in Usdaw to criticise the New Labour government. Labour has lost its socialist roots and many of Labour’s leaders have a get rich mentality Tony Blair has just bought his sixth house for £4 million.

· The four million already on waiting lists for housing will be joined by another million according to the Local Government Association.

· A Shelter report last year exposed the fact that 500,000 families live in overcrowded conditions, this means that 900,000 children in 21st century Britain are brought up in cramped housing conditions.

I believe not one family should lose their home from repossession. If Northern Rock can be bailed out to the tune of £61 billion, then so can families and individuals unable to keep up mortgage payments due to the current credit squeeze and high interest rates.

I believe there should a massive council house-building programme, which would mean a low rent and secure home which is the only way we can solve this current housing crisis.

I believe the banks and building societies should be nationalised and run under democratic working-class control and management.

Thanks you for looking at my programme and if you can help in promoting my campaign then please contact me.

Robbie Segal

The struggle for a living wage

2008-06-12T02:07:00.000-07:00

By Robbie Segal

(Usdaw General Secretary candidate)

The minimum wage for many of our members is an important issue. Shop workers are low paid and are paid the minimum wage or just above. As a Tesco worker I know what it is like to live on little more than the minimum wage year after year.

As part of my election programme I have called for an hourly rate of £8 per hour. At present, the minimum wage is £5.52 per hour if you are 22 and over - a 36.5 hour week gives you a weekly pay of £201.48. For younger workers the rate is even more pitiful. A worker aged 18-21 is on £4.60 per hour and £3.40 per hour for all workers under the age of 18.

Is this enough to live on!?With prices of all the main stable foods rocketing, and fuel for our car and to heat our homes becoming luxury items, the trade unions must intervene to end poverty wages.

For those living on the meagre wages of the National Minimum Wage, it is a disgrace to the fourth richest country in the world. If all those who set the National Minimum Wage had to live on such a wage then they would be the first to shout loudest for a massive increase.

Twenty years ago in Usdaw when the minimum wage debate started, the union agreed to fight for a weekly wage of £120 for a 35 hour week. When the New Labour government came to power, the trade unions compromised on a much lower minimum hourly rate. The National Minimum Wage was introduced in 1999 and was set at £3.60 per hour. For 35 hours pay this worked out at £144 per week. A few quid more than the original demand some 10 years earlier. This compromise meant the National Minimum Wage was a poverty wage.

The government’s increases have been the bench mark for our negotiations. For the companies who only pay pennies above the minimum wage, they have to offer us the same as the minimum wage increase. This year the minimum wage was increased by 3.8%. So let’s see what Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrison offer us!

The Tesco starter rate is £5.94 and that is a mere 42p above the minimum wage and that is one of the best agreements.

The government is squeezing the public sector pay and it won’t be long before the same will be demanded in the private sector. What will our leaders do then? With their partnership strategy and acceptance of such a low minimum wage rate, it will be impossible to mobilise Usdaw members to fight for a few pennies.

One of the criticisms made against me when I demand a decent wage is that the members are apathetic and this is shown by the lack of turn-out in wage ballots. I believe the reason the members don’t vote is because they feel outside the whole wage bargaining process, feel their point of view does not matter anyhow and if they did fight would our leaders be serious about the struggle.

It won’t be an easy campaign to win a decent wage but it is a battle that must be started. Otherwise the millions of retail workers outside the ranks of the trade unions will remain there and the bosses will be laughing for the rest of their lives with the luxuries they receive from the labour of poor retail workers.

I will argue on the EC and at ADM that we start a campaign of mass mobilisation around the £8 per hour demand. I will ask the other unions with members in retail sector to join the struggle. But the one thing I am sure of, it won’t be a campaign giving instructions from the leaders of Usdaw to the our members.

Three of the four largest unions Usdaw, GMB and Unite (TGWU) all have agreements with the big four retailers. The unions should organise a joint national campaign to increase the wages for all retail workers. The unions should launch an extensive campaign of agitation to win retail workers to possible strike action thus ensuring the employers know the unions are really serious this time about fighting for members.. This is why I believe that all the trade unions must unite in a campaign to secure for the low paid a decent, living wage.

