Unions Together

Countdown to fair redundancy Bill

06.03.09

In just one week, on Friday March 13th, Members of Parliament will have the chance to support Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle’s Bill to make redundancy pay fairer.

Labour’s affiliated unions have worked together on this campaign, to get a better deal for workers in these tough economic times.

Unions work hard to look after their members’ jobs - but when redundancies do happen, unions also want to make sure that those affected get the best deal possible, to help keep going whilst re-training or looking for new work.

Lindsay Hoyle’s Bill will make statutory redundancy pay - the minimum you can expect to get if made redundant - fairer. But he needs our help to do this.

In order for the Bill to keep going through Parliament, we need at least one hundred MPs to turn up in the House of Commons to support it. Hundreds of union members have already got in touch with their MPs to ask them to support the Bill - but we need to keep up the pressure.

Add your voice to our campaign now.

www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay  

“Redundancy’s an awful experience”

05.03.09

Since we emailed you to ask for your support in our campaign to make redundancy pay fairer, many of you have been letting us know why it’s important that people email their Members of Parliament to ask them to back Lindsay Hoyle’s bill on March 13th.

www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay

These are just some of your messages.

Redundancy’s an awful experience

Neil has experienced the effects of redundancy first-hand. “I remember when my Dad was made redundant in the 80s and how difficult it was, for all of us. It’s an awful experience that financially knocks the stuffing out of families up and down the country.”

“I was staggered when I heard that, in 2009, a majority of those entitled to redundancy pay have it capped because the levels haven’t kept up with average earnings.”

He is backing the bill for a fair deal on redundancy pay because he thinks it’s “important the public know that if you lose your job through no fault of your own, a Labour Government is on your side.”

A decent redundancy settlement is vital 

Mary noted that, in the current financial climate, a fair deal is more important than ever.

She said, “It is important at any time but with the current recession it is vital that workers get a decent redundancy settlement.” She added her concerns about the raw deal that agency workers get when they are made redundant. “The agency workers at BMW got nothing - just told no more work. This is unfair too and needs rectifying.”

Add your voice to theirs - email your MP now. www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay

Your messages to MPs on redundancy pay

04.03.09

This week, we sent out an email asking you to email your Member of Parliament to call on them to back Lindsay Hoyle MP’s Bill to make redundancy pay fairer.

www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay

The response has been great. Hundreds of you have already contacted your MP to ask them to be in Parliament to support the Bill next Friday, March 13th.

Many more of you have got in touch to let us know why this campaign matters to you.

We need to fight for higher statutory redundancy

Mary is a full-time trade union convenor for USDAW, in food manufacturing, making ready chilled meals, and has experienced the pain of redundancy before. “In 2004, I was involved in a site closure where 680 people lost their jobs - 585 of them were my members.”

“When it happens it has devastating effects on people’s lives. It is something I never want to experience again - the closure of a factory and the loss of jobs. I still get upset when I remember.”

She is backing the campaign for fairer redundancy pay because working people need to stick together to campaign for a fairer deal. She adds, “we, and many like us who work in lower paid industries, need to protect and fight for higher statutory redundancy.”

Raise the allowance

Another person also knows about the worry of being made redundant, as her daughter, along with over 145 people in her workplace, are facing redundancy. She said, “she has fought as a union rep to get the best package in place for all the people facing redundancy.”

She is backing the campaign because she thinks a decent rate of redundancy pay is only fair. “Everyone should be entitled to have at the very least their full pay per week for each year worked… Raise the capped allowance.”

Add your voice to theirs - email your MP now. www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay

Nothing personal

02.03.09

I was told that it was nothing personal. It’s not how it felt. Being made redundant was a horrendous experience - one I’ll never forget. And as the recession bites I know that it will affect an increasing number of us. So I’m writing to ask for your help in making redundancy pay fairer.

You see, instead of statutory redundancy pay being based on how much a person earns, it’s actually capped at a maximum of three hundred and fifty pounds a week. So although I was earning five hundred quid a week when I was made redundant, I wasn’t entitled to redundancy pay based on this amount - and I lost about a third of my entitlement.

