SPARKING INTEREST Unite hopes a new ECS film will mean new members

 

SPARKING INTEREST

Unite hopes a new ECS film will mean new members 

 Unite has launched a short film aimed at promoting the union to non-members when they attend our computer-based electronical certification scheme (ECS) in our offices nationwide. Members too will enjoy watching the film and might consider showing it at work if there are the facilities to do so. The film is also ideal for showing to young people considering becoming an apprentice in our industry.

The ECS is key to maintaining essential health, safety and welfare standards for the public and workers in critically safety industries and has done much to prevent cowboy electricians from operating across the construction sector. ECS was set up as a joint venture between UNITE and the Joint Industry Board. (JIB)

ECS is now the principle card for identifying electricians that are keeping up to date with new technology and it has to be renewed every three years.

 Doing so by booking online and then attending the test which is delivered at UNITE nationwide locations – which can include mobile site visits – can take as little as 2-3 weeks.

In the few minutes before each test kicks off the examinee will now be able to enjoy watching a 5 minute plus film.  It begins by highlighting how we can’t exist without electricity and of some of the interesting, vital jobs there are in industry.

And at the core of it is the JIB, established in 1968 to promote high standards for terms and conditions and a unique and powerful and social partnership between the ECA, representing contractors, and Unite and the workers and electricians. Initially the JIB was UK based but as companies have become more internationally based it has sought to work with overseas bodies to ensure skills are transferable.

Jason Poulter, national officer for Unite who represents over 13,000 members on the JIB, explains how the union has helped raise wages, improved conditions and improved critical safety standards - and at the heart of which is the work of workplace reps on the ground.

The importance of the ESC to everyone including residents and tenants is highlighted as it demonstrates competence. Newly qualified electricians can use it find work with new employers.

The film ends by hearing the voices of apprentices, male and female, who are going to be central to delivering net zero and the green agenda including renewables such as solar electric vehicle charging and smart home technology.

Andy Reakes, JIB Director of Growth and Development believes, that “a huge amount of options exist for somebody coming into this sector. It couldn’t be a more exciting time to be in this industry.”

‘THE COURSE UPDATED MY SKILLS’ Training fund for blacklisted here to help

 

‘THE COURSE UPDATED MY SKILLS’

Training fund for blacklisted here to help

Taken from Unite building Worker for Spring 2024  

Unite building Worker Spring 2024 

Paul Tattersfield, a blacklisted electrician, has become one of the first UNITE members to benefit from the dedicated Blacklisted Construction Workers’ Training Fund that has been established as part of the settlement against construction companies that used the Consulting Association (CA), an organisation that held a blacklist of 3,213 workers who were then denied employment.

 The fund of £230,000, which is not restricted to retraining in the construction sector, is administered by the union for victims of blacklisting who have brought proceedings through Thompson Solicitors, OH Parsons and Guney Clark & Ryan.

 As of 14 January, 17 grants have been made, where Unite members have been able to attend a varied range of courses after having received support from the fund

Grants have ranged from £3217 for two ten-day Electrical Maintenance courses, to £114 for Paul’s one day CCNSG Safety Passport renewal course provided by Humberside Engineering Training Association.

Other courses attended by members include NVQ Diploma Level 7 in Construction Senior Management and City & Guilds 2391-52 Inspection & Testing.

 In 2011, site worker Paul was, thanks to union legal support, awarded just under £24,000 for loss of earnings, injury to feelings and aggravated damages. This was the result of an Employment tribunal finding that Balfour Beatty Engineering Services Ltd had refused him employment because he was on the CA blacklist for being a union workplace rep for his fellow workers.

“I was just the guy who was the lay member on large construction sites who agreed to be an Amicus site representative. I took it seriously on behalf of the workforce who I wanted to see treated correctly under the agreements we had”.

 Balfour Beatty was amongst 64 companies who accessed the CA list and began following the exposure of the Economic League’s practices, that maintained a list of construction workers like Paul, for decades. The League was forced to close in 1993. The Consulting Association was forced to close in 2009 after it was raided by the Information Commissioner’s Office. 

 

Since 2011 Paul, a keen Rugby League fan, has worked for Balfour Beatty on two occasions, once via an agency, and, thankfully not experienced any problems. He has also taken on the role of a UNITE rep at some workplaces. “It’s just something you do as you need a voice on site. I think it is something to be proud of. I just represent fellow workers”.

 

The recent course he’s attended is the second occasion on which Paul has benefitted from a fund.

“I did the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) week long Electrical Regs course. It was intense. I passed. It updated my skills. This latest safety passport course will also help as it means I can continue working on large infrastructure construction projects which are usually better organised because of a union presence. Pay and conditions are generally better”.

Find out more

If you were blacklisted who not apply to the training fund? More info and a form is on the Unite website’s construction page http://tinyurl.com/3zvzszzw

PRICE OF PROTEST : Panama’s building workers leaders at risk

 

PRICE OF PROTEST

Panama’s building workers leaders at risk

Spare a minute to add you voice to the growing international movement to defend SUNTRACS, the National Union of the Construction and Similar Industries of Panama, whose leaders are being subjected to persecutory, repressive, and intimidating treatment by Panamanian authorities.

SUNTRACS, along with UNITE, belongs to the BWI (Building and Wood Workers' International), a global union federation of 361 free and democratic unions representing 12 million members across 115 countries.

