The government has opened a new front in its war on Britain’s trade unions. It is attempting to wreck trade union organisation among hundreds of thousands of local authority workers by saddling unions with millions of pounds in costs.

The first evidence I saw of this came in Leeds, ironically in the week that Britain’s labour movement marked the anniversary of the imprisonment of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the six Dorset agricultural labourers who were transported to Australia in 1834 for swearing allegiance to a union.

Here’s what is happening. Councils give union representatives – elected convenors or shop stewards – time to do their union work. It’s called “time off for union duties”. The work is the nuts and bolts of trades union activity, such as representing people at disciplinary and grievance hearings. Some of it fulfils people’s statutory right to be represented.

Some convenors with thousands of members work full time on union duties, although they are employees of the councils, who pay their wages. For example in my city, Leeds, the secretary of the council branch of the public service union Unison, which has 8,000 members, is a social worker, but spends all his time on union duties.

It is in councils’ interests to have such a system. It helps maintain smooth industrial relations. It avoids the disruption of pulling people off their jobs daily to represent colleagues. It provides a mechanism to solve potential disputes before they happen.

In Leeds, Conservative councillors are attempting to sabotage the arrangement by calling on the Labour-controlled council to stop paying the union convenors’ wages, and make the unions find the money. There are 15 convenors. The Tories say stopping their pay would save Leeds council around £400,000, at a time when the council has to find £90m in cuts (cuts imposed by the Tories and their Lib-Dem supporters in government).

The proposal is accompanied by mealy-mouthed lip service to the “valuable role” played by trades unions, and reaffirming “reasonable support” for trades unions, including time off for union duties. But if implemented it would cripple the Leeds council unions’ abilities to provide representation for their members.

At first I thought the plan might be a one-off from some ambitious, union-loathing Tory wanting to make a name for himself, and make life difficult for the unions. It isn’t. It’s happening across the country, with other Tory councillors making similar proposals or preparing the ground for them. The Tories are even targeting union organisation in police authorities. If successful, it would financially cripple public sector unions.

Local authorities spend billions of pounds a year in taxpayers’ money to provide refuse collection, street cleaning, housing, old people’s homes, state education and other services. Some Tories want the billions it costs to run these services handed to the profit-hungry private sector. Union organisation is the biggest single obstacle to this aim, so it has to be removed.

If the Tory strategy succeeds, remaining services in the public sector will be privatised and their provision will be motivated by profit, not people’s needs. Dividends and bonuses will be the key factors in running our schools and old people’s homes.

Margaret Thatcher recognised that organised labour was the biggest stumbling block confronting privatisation. Now David Cameron and his allies plan to finish the job of destroying union organisation.

In 1834 the Tolpuddle Martyrs were transported to Australia for organising collectively. Transportation may be a thing of the past. The Tories’ determination to remove obstacles to private sector profit is not.

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Punitive actions by the company, linked to its introduction of new work planning appliances (WPA) are at the heart of the long-running dispute

But, in a move that CWU assistant secretary Ray Ellisdescribes as “significant,” Romec has agreed to halt these actions “in order to create the appropriate climate for meaningful and substantive negotiations to proceed.”

In response to the move by the company, the union has agreed to suspend the scheduled two-day stoppage and to lift the ongoing callout and overtime restriction.

Welcoming today’s developments, Ray said: “There’s a long way to go and at this time we are still technically in dispute, but it’s our hope – and also the hope of the company – that these joint ‘acts of good faith’ will create the right environment for a full and comprehensive settlement.”

The breakthrough came after informal discussions between senior Romec managers and the union, with the help and assistance of arbitration service ACAS and leading individuals from Royal Mail Group.

CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward - who has personally assisted in the search for a solution – said that he was “hopeful that Romec will now engage in sensible negotiations with us and that we can reach a fair agreement as soon as possible.”

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Ray Ellis

National officers Ray Ellis and Bob Gibson are calling on members to back the draft deal, after talks with the company saw bosses increase their initial offer.

If the agreement is endorsed, hard-working Romec staff will receive an immediate 2.25 percent pay increase – backdated to April – with a further 0.5 per cent to come in October.

The main engineering bonus scheme will be “bought out” with a lump sum payment of £800. A new scheme will be introduced from 1^st January 2011. CWU has secured the potential for a leave purchase scheme for cleaning grades with effect from April 2011 and also a full review of the cleaners’ bonus scheme. Next year’s pay review date will come forward to January.

Bob Gibson

Bob Gibson described the draft deal as “reasonable in the current circumstances and certainly much improved on the opening offer from the company.” Ray Ellis agreed, adding: “That we have been able to consolidate a significant proportion of bonus earnings.”

Ballot papers went out to Romec members yesterday. The poll closes on Tuesday September 14 and the CWU is urging a big Yes vote.

“We have no hesitation in recommending that members vote Yes in favour of the deal,” said Bob & Ray.

You can download the LTB LTB 802/10 - Romec Pay Offer 2010 (140)

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