This doesn’t seem fair to me - so I’ve just emailed my MP to ask them to support a Bill in Parliament which will change the law to make redundancy pay fairer by linking redundancy pay to average weekly earnings rather than some arbitrary figure. You should do the same -

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay

Now I’m not a millionaire but I do believe in fair work for fair pay. Before I was made redundant I’d been at the same company for over 16 years, learnt a trade as an electrician and was earning about thirteen pounds an hour. But the system failed me.

When Statutory Redundancy Pay was first introduced, the cap was worth more than double the weekly wage. But because it hasn’t been increased with inflation, it’s now worth only half of average pay. Lindsay Hoyle MP is trying to fix this broken system - but he needs our help.

To get fair redundancy pay we need to get MPs to support his Bill. And to do that, we as constituents need to write to our MPs to tell them how important fair redundancy pay is. There’s a really easy way of doing this - just follow this link:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay

There’s a model email for you to send - but feel free to edit it any way you want. The whole process will only take you a couple of minutes.

I’ll never forget how difficult being made redundant was. I hope you never have the same experience. But in this shrinking economy redundancy will affect more and more of us. It’s time to make it fair.

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay  

Thank you,

John
Unions Together

Billy Hayes blogs on Royal Mail

26.02.09

Billy Hayes, General Secretary of the CWU, has just written a great post on LabourList on the Royal Mail campaign - well worth a read.

The news no one wants to hear

26.02.09

No worker wants to be told that they are being made redundant - and that’s why trade unions are first and foremost looking to protect their members’ jobs.

But if redundancy is on the cards, we all also want to know that our basic rights are protected by the law.

That’s why on Friday March 13th, in just 2 weeks, Labour MP Lindsay Hoyle will be putting forward a Bill in the House of Commons that would uprate the current cap on statutory redundancy pay - the minimum that workers can expect to be paid if they are laid off.

When it was first introduced, this was more than double the average weekly wage. But because it has not been increased with inflation, it is now worth only half of average pay. This is an important issue for working people, more than ever in these turbulent economic times.

Because of the rules on Private Member’s Bills, we need enough MPs to turn up to support the Bill, or any MP who opposes it can just “talk out” the Bill, preventing it even getting to a vote. It is crucial that we ensure there are enough Labour MPs supporting the Bill in the House of Commons on March 13th so it can move forward.

That’s where you can help - spend just 2 minutes writing to your MP now, and make sure they know how much this issue matters to working people.

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/fairplay

Our thoughts are with the Camerons

25.02.09

Following the sad death of Ivan Cameron, we have decided to suspend our working rights campaign for the time-being, out of respect to the Camerons. Our thoughts are with David and Samantha at this difficult time.

Strength of feeling clear at Royal Mail Rally

25.02.09

Yesterday, I headed over to the CWU’s Keep the Post Public rally in Westminster Central Hall. It was absolutely packed with union members, who had travelled from all over the country - which just goes to underline the strength of feeling on this issue.

The union had also secured an impressive line-up of speakers - from Labour MPs to general secretaries of other unions, who are campaigning side by side with the CWU on this issue. Tony Woodley from Unite (and TULO’s Chair), and Paul Kenny from the GMB (TULO’s Vice-Chair), made it clear that all Labour’s affiliated unions are united in this campaign.

Labour MPs are also clearly making their voices heard on this issue - the vast majority of the 153 signatories on the Royal Mail Early Day Motion are from the Labour benches. Take 2 minutes to check if your MP has signed it yet - if not, drop them an email.

If you have a bit longer, this comment piece from John Harris in The Guardian is also well worth a read. Ditch this dreary sell-off: let creativity deliver Royal Mail: Second-class thinking advocates privatisation. But with free market vanities failing daily, it’s time to abandon dogma.