Opposing Partnership – Building a fighting alternative

2008-06-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

By Robbie Segal
(Candidate for Usdaw General Secretary)

In the Usdaw General Secretary election in 2003, John Hannett only received 19,063 votes while the National Officer, Val Pugh, obtained 13,729- votes and the Broad Left’s candidate Maureen Madden, standing on an anti-partnership programme, received 12,313 votes. Therefore, only 45,206 out of a possible 318,246 ballot papers were returned - a turnout of just over 14%. Hannett obtained less than 6% of the possible electorate. Clearly, John Hannett’s mandate is tenuous.

John Hannett, in his four years as general secretary, has been the most loyal of the very loyal supporters of New Labour. This acceptance of all aspects of New Labour pro business agenda meant that Usdaw had to passionately endorse the concept of their ‘social partnership’ strategy. In the EC statement to the 1998 ADM, it states, ‘Social partnership . . . will mean both unions and companies learning to do things differently. Some of the traditional ways we have of doing things may need to change.’ But have these changes brought any real benefits for Usdaw members?

Let’s remind ourselves of some of the Usdaw’s statement made 10 years ago. The EC document states, ‘It means the union is consulted on a wider range of issues’ and ‘Partnership means proper dialogue with the Union before decisions are taken, not giving us a “like it or lump it” choice.’ Is this consultation why we have had SYA forced on us? Is why so many of our members feel the forum process is little more than a joke? It appears the consultation part of the partnership is not working.

The statements claims, ‘The Union will be talking to employers about their political and ethical responsibilities. This might cover issues such as:
• where they source their overseas goods from;
• whether their suppliers overseas use child labour;
• packaging and recycling practices and the company’s role in the local community. ,

With the above issues making negative headlines for retail companies in the media, it would be interesting to see the responses to our protests on any of these issues because they don’t seem to have appeared in the press.

The truth is that Tesco now tell us what is about to happen and our influence is negligible. A good example of this is that Tesco now has reduced the premium rates for Sunday working and the result is we have members working on numerous Sunday contracts. This could be used to undermine unity in any future struggles. And surely no trade union negotiator would ever accept such a situation. When the members justly complain to the shop stewards, we are advised to say its Tesco’s policy and we have no influence on corporate policy. Partnership is a farce.

Usdaw’s basic definition of ‘Social partnership’ states it: “means employers and unions co-operating to improve working conditions and to give employees a greater say in how their company is run.” The statement continues
• It recognises that the union has a shared interest in the success of a company, because this is how secure jobs are delivered.
• It recognises that co-operation, not confrontation, is the way forward.
• And it recognises that employees can only develop their own agenda through an independent trade union.

Usdaw’s acceptance of partnership means that struggle must be avoided under all circumstances. Partnership has had a devastating effect for Usdaw retail members. Retail stores are the new sweat shops with workers earning a few pence above the minimum wage. Tesco pays its new starters £5.94 per hour. The minimum wage is £5.52 per hour. A Tesco workers’ wage will increase to £6.34 but to win this meagre sum, Usdaw has conceded terms and conditions.

Although Usdaw boasts that the ‘partnership’ has benefitted its members, the real beneficiary is Tesco and the other large retail company. Tesco now controls 31% of the grocery trade (Sainsbury’s 16%, Asda 16% and Morrison 11%) and one in every eight pounds spent in the UK is spent in Tesco stores. Tesco’s profits last year totalled a staggering £2.85 billion. Even with massive profits, Tesco looks towards schemes to maximise profits. It was reported that Tesco over the last few years have been establishing off shore companies in the Cayman Islands. It has been reported, this will mean they will save millions in taxes .

In the USA, Tesco has rejected the concept of partnership by refusing to even talk to the trade unions. The USA Tesco worker can expect £5 an hour but Tesco (USA) generously will consider thinking about yearly pay rises. In Poland Tesco’s employees have not had a pay rise for 8 years. Profit and anti trade unionism is Tesco real attitude towards partnership.

Tesco is the largest private sector employer in the country with over 275,000 employees. Usdaw has 135,000 members working in Tesco; representing over a third of Usdaw’s total membership. However, trade union density in Tesco stores remains less than fifty percent. A large portion of Usdaw's resources is directed towards increasing its membership in Tesco. But is partnership winning for the members in Tesco.

Partnership is not a new concept for the unions. It has long been a dream of a section of the labour movement to do away with the idea of the class struggle. After the 1926 General Strike, the Mond/Turner talks attempted to create a better working environment for employer/worker relations. However, under the impact of the 1929 economic slump the talks collapsed. Unfortunately for the trade union liberal their desire for social justice has been spoiled by employer’s greed for higher and higher profits.

