[P2P-F] Fwd: New Unionism - Democratising Economics from the Workplace

Wed Apr 2 03:34:56 CEST 2014

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Peter Hall-Jones <phj at newunionism.net>
Date: Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 9:39 PM
Subject: New Unionism - Democratising Economics from the Workplace
To: newunionism at gmail.com

            March 2014

*Work in Progress*
This newsletter is produced by the *New Unionism
Network*<http://www.newunionism.net>to promote workplace democracy,
organizing, internationalism and creative
thinking in the union movement. You are most welcome to pass it on. Better
still, find out about joining us *here*<http://www.newunionism.net/join.htm>
.

*Putting OCCUPATION back into unionism *[image: Guilds]Industrial
unions replaced guilds and friendly societies during the first wave of new
unionism - starting towards the end of the 19th century. Perhaps we lost
something important along the way? Look at the way people talk about their
work: we *do* jobs; but we *are* occupations. In our final paper on
building global unionism, *Guy Standing* argues: *"what we do and seek to
do is more important than who we do it for."* In fact, a revived focus on
occupation within unionism might help us address some of our most difficult
problems:
» How do we organize and bargain across borders in an age of globalization?
» How do we organize "the precariat", who come and go from workplaces
before we can reach them?
» How do we rebuilt influence whilst struggling to survive?
 What's more, an occupational layer might not require any major change to
the underlying structure of industrial unions. This is an idea you need to
think about!  *More
<http://newunionism.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/global-unionism-the-occupational-citizenship-model/>**
<http://newunionism.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/global-unionism-the-occupational-citizenship-model/>*

*A new strategic alliance? *[image: Fair Work Union Made]"Fair Trade" has
been quietly changing the face of retail. In fact, sales have been
increasing by almost 30% per year. So what about *Fair Work*? Strangely
enough, such a label does not exist. Yet an alliance of consumers and
producers could offer huge benefits to both. A recent article by *Conor
Cradden* proposes the creation of a new international sustainability
standard: "Fair Work, Union Made". Such a label would certify that *"wages
and working conditions are set through ongoing processes of good faith
collective bargaining"*. While such a standard would not substitute for
collective and individual labour law, says Cradden, it would be an
effective means of promoting collective industrial relations. You can find
out more about the idea here: *http://goo.gl/hEDmOg <http://goo.gl/hEDmOg>*.
And if you are interested in being part of a small team to take the idea
further, contact *communications at newunionism.net
<communications at newunionism.net>*.

*Development-led economics *[image: invisible hands]Is export-led
development the only way to a brighter future for poor countries? Or is it
just a convenient way for a small group of people in these countries (and
their counterparts in the global north) to make a lot of money? An
alternative strategy - focusing on expanding domestic demand -  has been
shown to produce more in the way of social and economic benefits. However,
development-led economics is a strategy that is being kept off the agenda.
Could this be because it requires involving workers in decisions about pay
and conditions? We take a serious look at this question with the help of a
critical and widely-overlooked UNCTAD paper *here
<http://newunionism.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/collective-industrial-relations-development-economics-for-the-global-north/#more-2388>*.

*Reasons to be cheerful *[image: ILO]Employers’ representatives at the ILO
have recently started worrying that freedom of association and collective
bargaining rights might mean more than offering workers a seat at the table
and then proceeding to ignore them. They seem to have finally realised that
the *point* of freedom of association is to allow workers to challenge
unilateral managerial control over business costs and organization. For the
last couple of years they've battled to ensure this right means as little
as possible in practice. However, a new report from the ILO’s independent
legal advisory body - the Committee of Experts - suggests the battle is not
going their way. It seems that ILO workers' representatives have employers
on the back foot over the thorny issue of the right to strike. *More»
<http://newunionism.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/ilo-workers-representatives-call-employers-bluff-on-right-to-strike/>*

*Reframing trade: Unions vs GATS *[image: Reframing]Network member *Mike
Waghorne* has written in to recommend Donna McGuire's recent book:
"Re-framing Trade: union mobilisation against the General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS)". The book is derived from McGuire's thesis, in
which she looked at the work of two of the biggest global union
federations: Public Services International (PSI) and Education
International (EI). She includes extensive case studies on union campaigns
in Australia and South Africa. Not only does McGuire look at the successes
achieved, she also looks at various campaign failures -- something not
often found in work on union campaigns! *More»
<http://newunionism.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/re-framing-trade-union-mobilisation-against-gats/>*

*Looking for TWELVE volunteers *[image: Looking within]There are about
1,000 of us in the New Unionism Network. Among us, can we find TWELVE
people who would be willing to spend a month each as Guest Editor? We need
your ideas, your energies, your perspectives and your networks. It's not
just about running our *Blog <http://newunionism.wordpress.com/>* and *FaceBook
<https://www.facebook.com/newunionism>* pages. We're happy to see things
shaken up... you're *very* welcome to propose new projects, or conduct
thought-provoking interviews, or organize local Meet-Ups, or launch a
YouTube channel, or create a Prezi, or design a smartphone app... Play to
your strengths! There's no particular job description for our Guest
Editors, just like there's no wages (sorry - I should have mentioned that
earlier!). This is not because we're tight, just because we have a budget
south of shoestrings. (Hey - if fund-raising is a strengths of yours, we'd
also like to talk!). More than anything else, this is a great chance to
work alongside some inspiring battlers and thinkers. The only restriction
is that your work has to be in keeping with our principles (*here
<http://www.newunionism.net/new_unionism.htm>*) and our content
guidelines (*here
<http://www.newunionism.net/guidelines.htm>*).

Interested? Please get in touch!! It's communications at newunionism.net.

*Got something else you'd like us to discuss? *
*Check out our content guidelines (www.newunionism.net/guidelines.htm
<http://www.newunionism.net/guidelines.htm>) then email us at
communications at newunionism.net <communications at newunionism.net>. Please
note, you need to be a member in order to have your work published.  *

 *JOIN US <http://www.newunionism.net/join.htm>*

*Feedback? *This newsletter comes out every couple of months-ish. Ok, so
we've been a bit slack lately. Anyway, we welcome your feedback, no matter
how blunt the language. Contact feedback at newunionism.net.  If you'd like to
subscribe, just  forward this email to subs at newunionism.net with the word
SUBSCRIBE  in the subject line.  And of course, you can also reply with the
word CANCEL.

*Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License *

 Peter Hall-Jones
Communications guy
Kaiwhakahaere whakapā
New Unionism Network
SafeSpace Networking
Skype: peter.hall-jones
facebook.com/peter.hall-jones
Ph +64 4 2360-209

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