annual report OFFICERS President: Professor Keith Ewing Chairperson: John Hendy QC Treasurer: Geoffrey D Shears Director: Carolyn Jones
2018 INTRODUCTION The year 2017 was full of promise at IER but also problems.
Trade unions, individuals and political parties from Labour to the Greens to the SNP all welcomed our work around the Manifesto for Labour Law. Our materials promoting those ideas were distributed throughout the labour movement and our expert speakers addressed numerous meetings up and down the country, outlining and explaining our proposals. At the same time, and in the absence of our Director, some of our income streams dropped and our reserve fund disappeared, leaving us in a precarious situation, reflected in a financial deficit for the year. Our determination to ensure that we not only survive but also prosper as we head towards our 30th Anniversary, has led to a series of meetings being organised with our trade union friends at which we hope to convince them that investing in IER’s work will help them to achieve the positive and progressive changes in labour law they want for their members. ADMINISTRATION Although our staffing levels remained constant in 2017, for most of the financial year (AprilJanuary) the Director was off on sick leave. That meant staffing was reduced to 1 full timer (James Harrison) and one part timer (Sarah Glenister).
4th Floor, Jack Jones House, 1 Islington, Liverpool, L3 8EG Tel 0151 207 5265 Fax 0151 207 5264 email office@ier.org.uk www.ier.org.uk
The Director returned to work in January 2018 working 3 days a week. The money saved is being invested in a temporary assistant working 2 days a week, focusing on driving forward our sales and promotions plans. Congratulations and appreciation should be recorded for the hard work shown by Sarah and James during that period. MEMBERS AND SUBSCRIBERS Our membership figures currently stand at 76 (–1), of which 36 are trade union representatives (no change).
We have a total of 489 (+10) subscribers on our database. Of those, 261 (+24) are individuals, 140 (-17) are trade union branches, 17 (same) are
Subscriber Numbers International 3% Libraries 3%
Individual 54%
Free 7%
TU branches 29%
Free trial 4%
commercial libraries, 16 (+3) are international, and 32 (-23) are free subscriptions gifted to our speakers. There are 21 free trial subscribers who will start paying in 2019-2020. Reduced rate subscriptions (mainly students paying £25) now stand at 66(+9). Although the number of subscriptions has gone up since last year, subscription income was down as new subscribers took advantage of our free year offer. We hope that once this promotional period is over, the predicted extra £800 will help stabilise our subscriber income. On the positive side, the increase in reduced rate subscribers reflects our success in reaching out to students and retired union members. Over 5,400 readers are now subscribed to our electronic subscription list to receive weekly news briefs and promotions. Our online payment facilities have recently been separated between Eventbrite for conferences and PayPal for publications and subscriptions. This year, PayPal sales increased by 9% to £12,205 and £2,593.26 has been taken through Eventbrite in its first month of operation. Overall online sales have thus increased by 23.3% to £14,798. While most paid subscribers continue to manage their accounts offline, 109 subscribers currently pay their dues through PayPal, up 6% on last year.
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INSTITUTE OFT EMPLOYMEN RIGHTS E COMPARATIV NOTES 11
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Our international journal with Pluto Press is due to be published later in 2018, consisting of The Manifesto for Labour Law, Health and Safety at work: time for change, and The legacy of Thatcherism in European Labour relations.
The Legacy of Thatcherism in ur European Labo : ns io at Rel
the Politics The Impact of ism and of Neo-Liberal llective Austerity on Co a in g Bargainin rope Fragmenting Eu IO, RTÍNEZ LUC MIGUEL MA KIADAKI ARISTEA KOU ORA TAV and ISABEL
8 Good R Why Adu easons lt Care Nee Social d Collective s Sectoral Bargainin g by Dr Lydia H ayes
PUBLICATIONS Last year we produced 5 of our promised 6 publications, with our final publication delayed due to our experts prioritising their work on the Manifesto project.