These ideas of social peace have been a long time dream of liberal sections of the labour bureaucracy. Unable to compete with the Thatcher’s onslaught against the trade unions, these so-called leaders desperately grasped at any alternative that meant they never had to lead any form of industrial battle. With Blair’s New Labour government in control the trade union leaders accepted this class collaborationist agenda. Usdaw leaders jumped happily onto the bandwagon. First Bill Connor and now John Hannett have pushed Usdaw along the Blairite road further than any other union within the TUC. The proof of the bankruptcy of this strategy is the low wages paid in the retail sector.

Usdaw’s partnership strategy will lull our membership into a false sense of security. Taking the fight out of the membership armoury will mean when Tesco is forced to change tact because a change in government or under the impact of an economic crisis then the membership will fail to fight which will in turn lead to a plummeting of the membership.

However the strength of Usdaw in retail is backed by the well organised distribution centres. Some of these depots have near 100% membership. Therefore, these well organised distribution centres underpin the Union’s strength in the stores. The acceptance of partnership has a knock-on effect because the Union cannot defend any of its members because to do so would expose the partnership strategy for what it is. Recently many of the depots with the best agreements have been closed and rather than nationwide resistance the Usdaw leaders have allowed them to be picked off one-by-one.

The Tesco/Usdaw Partnership agreement

It would be wrong to reject the Partnership agreement out of hand. If the Tesco/Usdaw partnership is viewed as any other agreement then there are some good aspects within it.
• It allows all the reps in a store to meet once a month for two hours. If this is used correctly then it should be used to develop workplace organisation, ensuring members’ issues are resolved and build an activity culture.
• When new employees are being informed about the company, the shop steward is allowed a half-hour session with all new starters. This is the most important period for recruitment new starters to the Union.
• Every shop steward or Health and Safety reps has a programme of training which involves the Union.
• The agreement also allows for the use of Recruitment and Development Reps who are allowed out of their workplaces for 13 weeks to aid the recruitment in other stores

Congratulations to the official that pushed for the monthly rep team meetings that were inserted in the last renegotiation of the agreement.

However there are some parts of the agreement that has dangers for the Union. In agreeing to include the forum process within the Partnership document, the Union accepted an alternative method of solving employees’ grievance problems. Tesco is saying to their employees, you don’t need to go through the shop stewards because you can raise your concerns through the forums. Clearly this is an attempt by the companies to undermine the union by offering an alternative grievance structure for their employees. The Usdaw leadership agreed.

Partnership is not just an agreement it is a complete approach to industrial relations that results in the acceptance of the demands of Tesco and the other retail companies. In the long term the partnership will collapse and the union leaders will not have prepared the members for the onslaught by the bosses.

June 2008

Reply to a letter by John Hannett asking Usdaw staff to support him for General Secretary

2008-06-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

Dear John

General Secretary Election

The campaign team who supports Robbie Segal for General Secretary were passed your letter to Usdaw staff asking them to support you in the General Secretary Election but do you deserve their support.

The Robbie Segal team has been asked to reply on some of the staff’s behalf. We would like to make some points on your letter and as you say in the letter you are a ‘listening General Secretary’ therefore let’s hope you reflect on some of the comments and please be free to contact us if you want to be part the debate on the future of the Union.

All the quotes in this reply are in your original letter.

You start my expressing you ‘was pleased to receive the Executive Council’s endorsement. We saw no resolution to that affect in the May minutes of the EC. The members want to know does this allow you the right to circulate the EC’s endorsement on the same circular that advises the branches of the timetable for the election. It is certainly an unfair advantage you got there. Surely none of the Union’s resources can be used in support of a candidate. John was this not an inappropriate use of the Union’s resources. What would you do if someone else did this?

The next point you make is that you are only standing for the GS position ‘because of legislation introduced by the Conservative Government. Are you telling us that you don’t agree with the legislation! Surely not! Hold on, have we not had a New Labour Government for 11 years and why did they not repeal these anti trade union laws. You were on the Labour Party NEC, so why is it still on the statue book. Did you ask them to repeal the laws? Now be honest with us, it is now as much New Labour’s legislation as the Tories. What you think, John?

