E-Bulletin Issue 11 - November 2007
Welcome from Unite Regional Secretary, Laurence
Faircloth
Unite's on-going political campaigning is bearing fruit. We
welcomed the Government’s commitment outlined in the Queen’s speech
to review the right to request to work flexibly with a look at
extending the provision to cover parents of children up to 18.
Currently the right applies to parents of children up to six years
old (up to 18 if the child is disabled) and to carers. This has
been a key union demand and Unite will be part of the review
process.
Unite has also welcomed the Government’s new Housing bill
proposals that goes some way to meet the union’s policy of giving
the ability to build new council homes back local authorities.
The union’s ongoing pension’s campaign to achieve compulsory
pension contributions from employers and employees also moved
closer following the announcement that the new Pensions Bill will
implement the national pension scheme which every employee will be
automatically enrolled into.
Unite also welcomed the Government’s announced proposals in a
new Employment Bill which will strengthen the enforcement framework
for the National Minimum Wage and employment agency standards,
another union demand that will help tens of thousands of low paid
workers.
We would, of course, have liked more such as legislation to
ensure equal treatment for temporary and agency workers. But we’re
not going away, we will continue to keep knocking on the door of
Government making our demands on behalf of our members.
Keep Rolls-Royce pride on Merseyside
Workers from Rolls-Royce sites across the country are meeting on
Merseyside today (Thursday 22nd November) to discuss coordinated
action to stop the closure of the site in Bootle and the potential
loss of 212 jobs.
Unite members at Rolls-Royce in Merseyside will be asking their
fellow workers from across the UK to pledge their solidarity and
join the fight against the proposed closure.
Over 200 highly skilled engineering workers at Rolls-Royce,
Bootle, which makes turbines for the oil and gas
industries, will lose their jobs next year if company plans to
shift production to its plant in Mount Vernon, USA, go ahead.
The union wants Rolls-Royce to review their proposals and says
it and the workers will pursue every avenue in fighting to retain
production at the Merseyside plant. Unite has already gained huge
support for the campaign petition amongst North West MPs, Local
Authority Councillors and the people of Merseyside.
Unite Regional Officer, Debbie Brannan, said: “We
have already gained a lot of support in the fight to keep this
profitable plant open and we're hoping that the many thousands of
Rolls Royce employees from the 11 major plants can add their
support to keeping these high value, highly skilled jobs here in
the UK.”
You can help support our campaign "Keep Rolls-Royce Pride on
Merseyside" by signing the petition to fight the closure which
can be downloaded at
http://www.amicustheunion.org/pdf/A4%20Petition%20rolls%20royce.pdf.
Copies of the petition are also available from the Southport Office
telephone 01704 546 500.
Airport Pay dispute resolved
Talks between Unite and Liverpool John Lennon Airport Management
regarding the recent pay dispute ended on 14th November.
Following a number of meetings in recent weeks both the Airport
Company, Unite and GMB unions reached a settlement to the pay
dispute with relevant employees to receive a 4.4% pay
increase backdated to 1st April 2007.
The Airport Company, the Unions and employees are now committed
to moving forward and working together closely in order to take the
business forward and to continue to develop the important strategic
role that Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA) now plays in the
region’s air transport industry.
Carol Devereux, Unite Regional Officer said: “We are
obviously very pleased with the outcome of today’s productive
talks. The Airport Company has met all the requests of our
membership and the view of the Trade Unions is that this dispute is
now over completing this year’s pay negotiations. As we now look to
the future, the unions and our members are committed to working
together with the Airport Company for the good of the business.
”
Diary Date - Rally for respect in
construction
Unite is holding a march and rally for construction workers to
demand that all employers use workers that are covered by union
negotiated national agreements and are directly employed.
So come along and bring the family to the demonstration on
Wednesday 2nd January which assembles from 11 am at Whitworth Park
(opposite Manchester Royal Infirmary), Oxford Road, Fallowfield,
Manchester and marches through Manchester to a rally at
Manchester’s Peace Garden, off St. Peter’s Square.
