Latest news with #tradeunion
The Guardian
18 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Dan Gallin obituary
My father, Dan Gallin, who has died aged 94, was an outstanding figure in the international trade union movement over many decades. As general secretary of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) from 1968 to 1997, Dan worked to build the organisation into a global force. Under his leadership, the IUF underwent a significant expansion and organised the first international trade union campaign against a transnational company. Workers at the Coca-Cola company's franchised bottler in Guatemala City seeking to form a union were being systematically murdered, and corporate headquarters were proving reluctant to address the matter. From 1979 until 1984, the IUF organised a campaign, including boycotts and work stoppages in support of the Guatemalan workers. The company ultimately agreed to replace the franchise holder, recognise and bargain with the union, and indemnify families of the murdered workers. The IUF pioneered the negotiation of agreements between international union organisations and transnational companies to secure trade union rights, beginning with the French-based BSN (later to become Danone) in 1988. Dan understood that the trade union movement had to expand to encompass the millions of workers active in the informal economy, but who were excluded from legal recognition as workers and outside the formal structures of the trade union movement. The IUF brought India's Self Employed Women's Association into the international labour movement through affiliation to the IUF in the early 1980s. The son of Romanian parents, Ana (nee Kuharczik) and Trajan Gallin, Dan was born in Lvov, which was then in Poland and is now Lviv in Ukraine. His father was in the Romanian diplomatic service, serving as pro-consul in Lvov, and was later transferred to Hamburg, then in 1940 to Berlin, where Dan attended the French Gymnasium. In 1943 he was sent to safety in Switzerland as Germany came under increased bombardment. In Rolle he attended the Institut Le Rosey and finished his French baccalauréat at the Ecole Lemania in Lausanne in 1949. After studies in the US at the University of Kansas, he returned to Switzerland with his companion Elizabeth Focht, whom he married in 1953 and with whom he had two daughters, Julia and me. After a master's in sociology at the University of Geneva and a spell at the United Nations office in Geneva, he was hired in 1960 to work for Juul Poulsen, then IUF general secretary. The IUF was one of a number of international federations of trade unions established in the late 19th and early 20th century, and now has more than 400 member organisations, including the BFAWU, Unite, Usdaw and the GMB in the UK. One of the major impulses behind their foundation was to stop international strike-breaking through the importation of foreign workers to replace strikers. Following his retirement from the IUF, in 1997 Dan established the Global Labour Institute in Geneva as a labour movement resource committed to helping trade unionists think critically and boldly, and was actively engaged in the setting up of similar organisations elsewhere, including in Manchester. He visited Britain regularly to meet friends, comrades, and colleagues from across the British trade union movement. As well as the UK Global Labour Institute in Manchester, he made annual visits between 2012 and 2016 to Northern College in Barnsley, where he helped to organise a series of GLI international summer schools for trade unionists. Dan's extensive library will soon be housed at the Working-Class Movement Library in Manchester. His marriage to Elizabeth ended in divorce. He is survived by his second wife, Joëlle Kuntz, a journalist, whom he married in 1984, and Julia and me.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Health
- The Guardian
Caroline Shelton obituary
My friend and former colleague Caroline Shelton, who has died aged 67 of cancer, was a tutor in trade union studies and a trade union activist, with a special interest in health and safety. Having been a shop steward while working in the computing sector, in the early 1990s she became a lecturer in trade union studies at South Thames College in London, where she was elected as health and safety officer of her Unite union branch and nominated to join me and other colleagues on the board of the London Hazards Centre, which helps Londoners to assert their right to live and work in a safe, healthy environment. She was also a Unite delegate to the Kent and Medway Trades Union Congress, a Labour councillor in Gravesend, Kent, for a number of years, and a Labour delegate to Gravesend constituency Labour party. Caroline was born in Gravesend, and was raised in a trade union-supporting family. Her bookbinder mother, Joy (nee Mitchell), was a mother of chapel in the Sogat printing union, and her lorry-driver father, Gordon Shelton, was an enthusiastic member of the Transport and General Workers' Union. In 1967, when Caroline was 11, the family moved to Wellington in New Zealand, where she attended Wellington East girls' college before returning to Gravesend in 1972, after which her education continued at Wombwell Hall school in nearby Northfleet. She also attended the Royal College of Music on Saturdays before going on to study music at Goldsmiths College (now Goldsmiths, University of London). After graduating from there in 1980, Caroline began working as a peripatetic music teacher for the Inner London Education Authority, travelling around various schools, before deciding that computing offered her better prospects. A year studying computing at Bristol Polytechnic (now University of the West of England) followed, after which she worked for Bowater-Scott and Wellcome Dartford (later subsumed into GlaxoSmithKline) in Gravesend. There she was elected as the shop-steward of her MSF/Amicus trade union branch, as well as a delegate to the MSF/Amicus London regional council and its annual conferences. In 1992 she changed tack again to become a lecturer at South Thames College in Lewisham, teaching trade union studies there while also freelancing for the Workers' Education Association and Ruskin College Oxford. In 2011 she was elected as a Labour councillor in Gravesend, and in 2018 she became health and safety officer of her Unite trade union branch. Caroline attended pickets and protests with her branch banner for as long as she could, and saw active trade union branches as being essential to challenging all social injustices and mitigating all work-related hazards. When ill health forced her to resign from our board in March, she was elected honorary president 'in grateful appreciation for her many years' service as a determined fighter for a safer London'. She is survived by her younger brother, Craig.
The Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- The Herald
'It's not a straightforward job': Pilots seek predictability as Solidarity rejects latest FlySaFair wage offer
Since the introduction of the new rostering system, FlySafair pilots are no longer able to plan their off-time in advance. TimesLIVE spoke to a pilot on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, after trade union Solidarity's rejection of the company's latest wage offer. A pilot who has been in the industry for more than 15 years told TimesLIVE that a year ago the airline introduced a new rostering system to 'optimise the way that the crew is neutralised'. He said before the new system, pilots worked according to what they called a pattern roster, where they worked for six days, rested for two days, and then worked another six days and rested for three days. This allowed them to predict when they would have off days, enabling them to plan their leave and family events. What they had now introduced was deemed to be a flexible pattern roster with no obvious pattern in the roster algorithm to allow pilots to work out their off days and generally worked on a five-day schedule. ' You fly for a maximum amount of five days, but you have no say when your off days will be. I t becomes a variable pattern. The pilots are struggling to forecast when their off days will be and it's very difficult to make family commitments and to schedule your off time effectively,' said the pilot. FlySafair said on Sunday that the primary point of disagreement centres on the union's demand for the implementation of fixed scheduling rules. 'While the intention behind these proposals is to improve work-life balance, their combined effect would substantially limit the airline's ability to roster pilots efficiently. 'This could, in turn, negatively affect both passengers and the wider crew. As a constructive alternative, FlySafair proposed the formation of an independently chaired joint roster committee comprising both pilot and company representatives. 'This body would be empowered to test and refine proposed scheduling rules in a live environment before implementation — ensuring that any changes are carefully evaluated for their impact on productivity, safety and overall wellbeing,' said the airline. It said that it continues to operate a stable but reduced flight schedule as the new week begins, with more pilots returning to duty each day. The pilot said the impasse was worsened by the fact that they don't employ the correct number of pilots, which then affects the amount of leave that the pilots can take. 'If you work a roster and the leave issues together, you know, it becomes increasingly difficult, you can't forecast your off-time, but you also can't get leave. T he guys are left with very little options in that sense,' he said. He added that pilots' work is not a normal 8am to 4pm job and the new roster adds to fatigue. During a typical week, from day one to day three, they could start very early and suddenly from day four and five be expected to fly from midday till midnight. 'When night-time comes around on day three or four, because you have been awake early in the morning already, you are tired,' he said. According to the pilot, many studies have been done about circadian rhythms and how pilot fatigue needs to be managed. He blamed the airline for allegedly not sticking to industry best practice.
The Guardian
24-07-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Resident doctors' strike undermines union movement, Wes Streeting says
A strike by resident doctors 'enormously undermines the entire trade union movement', Wes Streeting has argued, urging them not to join industrial action on Friday morning. In an article for the Guardian, the health secretary says the decision by the British Medical Association (BMA) to push for new strikes in England immediately after receiving a pay rise of 22% to cover 2023-24 and 2024-25 is unreasonable and unprecedented. Taking aim squarely at the leadership of the BMA, which represents the medics formerly known as junior doctors, Streeting condemns their demand for a fresh 29% rise over the next few years. He says that while there was 90% backing for the strike, it was on a turnout of just over 55% of members. Streeting says the move to strike after the offer of a 5.4% pay rise for 2025-26, was rushed into and is 'bitterly disappointing' amid efforts to improve NHS services. 'There was a deal here to be done,' he writes. 'Instead, the BMA leadership's decision to not even consider postponing these strikes will place an enormous burden on their colleagues, and hit the recovery we can all see our health service is making. 'Not only that, it enormously undermines the entire trade union movement. No trade union in British history has seen its members receive a such a steep pay rise only to immediately respond with strikes – even when a majority of their members didn't even vote to strike. This action is unprecedented, and it is unreasonable.' The BMA argues that resident doctors have seen their pay fall by a much greater amount in real terms since 2008-09 than the rest of the population. 'Doctors are not worth less than they were 17 years ago, when austerity policies began driving wages down. We're simply asking for that value to be restored,' it said. Streeting says resident doctors have privately contacted him to express their dismay at the decision to strike, saying they 'feel the BMA's leaders are out of lockstep with not just patients but most resident doctors themselves'. The health secretary urges doctors to defy their union and not join in the strike, which runs until 7am next Wednesday. 'I am urging resident doctors to not follow the BMA leadership, who I do not believe are representing the best interests of their members, any further down this path as strikes begin on Friday at 7am,' he writes. The public have been urged to keep coming forward for NHS care during the strike, and NHS England has urged hospital chief executives to keep routine operations and appointments and only reschedule if there is a risk to patient safety. A Department of Health and Social Care blog noted that the NHS was 'taking a different approach' after learning lessons from previous strikes, and would avoid cancelling planned appointments for illnesses such as cancer because this posed 'a risk to patients too'. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion On Wednesday, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges urged the BMA to suspend its guidance to resident doctors that they do not have to share their intentions to strike with their employers – as is their entitlement under employment law – to enable hospitals to better plan. It is understood that in previous strikes, healthcare leaders filled rota gaps of unknown size by overstaffing and cancelling procedures, with the result that there was insufficient work for some highly paid consultants. Fewer resident doctors are expected to go on strike on Friday than in the previous round of industrial action that started in 2023 after the BMA achieved a smaller mandate in the strike ballot. Of 48,000 members, 55% voted, of whom 90% supported industrial action – representing less than half of members – compared with a turnout of 71.25% in 2023, of whom 43,440 (or 98.37%) voted to go on strike. The numbers of striking doctors is expected to vary between hospitals and trusts, with anticipated staff rota gaps filled locally by consultants, agency doctors and other NHS staff. Hospital leaders will monitor demand and if they are overwhelmed with patients they will have contingency plans in place, for example cancelling some appointments to prioritise urgent and emergency care, calling in extra bank or agency staff, or requesting derogations – where resident doctors are called in to work – with the BMA. The Health Service Journal (HSJ) reported that the NHS England chief, Sir Jim Mackey, had told trust leaders to crack down on resident doctors' ability to earn money during the strike by working locum shifts.
Times
24-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Gaps in Len McCluskey's memory must be filled one way or another
Len McCluskey has questions to answer RAY MCMANUS/SPORTSFILE In his last major investigation for The Times before his untimely death, Andrew Norfolk, the reporter whose work exposed the grooming gangs scandal, turned his forensic eye to the Unite trade union. In a series of reports for this newspaper, Mr Norfolk revealed that a company owned by a friend of the union's then general secretary, Len McCluskey, was paid at least £95 million for the construction of a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham initially meant to cost £7 million. This week an independent report commissioned by Sharon Graham, Mr McCluskey's successor at Unite, showed the situation to be even worse. Ms Graham had asked Martin Bowdery KC, a barrister specialising in construction, to investigate the hotel project, for which Mr McCluskey was a vocal advocate. The inquiry concluded that the cost of the hotel had in fact ballooned to £112 million. That was £74.5 million more than its market value. As a result, Unite has had to wipe £66 million from its accounts. An audit accompanying the KC's report concluded that under Mr McCluskey's leadership there was a 'pervasive fraud environment' at Unite. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is pursuing its own investigation. Mr McCluskey, an avowed socialist and admirer of Jeremy Corbyn, never shy of voicing his opinions on Labour politics, clearly has serious questions to answer. Mr Bowdery's report claims that the union leader was flown to watch his beloved Liverpool FC in two Champions League finals, in Kyiv and Madrid, by the Flanagan Group, the construction firm alleged to have overcharged Unite by at least £30 million when building the hotel. The report also lists five other occasions on which the union leader was taken to watch Liverpool, enjoying matchday hospitality courtesy of the Flanagans, whom he described as 'good friends'. Mr McCluskey said that as far as he could recall he paid his own way. Unite officials and lawyers were uneasy about Flanagan, which the report said had a history of 'poor performance, delays [and] cost overruns'. Mr McCluskey is said to have overruled them. He denies doing so, and through his lawyers has denounced Ms Graham's inquiry as 'inaccurate, selective and highly misleading'. The ultimate judgment will be made by the SFO but Ms Graham believes there is enough evidence to support criminal action against two 'very senior' former Unite officials. South Wales police are undertaking an investigation involving alleged bribery, fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. It is not often that The Times agrees with Ms Graham but she is to be commended for her courage in taking on vested interests within a vast and powerful union of some 1.2 million members straddling the private and public sectors. She told this newspaper of the 'horrendous' attacks she endured from supporters of Mr McCluskey after promising to investigate the hotel project. She has described being 'followed home' and subjected to 'despicable online abuse'. There is much to criticise about Unite's positioning under Ms Graham's leadership, not least its intransigence over refuse collection strikes in Birmingham, but whatever her politics, she is at least committed to uncovering the truth. As Ms Graham says, multiple investigations suggest 'rank incompetence … or something else' during Mr McCluskey's reign. It now falls to the SFO to establish what that 'something else' might have been. It should expedite its inquiry as swiftly as possible. Unite pays £1.5 million a year to affiliate to the Labour Party and contributes significant sums to individual Labour MPs. It is too significant a political player to remain under a cloud of suspicion about its past integrity. The facts as they pertain to Mr McCluskey must be established, even if recalling some of them appears to be beyond our Len.