Along with LabourStart, an online news service maintained globally by volunteers, the BWI has organised an online campaign asking Panamanian authorities to stop persecuting SUNTRACS and respect freedom of association! Unite members are urged to email Panamanian authorities. Messages will be forwarded to SUNTRACS.

The persecution of SUNTRACS leaders relates to their prominent roles in protests that defeated a 40-year mining concession for the transnational company (TNC) First Quantum Minerals – an extractive policy that would have caused grave social and environmental damage. Unionists are improperly being accused of terrorism.

Last year marked the biggest social unrest in Panama since its re-democratisation. Nationwide protests occurred against Law 406, which authorised a 20-year concession to the Canadian company First Quantum Minerals for open-pit copper extraction.

Opposition was based on its environmental impact, including contamination of water, air, and soil and the degradation of a highly biodiverse forest.

The second motivation was people's sovereignty. The contract was highly financially beneficial to the TNC allowing it to dispossess land arbitrarily. Sovereignty is crucial as Panamanians fought throughout the 20th century to rid the country of the United States-controlled Panama Canal Zone.

The general strike and mass protests were organised by environmentalists, indigenous activists, trade unions, churches, and students. Roads and ports were blocked for over a month. Security forces brutally reacted violently.  Hundreds were injured, over 1500 arrested and three unionists murdered.

SUNTRACS helped mobilise the protests, which ended when the Supreme Court of Justice ruled that Law 406 was unconstitutional; moreover, parliament prohibited all mining extraction, even annulling existing contracts

What a victory but the fight must go on. SUNTRACS is now being persecuted as the state-owned Savings Bank has closed SUNTRACS’ bank accounts.

SUNTRACS leaders Saúl Méndez, General Secretary, Jaime Caballero, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, as well as the teacher Diógenes Sánchez and indigenous leaders are being sued by the Public Prosecutor's Office, accused of allegedly committing crimes against freedom and the economic order.

According to Saúl Mendez, “this is a combined economic and political operation between the Panamanian banking system and the government. SUNTRACS is not even allowed to open new accounts in other banks. In the accounts that have been left open, we are not allowed to deposit the union affiliation fees.”

The BWI/LabourStart petition asks Panamanian authorities to unfreeze SUNTRACS' bank accounts and cease union-busting measures.

Further mobilisation?

 “We have been mobilising, distributing leaflets and will be developing actions that will intensify until it culminates in a strike, if this problem is not resolved”, said Mr. Mendez. “I want to thank the international trade union movement, especially UNITE comrades in the UK, for their solidarity with SUNTRACS. ”

You can sign the petition at:- http://tinyurl.com/3jp33epa

 

This is a slightly longer piece than appeared in Unite building Worker for Spring 2024

Suffragette and trade unionist Julia Varley to be honoured by a Bradford Civic Society plaque on 18 May

 FINALLY.... 

Suffragette and trade unionist Julia Varley to be honoured by a Bradford Civic Society plaque on 18 May

Bradford will honour one its greats on Saturday 18 May at 1.00pm when a blue plaque to suffragette and trade unionist Julia Varley will be unveiled at 90 Sunbridge Road BD1 2AQ  by retired bus driver Mohammad Taj of Unite the union and who was TUC President in 2013-14. 

The funds for the Bradford Civic Society plaque have been donated by UNITE’s NEY&H region and the union has republished the booklet Julia Varley - trade union organiser and fighter for women's rights booklet by Mark Metcalf.

Joining Mohammed Taj will be Bradford City councillor Sinead Engel, Simon Cunningham of Bradford Civic Society, Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign and councillor Taj Salam, a Unite bus workers rep. Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has been invited to attend.

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As a teenage mill worker Julia Varley actively participated in the Manningham Mills strike of 1890-91.

She was to go on to lead a remarkable life in which as a leading representative of the General Union of Textile Workers (GUTW) she helped organise numerous workplaces in her home city and was active on Bradford Trades Council. In 1907 she was, as a radical suffragette, twice arrested and imprisoned for fighting for the ultimately successful, fight for the rights of women to vote.

When she moved to Birmingham, she organised many successful strikes across the West Midlands and the Black Country. She was key to the Clayworkers Strike in Cornwall in 1913-14 that paved the way for trade unions in the county. She suffered violence at the hands of the police for standing up for all workers, especially women.

When she was appointed as an officer for the Workers’ Union, she became one of the first women to be an officer in a mixed sex union.

In the 1920s, Varley was one of the first women to be elected onto the TUC General Council.  When the WU amalgamated with the Transport and General Workers Union (which later became Unite in 2007) Varley was appointed Chief Women’s Officer.

Varley retired to Bradford and died in November 1952. In 2013 a plaque was unveiled on her Birmingham home. Now she will be rightly honoured in her home city. If this is something you’d like to be involved with then see you on  May 18th.

The event is being organised by Mark Metcalf and Simon Cunningham and they can be contacted on 07392 852561 metcalfmc@outlook.com and 07891 913196 si-cunningham@live.com

Donations towards the production of a film on the events on 18 May would be welcome. Contact Mark Metcalf.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM EP THOMPSON AT 100 event in Halifax in February 2024

 

On 3 Feb @calderdaletuc hosted a successful EP Thompson at 100 event & what follows are 25 minutes of highlights from the day produced by Dave and myself  

https://youtu.be/sPKxwMt-DBc?si=umNjY4k6sZnqEz7u