The next point you make is about listening. Well John the EC meeting under your leadership last about 2 hours, you can’t be listening too much to the body that runs the Union between Annual Delegate Meetings. But we will let that one go for present.

In the next paragraph, you ask for ‘a clear mandate to take the Union forward.’ When you were elected to your present post there was only a 14% turnout and you got about 6% of the total membership voting for you. Well that was not much of a mandate. If you are so keen on getting a ‘clear mandate’ then why are you holding the election over the summer when most of the members are on their holidays? Its looks like you are going to get a low turnout, John. So it won’t be much of a mandate again. But we are sure you can live with the low turn-out that if you win.

So now let’s consider your statement ‘whilst other unions are reducing staffing levels I am pleased to advise the Executive Council in May of my intention to build on the increased resources that have already been put in by increasing the staffing levels in the Divisions.’

So what is your record on the number of officials in the Divisions?

According to the 2003 Annual Report, there were 331,972 industrial members and they were serviced by 118 officers. In the last Annual Report 2007, there were 356,046 industrial members and they were serviced by 114 officials. John, there is less staff now, so ‘whilst other unions are reducing staffing’ it looks like you have done the same. You have reduced the number of Full Time Officials while their work load has increased. Do you think they are happy about their extra work? If you do then you have not been listening.

So it’s your ‘intention’ to increase the number of Officials but what happens if the EC does not agree with your strategy. Do you think the Rule Book allows you to override the EC’s rights? Interesting! Would you like to debate these points with us, John!

One of things a ‘listening General Secretary’ should know is most of the members who attend the branches think the EC minutes are a joke. The ADM delegates even instructed the EC to produce more comprehensive minutes. Now is that you listening John?

Now let’s deal with the scaremongering. We will quote the section in full. ‘There is a small minority who wish to take the Union in a different direction and this threat should not be treated lightly and could undermine all we have achieved collectively. Therefore we must guard against complacency.’

So who is this small minority? Are they the ones who disagree with you?

You ask the staff to contact you but what happens if they don’t? Bang goes their chance of promotion, why do they feel like this if you are such a ‘listening General Secretary’. We believe this statement is a form of intimidation and should not be allowed in the trade union movement and certainly not during elections.

So after considering the points in your letter, we have come to the conclusion that the Usdaw staff should support Robbie Segal for General Secretary.

For more information on Robbie’s policies or to join the debate on the future of Usdaw then visit www.robbiesegal.com or email robbie.segal@aol.com

Yours sincerely

Robbie Segal’s supporters

Manifesto for Usdaw Democracy

2008-06-03T05:48:00.000-07:00

Contribution by Robbie Segal

As part of my candidature for General Secretary, I am launching a discussion on democracy in Usdaw.

This manifesto to democratise Usdaw is not a completed document and, I would appreciate your comments or changes to the way the Union works. If you want to participate in the debate then please contact me at either Robbie@robbiesegal.com. or on my blog

General Secretary Election

As you are most probably aware the letter informing the branches that the General Secretary Election had been called was sent out with an endorsement for John Hannett, the current general secretary. Although individual EC members were asked point blank (I believe that this was intimidating and never gave members the chance to reflect on the question} whether they supported the General Secretary. More importantly no written motion was presented to the meeting and therefore to consider this as an EC endorsement of John Hannett is wrong.

I consider the distributing the endorsement of John Hannett on the same circular that informed branches of the election was a major infringement of the democratic traditions of the trade unions.

I will be proposing that the timing of the any future General Secretary elections will be governed by Rule and not on the whim of the incumbent general secretary. Further the conduct of the election will be decided by guidelines that will be presented to the ADM for endorsement.

Rule 11, Section 1:
The General Secretary shall be elected by a national vote of members by way of a statutory postal ballot as prescribed by the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidations) Act 1992. All branches shall have the right to make nominations. She/he shall remain in office during the will and pleasure of the members who, through the Annual or Special Delegate Meetings, have power to dismiss or call upon her/him to resign.

Executive Council

The EC meets once a month and the meetings last about 2 hours. This time is not adequate to ensure the role of the EC is fulfilled under rule.

Rule 9, section 10:
The Executive Council shall have full control of the business of the Union, and shall have power to do anything not inconsistent with these Rules or the Acts of Parliament under which the Union is certified as an independent trade Union. In the event of any questions arising on which the Rules are silent or obscure, the Executive Council shall have the power to decide thereon.

