Organising Around Industrial Action Post Trade Union Act UNISON North West Organising Convention March 2017

The Trade Union Act 2016 Pre trade union act UK already had some of the most restrictive laws in the industrialised world. A vicious attack on our union and collective bargaining in the workplace. Employers rarely give away anything. The credible right to strike is an important and equalising power in the workplace. Employers arent benevolent beings! They don’t just give away more pay of t’s and c’s. We have to organise and collectively bargain. We will still campaign for this draconian legislation to be thrown out. However we need to be able to take successful industrial action in support of our members concerns and issues at work.

Turnout Thresholds Requires 50 per cent of those entitled to vote to turn out and a majority to vote in favour. EG, if 1,000 members are balloted, at least 500 must turn out and at least 251 must vote ‘yes’ before any industrial action – including strikes and action short of a strike – can go ahead. Therefore if members don’t vote it counts as a no vote. Any ballot supplementary material – content needs to be confined to the issues covered by the trade dispute. Must be accurate and not misleading. We don’t have to be neutral we can urge members to vote yes. Same rules apply within UNISON. We must involve your RO very early on. Process will remain the same, the regional secretary will need to be provided with info about the dispute in order to request authorisation for action from the industrial action committee via the MLU. Important that MLU are involved from the beginning of the dispute. They will give support and advice. Will need a longer lead in time for a ballot. Turnouts can be low in strike ballots, although generally we win higher turnouts in local issue based strikes. New legislation came in on the 1st March. Has yet to be tested in a court of law.

Support Threshold Additionally for those working in ‘important public services’ 40% of those entitled to vote must support industrial action for it to go ahead. EG, if 1,000 members are balloted, at least 500 members must vote and 400 (80%) would have to vote ‘yes’ for industrial action for it to take place. Important public services include health, education and transport. Paramedics and nurses are included in the regulations but ancillary workers arent. In education teachers are included and support staff aren’t included.

Industrial Action Rules Strict new additional rules on balloting materials and notice periods. Include extra information on voting papers. Provide 14 days notice of industrial action. Re-ballot members after 6 months if industrial action is to continue (or 9 months if the employer agrees). New information which summarises the dispute. Lists the type of action and the action short of strike action and the likely timetable for all types of action. Also we are required to report extra information about ballot results to members and employers. Report annually to the CO on any industrial action taken. Outrageous! But clearly we will have to adhere to these rules otherwise we risk very heavy fines and potentially leave our members unprotected.

Mobilising Members and Building Strength Consultative ballot Formal ballot Strike Action Mapping (data cleansing). Consultative ballot should accurately reflect a 50% turnout amongst members and a majority of the turn out voting yes. One to one conversations Testing the level of anger. Don’t make assumptions. Anger hope action Identifying heaps of people to be activists in the campaign, be part of an organising team and have the important conversations about the importance of being involved in the dispute and asking people to take small actions. Digital methods for consultative indicative ballots. (Tories agree to talks on digital voting methods for strike ballots). Escalating action which increases workers collective involvement, ownership and activity in a dispute. Creative, imaginative, innovative, must take account of balloting for action short of strike action. Should target the people / group who have some influence / power to make the decision in support of your claim. Escalating Action

Discuss with a couple of people sitting near to you:- What can we do to organise members and potential members in the lead up to and during a dispute which may lead to strike action? Write your ideas on post it notes and put them on the strike timeline. Ensure we have a strong yes vote and then participation in strike vote.

Escalating Action High Risk High Intensity Low Risk Low Intensity Medium Risk Medium Intensity High Risk High Intensity Bringing members with you in terms of low level action AND participating fully in the ballot process and then strike action. Be aware what constitutes action short of strike action. We have to ballot for that too. Highlight link between the timeline and action. If we don’t organise to ensure members are with us in the low risk end of the spectrum then we cant be sure they will participate in the ballot and have an opportunity to strike as a last resort. 0 to 100% wont work anymore. We need to take some time beforehand to test the waters. Systematic organising. Fear into anger Despondency into hope Apathy into action.

In your small groups come up with some creative collective actions which can help us escalate Pressure, participation and mobilisation. Think of actions which put pressure on the target but are not action short of strike action. Write them down on post it notes. Put them on the action continuum according to whether they are low risk, low intensity and high risk, high intensity.