For further details and rally leaflets/posters please contact
Mike Gaskell, Regional Organiser, Telephone: 01704 546 500 or
Mobile: 07768893950.
Unions continue to fight Remploy
closures
Unions have vowed to continue their fight to save the remaining 28
Remploy factories including Aintree that are threatened with
closure.
Following the announcement made by the company on Monday 12th
November the Manchester Print site and 14 other sites have been
taken off the closure list.
Unite Regional Officer, Paul Finegan said:
“Obviously we are pleased that jobs have been saved at
the print site in Manchester but our fight goes on to save the jobs
of our colleagues in the remaining 28 factories still under threat
of closure.”
Working in the Community
Unite Morecambe and Lancaster Branch have been
extending their good work into the local community.
Unite Regional Officer, Mike Barr and Regional Council member
and Branch Secretary for Morecambe and Lancaster, Alex McCahon
presented two portable DVD players to staff at Royal Lancaster
Infirmary Children’s Cancer Ward.
Alex McCahon said: “Unite is proud to donate these
gifts to the Children’s Cancer Ward and support the good work of
the people in this community.”
Support the Lil-lets
boycott
Unite is calling on its women members to boycott Lil-lets and
simple products following a move by private equity firm Electra to
send production abroad and deny the redundant workers their full
'discretionary' pension.
Lil -lets were owned by Accantia Health & Beauty Ltd who
originally made the decision to close its last manufacturing site
in the UK. Accantia make 'Simple', the UK's leading brand of skin
care product and Lil-lets is the UK's leading brand of non
applicator Tampon.
When private equity company, Electra bought Lil-lets they
continued with the closure of the UK factory and exported the 150
jobs abroad. This was despite the company making excellent profits
and the UK being the majority customer base for Lil-lets sanitary
products.
Electra’s profits runs into the tens of £millions. However,
Electra has decided to reduce the expected pensions of 48 now
redundant Lil-lets workers aged over fifty by in some cases up to a
third, by refusing to exercise their discretion and consent to them
receiving a full pension. Unite believes this is morally and
ethically wrong.
The union believes when a company’s majority market is in the
UK, it should support UK jobs. A boycott of Lil-lets and Simple is
the only way to make Electra sit up and listen. Please support the
campaign and sign the on line petition at http://www.unitetheunion.org/.
Unite teams up with All Together Now!
Unite is proud to sponsor All Together Now the
region’s only publication that specifically targets disabled people
and their carers.
Our support gives All Together Now the opportunity to continue
its successful work for its thousands of readers across the North
West and gives Unite the chance to promote its commitment to
achieving equality for disabled people at work.
The on-line magazine is available at http://www.alltogethernow.org.uk/.
Reps training for Housing Association
A 5-day non residential Stage 1 Reps Training course
is being organised for 21st – 25th January 2008 for North West
Housing Association reps in Liverpool – venue to be
confirmed. If you are interested in attending or require
further information please email Nancy Greene at Nancy.Greene@unitetheunion.org
Tree For All Campaign
Unite has given its support to the Woodland Trust’s
‘Tree For All’ campaign. ‘Tree for All’ is the UK’s largest
ever children’s tree planting campaign which aims to involve one
million children in planting 12 million trees. It’s about
encouraging young people to have contact with nature, increasing
their understanding and enjoyment of woodland and inspire them to
become the future guardians of our natural world.
Unite Regional Officer, Terry Burns went along to a tree-planting
event at Polyphemus Wood, Blackburn, Lancashire on Saturday 17th
November to help local scouts plant new areas of woodlands to
celebrate the Scout’s centenary.
