March 1999

[Its not just the pay]

The NUJ and more than 20 other unions have backed UNISON's demonstration on 10 April, as has the TUC. Why you should be there

Preparing for Fairness at Work law
Challenging the racists
The road from Wapping to Heathrow
Poverty pay

First claim

There is no single right way to form a union chapel. Conditions and people's expectations will vary from company to company, but it will always be important to prepare the ground carefully.
Winning recognition is a crucial step, but it is not the only one. Recognition on its own does not force managers to concede what we would consider reasonable pay or conditions.
Drawing up a pay claim and presenting health and safety demands can be done in parallel with recruiting enough members to force the firm to recognise the union. Once a good minority of people have joined up the new chapel can start putting in its claims to management.

Building confidence

The pay claim needs to be something the members feel the company can afford and, even if they think they don't stand a chance in hell of getting it, they were morally right to ask for.
This is important - it builds confidence and shows those who haven't yet joined that the chapel is serious.
The first demands should be simple; health and safety is usually a good issue to start with. Once recognition is secured the chapel can start drawing up a detailed draft house agreement.
The new chapel should hold regular meetings, keeping as many of the new members involved and informed as possible. Seek advice from NUJ officials and experienced union members in other workplaces.
We may be heading for new times, but we still need to prepare for them.

By Neil Darby

Fairness at Work

The Fairness at Work Act will give every worker new right in the workplace, and gives new recognition rights to trade unions. What do these rights mean to you in your workplace? How can we best take advantage of new opportunities? Can we push for further improvements, and if so, how?
We'll try to provide the answers at this month's branch meeting, which will be devoted to providing you with practical information about the new legislation. We have invited two guest speakers to help.
Seamus Milne is labour editor on the Guardian, and has been a member of the NUJ National Executive for much of the past decade. These two roles have helped him become one of the leading authorities on employment law and union rights.
Mark Turnbull is president of the NUJ, and has been an active member and radio broadcaster for many years, and is chair of the BBC's Staff Forum. Seamus and Mark will give their perspectives on the Act and answer your questions.
We also hope to run some brief workshops.
We want to get at least one representative from as many workplaces as possible to this meeting. Please try and ensure that someone from your office attends. We guarantee to make it worth your while - no set-piece debates, no boring bureaucracy, just practical advice on how to improve life at work and build union strength.

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Challenging the racists

Last month's branch meeting had a productive discussion about what we can do to combat racist reporting.
One member pointed out that a number of fascist parties will be standing in the European elections in May.
It is important that journalists do not uncritically report these parties' claims, he said. 'We should as a matter of course expose their lies, and balance any mention of the fascists' activities with news of what anti-racists are doing locally.'
All members of the union have a duty to follow the NUJ code of conduct, which says that members should not originate or process racist material. For help or advice call the NUJ Ethics Hotline: 0171 843 3702. For useful information:
Searchlight magazine
Canterbury anti-fascist website
NUJ Code of Conduct

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The road from Wapping to Heathrow

Broken promises, imposed 'flexible' working hours, and a refusal to go to arbitration. Which publisher? No, Lufthansa has learned from our industry In a series of moves worthy of Rupert Murdoch, the biggest airline catering company in the world has fired its 300-strong workforce for taking one day's - entirely legal - strike action.
LSG Lufthansa SkyChefs' Heathrow base supplies American Airlines, Quantas, Iberia and Air France.
The dispute started with the company's demand for new, 'flexible' working practices, called 'Single Team Catering'. This was introduced on a trial basis early last year. The flexible rosters were immensely disruptive of the workers' family lives.
But the company refused to honour its promise to pay workers 1% (yes, 1%) of the savings. When negotiations over sharing the savings broke down, SkyChefs refused to return to the old working practices, even though this broke the status quo clauses in its union agreement.
The catering workers voted by a 75% majority to hold four one-day strikes. On the first strike day, 20 November, couriers biked dismissal notices to the strikers' homes.
There have been more dismissals as more workers joined the dispute. Messages of support and donations to: TGWU, 218 Green Lanes, London N4 2HB.

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Poverty pay

[Its not just the pay] 'It's not just the pay. What will they do about all their other promises?''Labour has even watered down the Fairness at Work legislation it promised.'
The words are those of a health worker on the picket line at University College London Hospitals, on strike for a week against privatisation. (Members of this branch visited picket lines, collected money for the strikers and took the branch banner on a demonstration in support of the UCLH workers.)
She was encouraging trade unionists to attend the national demonstration against low pay called by her union UNISON. The NUJ and more than 20 other unions have backed the demonstration on 10 April, as has the TUC.
It is an absolute scandal that the - pathetically low - minimum wage of £3.60 an hour (in the region of £6,550 a year) will benefit members of this union, especially in provincial newspapers. We know of members of this branch who are on less than £10,000 a year.
This demonstration really is about more than low pay, which is why the last branch meeting passed a motion to send the branch banner and to encourage members to go on it.

Take the Low Pay Challenge: Shop Your Boss

Members of the branch called a meeting of other trade unionists in central London to build support for the demonstration and - crucially - to organise transport to Newcastle.
UNISON has booked just one train from London and allocated a mere 10 tickets per branch to its membership. This is astonishing considering that this is the first significant opportunity since Labour came to office nearly two years ago for ordinary trade union members to show just what they think of the government's paltry minimum wage, its broken promises about employees' rights at work, and its privatisation of hospitals and schools.
One of the initiatives taken to raise awareness of the demonstration was organising street stalls where passers-by are encouraged to 'Take the Low-Pay Challenge and Shop Your Boss.' People have been writing their wages and their employer's name on a big billboard. We are still seeking the 'Ultimate Scrooge'.
They have also been asked to sign up to go on the demonstration. Several coaches will be leaving Kings Cross station at 6.10am, and as each one fills up we will hire another.
Catching the first tube from anywhere in London will get you to Kings Cross before 5.59am. A return ticket costs £17.
We encourage members to ask their workmates and friends to sign up for what could be a huge protest, and a clear warning to the government: we didn't elect them so they could carry on just like their predecessors.

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