Europe, the EU and Britain:
Workers’ Rights and Economic DemocracyAR
NATIONAL SEMIN REPORT OF AN INTER RIAL LIBRARY, LONDON HELD AT MARX MEMO 2017 1 JULY
Institute of Employment
Rights & Marx Memorial
Library
Labour Law Highlights 2017 edited by Rebe ccaTuck
wer Preparing for Po our laws ssive lab
Developing progre IER policies in the
esto Labour Party Manif
2017:
ve bargaining their ✔ Sectoral collecti trade unions and ✔ A Ministry of Labour ntation rights for recognition & represe for all workers ✔ Stronger access, rights from day one Act, 2016 members ✔ Equal Repeal the Trade Union ✔ A Living Wage ✔ fees ✔ Scrap tribunal
for rights is a priority “ Strengthening workers’ g workers against the Labour Party. Protectin a voice and enabling them exploitation, by giving ly to defend their them to organise collective to deliver on our if we are interests, is crucial the many, benefits that economy promise of an e 2020: we set up Workplac not the few. Last year, people tion with the working life, a national conversa experiences of working of Britain, about their es and in Britain’s workplac the challenges faced The Institute of what needs to change. Law Manifesto for Labour Rights’ ent Employm tion and on to that consulta was a key submissi for a Fair Deal plan 20-point helped formulate our Election our 2017 General at Work included in we thank the prepare for power, Manifesto. As we debate around workers' IER for informing the to reforming rights, and look forward for a laws, today's unfair labour ” future. brighter
Jeremy Corbyn, Party Leader of the Labour
power, we are “ As we prepare for proposals considering how key of Employment from the Institute for Labour Law Rights’ Manifesto in order to can be implemented which everyone create a future in work, for has access to decent which decent pay; and in can work employers and workers stronger a together to create economy that works for us all. ”
John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor
to power, the “ When we return make it our Labour Party will e legislation to priority to rebalanc is appropriate, ensure that there support proportional and robust workers million 31 UK’s for the drawing and businesses alike, o for upon the IER’s Manifest n Labour Law to strengthe prevent statutory rights and exploitation. ”
Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow BEIS Secretary
ion sponsor Thankyou to our publicat
government, “ On our return to repeal the the Labour Party will as a Trade Union Act 2016 upon the priority, and will draw ent Rights’ Institute of Employm Law for Manifesto for Labour en trade strength to how on ideas as improving union rights, such e for access to the workplac fairer g for unions and legislatin ” recognition laws.
Ian Lavery, Labour Party Chair
Our first two publications were delayed due to a shift in work priorities during Cad’s time off. Both were produced in September, providing less time to promote and sell during the 2017/18 financial year. The legacy of Thatcherism in European labour relations by Miguel Martinez Lucio, Aristea Koukiadaki and Isabel Tavora, (all from The University of Manchester) highlighted the systematic attack on collective bargaining across the EU, an attack the authors track back to the policies of Thatcher. Our second publication, 8 good reasons why adult social care needs sectoral collective bargaining by Dr Lydia Hayes of Cardiff University, was a very timely and popular publication, selling well particularly within UNISON. Lydia identified the poor-quality terms and conditions experienced by carers, the impact that has on the care provided to vulnerable citizens and how the introduction of sectoral collective bargaining as outlined in our Manifesto proposals could alleviate some of those problems. Our third book, Europe, the EU and Britain: Workers’ rights and economic democracy, was a roundup of contributions from an international event organised in association with the Marx Memorial Library. The event involved representatives from the UK, Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, Cyprus and France discussing how best to secure a progressive future for workers’ rights following the UK’s vote to leave the EU. Our fourth book, Blacklisting: the need for a public inquiry was written by Dave Smith, Secretary of the Blacklist Support Group. It details the personal experience of those blacklisted, denied employment in some instances just for raising health and safety concerns. It puts the case for a public inquiry to seek justice for those victimised. The publication concludes with a detailed Manifesto Against Blacklisting drawn up by employment lawyer Alex Just, who recommends changes to legislation that would protect workers vulnerable to blacklisting now and in the future.
PUBLICATIONS PLANNED FOR 2018/19 • Trade Union Act, Profs Alan Bogg & Michael Ford • Social security & employment rights, Keith Puttick • Health and safety at work (part 2), Phil James and Dave Walters • Brexit & employment rights, John Hendy QC & Prof Keith Ewing • Enforcement of rights at work, Michael Ford QC • UK employment rights, Andrew Moretta COMMISSIONS, PROJECTS AND PUBLIC POLICY WORK Our main project in 2017 remained our Manifesto for Labour Law. Phase Three of that project saw the number of experts involved increase to 18, with a good number of them presenting our ideas first to a round table forum of trade unionists and then to the Shadow Employment Team in the House of Commons. Our plan now is to edit the papers together into an updated report to be published in the autumn. We are also working with GFTU on educational materials based on our Manifesto to ensure that our ideas are simplified and popularised, allowing us to reach out to trade union activists. The Manifesto was also the theme at our 2017 TUC and Labour Party fringes as well as our meetings at Durham and Tolpuddle.