Minutes of the Executive Council

The minutes circulated to the branches are considered by many members as a joke. A proposition at the 1999 ADM was passed which stated:

I will implement the proposition and ensure that the branches can understand the workings and decisions of the EC. I will publish an account of the major decisions in Arena.

Rule 11, Section 4:
The General Secretary shall be in attendance at all Delegate Meetings and meetings of the Executive Council, and shall keep a correct account of the minutes of the proceedings.

Add at the end of the paragraph, ‘The General Secretary shall provide for publication in Arena a summary of the decisions of Executive Council meetings.’

Control of employment issues

This is interpreted as being that it is the provocative of the general secretary to deal with all employment matters. The Union has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on consultants and the Leap Project. The EC have never had a full report or updates on the spending of this money or the recent Leap Project developments.

Rule 11, Section 15:
The General Secretary shall superintend and direct the work of all employees of the Union.

Add at the end of the paragraph, ‘the General Secretary will make a full written report on all employment matters to the Executive Council every three months.’

Serving on outside organisations

Rule 11, Section 3:
The General Secretary and the Deputy General Secretary shall devote their whole time to the work of the Union, and shall not be eligible to be a Parliamentary Candidate to the United Kingdom, European or Scottish Parliaments or a candidate for the election to the Welsh Assembly whilst continuing on office as General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary.

Add New Rule 11, Section 4.
‘The General Secretary and the Deputy General Secretary shall seek permission from the Executive Council to serve on all outside organisations, and any remuneration other than expenses shall be paid to the Union.’

Renumber all subsequent Sections.

Usdaw General Secretary Election - Nominate Robbie Segal

2008-06-03T05:46:00.000-07:00

• Fight for a living wage
• Against partnership
• Fight for trade union democracy
• A General Secretary on a worker’s wage

Dear Usdaw member,
I am asking for your nomination for the position of Usdaw’s general secretary. I have been a trade union member since the age of 19. I have worked for Tesco stores in Folkestone for the past 22 years and I have been an active shop steward for 21 years. I have held senior positions at branch, regional and national levels of USDAW and served on the EC for 9 years.
A Living Wage: I will launch a campaign to fight for a living minimum wage of £8 per hour for all retail workers, from 16 years to retirement age. I will fight to link pensions to earnings.
Yes to National free collective bargaining - No to Partnership: I will re-establish Usdaw as an independent trade union. I will fight to restore our vote on pay and campaign to resist Tesco’s proposed 2% target for absence.
Fight for Union democracy: I will return power to the Union’s elected lay-member Executive Council and ensure proper EC minutes are produced as agreed by ADM.
For a General Secretary on a worker’s wage: I reject the wage and the benefits totalling over £100,000 that John Hannett, the General Secretary, receives and the General Secretary’s Jaguar Car. I will take the wage that I earn as a Tesco worker and all necessary expenses will be open to scrutiny so that any member can check them. The money released will be used to campaign on our members benefit.

Name:Robbie Segal
Trade in which Nominee is employed: Retail
Address:29 Hawkins Road, Folkestone, Kent, CT19 4JA
Occupation:Wages Clerk
Nominee’s Branch:HO84
Present Age:59
Nominee’s Membership Number 00098216
Name and Address of Employer: Tesco Stores Ltd, Cheriton High Street, Folkestone, Kent, CT19 4QJ
The last date for the return of the nomination paper is 14 July 2008
visit www.robbiesegal.org or email robbie@robbiesegal.org or mob-07776195563

General Secretary Election: Usdaw needs a democratic debate

2008-05-27T05:06:00.000-07:00

Usdaw has announced the election for its General Secretary which is being held over the summer when many of the branches are not meeting so there won’t be a genuine debate that trade union democracy demands.

The results will be declared in September some seven months before John Hannett finishes his five year term in office. Usdaw’s members should be asking the General Secretary why is the election being held so early and why is there no time to fully debate the issues in an open and honest manner.

At the end of the year, the EC and president are up for election, so members should also be asking of the General Secretary how much the Union could save if the three elections were held at the same time.

Rather than a restricted campaign period, there should be a full debate on the future direction of the Union and this would help to improve turnout. At the last election less than 14% of the members voted, with John Hannett only receiving 6% support from the membership. We wonder if the summer election represents John Hannett’s fear of debating the issues in front of the members which also shows his lack of confidence.