SNP = Tory

25.02.09

Those of us dealing with the day to day issues in the labour and trade union movement will appreciate most sharply the need to have real leadership in response to the current economic climate. Sadly, in Scotland, we are witnessing a government - who hoped for an easy four years of populist policies putting them on the front foot for an independence referendum - now faced with a global economic situation asking questions of them which they are failing to answer.



An inability to step up to the responsibilities of devolved government has led to rigid adherence to obviously failing policies, until they have to be jettisoned at the last minute, blaming big bad Westminster for taking their toys away. And despite the obvious flaws in their manifesto, I must admit I’ve been quite taken aback by the approach taken by the SNP on economic matters since their election in 2007.

They have been unashamedly right-wing - focussing on tax cuts, but neglecting to explain the implications of having less in the pot and pointing the finger of blame at anyone and everyone. The challenge for the trade union movement in Scotland won’t just be how to sustain employment in the private sector but how to fight job loses in the public sector because of spending cuts.

It is surprising that, as a self-styled social democratic party, barely a week goes by in the Scottish Parliament without the SNP talking about the “burden” of taxation. A one-size fits all cut in business rates was brought forward, with the support of the Tories, with no measures to monitor its success or to ensure it would lead to job related investment by employers. Warm words about skills and training have failed to be matched by actions until forced by Labour to bring back a failed budget with an extra 7,800 apprenticeships. The have singularly failed to understand the potential of Scotland is not our oil or where our borders lie but in our people - not a surprise given you can count the number of SNP MSPs who are active trade union members on one hand.

Most startlingly, given the importance of the financial sector to the Scottish economy and jobs market, they have failed to say what an independent Scotland would have done (or would do) differently on the banks - particularly as Salmond was a major cheerleader for financial services de-regulation before the May 2007 election.

The situation with the SNP in power in Scotland may be bleak for trade unionists committed to saving jobs and improving the economy - but it could get worse. You would think the so-called ‘social democrats’ in the SNP would be wary of a Conservative government at Westminster. Think again. Be in no doubt, the SNP want the Conservatives to win the next election because they don’t care about paid holidays, union recognition or the minimum wage - all they care about is independence, and they think a Tory government at UK level would accelerate that possibility.

Labour MSPs, with the support of unions such as my own, Unite, are taking up the fight by turning trade union campaigns for expanding apprenticeships and bus regulation into members’ bills in the Scottish Parliament. This is putting the SNP on the back foot and filling a huge policy void in Scotland at the same time. Opposition isn’t easy in Scotland, but we’re optimistic and recognise the only way to fight the forthcoming general election, a likely referendum on independence and the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections is through joint Labour Party and trade union campaigns.

John Park is a Member of the Scottish Parliament and was elected as a regional list member for Mid Scotland and Fife in 2007. He is Shadow Minister for Economy and Skills. He has been an active trade unionist and a member of Unite the Union since he started working in 1989 and a Labour Party member for the majority of his working life.

Your messages to Cameron

24.02.09

Just a few hours ago, we sent an email to union members and activists, asking them to sign our petition to tell David Cameron and the Tories that our workplace rights matter.

Already, hundreds of people have signed up, to make it clear that the rights that are guaranteed in the Social Chapter (that Cameron has vowed to scrap as his “top priority”) are non-negotiable.

The right for parents have time off to spend time with young children, the right to four weeks paid holiday, the right to be consulted about changes in our workplace - these are too important to put at risk. Sign the petition here:

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/hiddentruth

You’ve also been letting us know your messages to Cameron. These are just some of them.

“Going back to the Thatcher era are we Dave? Thought it wouldn’t take long for the real you to emerge!”

“The Social Chapter provides us with MINIMUM standards at work - you should be working to improve on these rights not taking them away.”

“You won’t get my vote with your plans to pull out of the Social Chapter.”

“Leopards don’t change their spots - once a Tory always a Tory.”

“We fought for far too long to sit by and allow you to take our rights away.”

Add your voice to our campaign too.

http://www.unionstogether.org.uk/hiddentruth