Joe Mugford, development officer for the Woodland Trust
said: “Since the 1930s, fifty per cent of the
UK’s ancient woods have been felled or damaged and 190,000km of
hedgerow destroyed in the wake of agricultural development. Our
hedge and copse initiative goes some small way to address the
balance by planting new hedgerows and copses. Encouraging the next
generation to help us plant trees is an effective way to get the
message across that we need to conserve the hedgerows and woods we
have left and to replace the ones we have
destroyed.”
Further details on the campaign can be found at http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/
Reduce work-related road risks
20 people on average are killed weekly by
work-related road crashes (UK Government statistics). Employers
often cause or contribute to these deaths by excluding driving from
their Health & Safety arrangements, placing responsibility on
individual drivers' behaviour, not satisfying legal duties to
assess/mitigate risk, pressurising by unreasonable targets,
occupational hazards - long hours, stress, bullying, and not
recognising driving is integral to many peoples’ work.
Health and Safety Executive annual work-related accidents/deaths
statistics are wrong, as work-related road incidents are excluded
& do not count towards any Health & Safety
improvements.
The Government must act immediately to: make reportable under
RIDDOR all injuries and deaths to workers/members of the public
from work-related traffic incidents, improve enforcement by HSE,
local authorities & police of employers’ statutory duties under
existing legislation and enable the prosecution of negligent
employers for corporate killing.
The petition is nationally endorsed by all UK trade unions
representing members who drive whilst at work (inc. Unite).To sign
up to the petition visit: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/petitionforkaren/.
Colombia petition and photographic exhibition
Please visit the 10 Downing Street website and add
your support to the ‘Justice for Colombia’s petition to suspend UK
military aid to the Colombian armed forces until their human rights
record improves. Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the
world for trade unionists, with 84 activists murdered last year.
Click here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Colombia/
Resistencia: Portraits of Colombia - In 2007 photographer Sam
Green visited Colombia with 'Justice for Colombia' to photograph
some of the most threatened people in Colombia. He was also able to
go to regions that are normally almost impossible for foreigners to
enter. The photographs make for a compelling and unparalleled
exhibition and will soon be available to view on the unite website.
Unite comment on members death at paper mill
Unite offers its deepest sympathy to the family and
friends of Christopher Massey who was tragically killed at
Kimberley Clark Tissue Mill in Barrow-in-Furness at 5.30am on
Thursday 8th November.
Unite will be offering support and legal assistance to
Christopher’s family.
The circumstances of the accident are now being investigated by
the Health and Safety Executive. Unite is involved in discussions
with the company, and is negotiating to support the workforce and
the company in any way possible in trying to recover from this
terrible event.
Obituaries
It is with great sadness that we advise you of the
sad loss of Dave Upton, Unite Senior Convenor for BNFL, Capenhurst.
Dave passed way peacefully at home on Saturday 17th November after
fighting a long illness.
Dave was very actively involved with the Union for many
years.
On behalf of members and colleagues in the North West we would like
to send our deepest sympathies to Dave’s family.
North West Legal
The widow of a Unite member has won a substantial
compensation payment after her husband was exposed to lethal
asbestos dust in the workplace.
David Hines from Birkenhead was 73 when he died in April 2004
just two months after he was diagnosed with cancer of the lining of
the lung mesothelioma.
Grandad David was exposed to asbestos during his work as a
plumber for Wirral Borough Council between 1955 and 1965 and at
VSEL Birkenhead/Cammell Lairds, between 1965 and 1993 where he was
a plumber working on board various ships and
vessels.
Unite Regional Secretary Laurence Faircloth said:
“It is important for victims of asbestos related
diseases and their family members to claim compensation from the
insurers of their former employers to achieve a sense of
justice.
“We will continue to fight to ensure asbestos
victims, retain their right to claim full compensation for the
injuries they have suffered through merely carrying out a hard
day’s work.”
This bulletin has been produced by Karen Viquerat, if
you have any stories or contributions please email
karen.viquerat@unitetheunion.org
or telephone Karen on 01704 546 500.