Is the decision to hold the election over the summer in the interest of the Union? Now we have two election periods and it will divert resources away from the crucial work of the organising and recruitment campaigns necessary to build our membership

Another question John Hannett must answer, if he loses, and that is a possibility, will he resign and move over or will he hang on until his term is up.

From Activist supporters around the country we hear that John Hannett has planned a tour of the country visiting key sites. Let’s hope that the same facilities are offered to all the candidates standing in the election.

What is needed is a change of rule to ensure that future elections are democratic, there is a long enough period to allow the members to fully participate in the debate and importantly cannot to be called at the whim of the general secretary.

The Activist the email bulletin of Socialist Party members in Usdaw will now attempt to raise these issues and ensure there is a debate on the future direction of Usdaw.

Reply to letter from John McGarry to union officials and branch secs‏

2008-05-27T05:03:00.000-07:00

Dear John Hannett

Re: Circular GC 26/08

I am deeply concerned that the above letter was circulated to all Union officials and Branch Secretary’s. The letter contains incorrect and misleading information regarding your proposed election. The Executive Council (EC) did not recommend that branches nominate you for re-election to the EC. Neither did the EC agree that your details be included on any material distributed to Branch Secretary’s or Union Officials.

The inclusion of this misleading recommendation and the inclusion of your details on the circular are an undemocratic and irresponsible way to gain credibility through bureaucratic manoeuvres.

You will recollect that I raised a number of concerns regarding your hasty decision to call the election and in light of misleading information circulated to members I certainly would object to your name and details being recommended to branches for re-election.

My concerns are as follows:

v The hasty election for the post of General Secretary will mean that 2 separate elections will be run this year. This is an unnecessary and wasteful use of our low paid union members subscriptions to the union.

v Two elections will divert valuable resources away from the important organising work of building USDAW.

v That a hasty election would not allow our members the opportunity to have a full and democratic debate on union policy.

v That a hasty election would not allow other candidates equal opportunity to canvass support from our branches and members.

v I have to ask why is the General Secretary so desperate to hold an early election in the middle of the holiday period with the knowledge that this will significantly reduce the turnout?

I wish to formally register a complaint concerning the circulation of your election details through the union’s internal administrative network which gives the General Secretary an unfair advantage over any other candidate who may wish to stand.

Yours Sincerely

Robbie Segal

Executive Councillor

cc. John McGarry, Electoral Reform Services

Usdaw Academy and Rep Education – A policy for future growth

2008-05-27T04:50:00.000-07:00

Over the past few years great strides have been made in Usdaw’s training for its shop stewards. One of the major developments has been Usdaw’s Organising Academy which was formed in 2003. There has been over 100 Organising Officers who have graduated from the Academy. Many of these have become Area Organisers and Recruitment Development Officers and many more are playing an important role within Union. The Academy has been a major success.
There has been some debate whether the Academy has been used solely for the purpose of recruitment of new members. The recruitment of new members provides the necessary income to continue finance the Academy but the key to the success of our Union is the development of the shop stewards and the building of the shop steward structures in the workplace.
The decision has now been made to continue the training for those who have successfully completed the Academy. This new Academy, which we hope will utilise and further develop the skills that the Organising Officers have obtained, should have been introduced at least two years ago. Let’s hope this new Academy 2 must concentrate on building the workplace structures rather than being just another recruitment exercise.
Also organising training should be provided for all those who donate their time for the union and these include Tesco RDRs and Stand-down reps.
The Academy should not only be for those who are willing and able to take six-months out of their workplaces but for all the activists. Many of the Union’s leading members are playing important and crucial roles in shops, distribution centres and factories up and down the country and the Academy is unavailable for them because they cannot be spared from their workplaces The whole of the training for shop stewards, health and safety reps, and learning reps should be part of the Academy structure. From the rep’s first introductory course to the advanced course and then onto the specialist courses, reps will have the opportunity to progress which should lead to a recognised qualification.
The Education Department, along with representatives from all parts of the Union, will be asked to review the present structures and then propose a new training programme. The members and Executive Council will be fully involved in the process and the final document will then be discussed at the Executive Council and the new plans presented to the ADM.
By Robbie Segal
(Usdaw General Secretary Candidate)