Other projects included working with the SNP on the Workers’ Definition Bill and with Campaigners in Scotland on work around precarious work and zero hour contracts. Our experts also offered their assistance to those trying to assess the impact of EU laws on various Manifesto proposals. During the year we were also partners in a successful bid for a PhD student looking at Employment Rights and Shareholders in association with David Whyte at Liverpool University and Aristea Koukiadaki from Manchester University. That project will commence in October 2018. Towards the end of the year, we agreed to launch an IER Scotland initiative involving an online hub covering trade union and labour law issues, highlighting and promoting our Manifesto ideas. The initiative was launched at the STUC and we plan to hold a round table meeting in June and a full launch event in September in the Scottish Parliament. CONFERENCES AND EVENTS In 2017-2018 the Institute hosted 8 events, 3 in London and 5 In Liverpool. Our Employment Law Update conference was the best attended in London, whilst our Post-Brexit employment rights was the most popular in Liverpool. A total of 176 delegates attended our events, down by 83 from 2016-2017. There were an additional 2 planned events in London which had to be cancelled due to low numbers – a surprise given
Post-Brexit s employment right als de de tra and
London
The future of equality law at work
A one-day conference July 2017 Wednesday 19th 9:30am to 3:00pm Unite the Union, , 128 Theobald’s Road 8TN London WC1X
on Londrexit
European conference
A one-day conference Wednesday 18th Octob er 2017 9:30am to 3:30pm Unite the Union, 128 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8TN
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Democracy and World
Human Rights
Organised by The Institute of s Employment Right
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London
#ierB
European Union, Employment Brexit – L the futurers’ aw Update of worke rights ELDH of Lawyers for European Association
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Organised by The Institute of Employment Rights
A one-day con Wednesday 6thference 9:30am to 4:00 December 2017 Unite the Unio pm 128 Theobald’sn, London WC1X Road, 8TN
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London #ier
9:30am – 6:30p e at Unite the Saturday Diskus,Centr Road, Union 128 Theobald’s 8T 11th rn, London WC1X November Holbo me ram og 2017 Pr London
Organised by The Institute of Employment Righ ts
Liverpool Employment Law Update: The Trade Union Act, ballots and important public services
The future of equality law at work
A one day conference 2017 Thursday 25 May 9:30am to 3:00pm Office, Unite the Union NW Islington, Liverpool
ool Liverp LU
Post-Brexit employment rights and trade deals
A one day conference Thursday 5th October 2017 9:30am to 3:00pm Unite the Union NW Office, Islington, Liverpool uality
Liverpool #ierEq
#ierE
Organised by The Institute of s Employment Right
Employmen Law Update t
A one day conference mber 2017 Thursday 30th Nove 9:30am to 3:00pm Office, Unite the Union NW Islington, Liverpool
#ierB
ool Liverp rexit
Racism at work
Organised by The Institute of Employment Rights
A one-day con Thursday 18th ference 9:30am to 3:00 January 2018 Unite the Unio pm 1 Islington, Liven, NW Office, rpool L3 8EG
Organised by The Institute of s Employment Right
#ierR
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Liverpool #ierELU
A one-day conference h 2018 Thursday 8th Marc 9:30am to 3:00pm Office, Unite the Union, NW L3 8EG 1 Islington, Liverpool
Organised by The Institute of Employment Righ ts
ittee Room Executive Comm s Association Durham Miner ills) Miners Hall (Redh Flass Street 4BE Durham DH1
John Hendy QC
ment Institute of Employ Trade for Rights/Campaign Union Freedom
Christine Blower Workplace 2020
Mick Whelan
ASLEF General r TULO Secretary/Chai
Laura Pidcock MP
North Labour, Durham West
Chair: Tony Burke l Assistant Genera Secretary Unite
AFTER TH E WHERE NE ELECTION: XT FOR TR ADE UNION Friday 14 July RIGHTS? 2017 Speakers include at 7.00 pm : Fringe Marque Prof Keith Ewin e, g President, IER Tolpuddle Fest and CTUF ival Site Christine Blow er
Workplace 2020
Jo Galazka
Unite Regional Officer/ Young Carers’ Champion
Ben Chacko
Editor, Morning
Star
Chair: Peter Hughes
UNITE South
West Regional
Secretary
RITY FIGHTING JOB INSECU roved The case for imp workers’ rights
on zero hour and employers hooked financial, of the care sector be With fragmentation feeling the pinch. These attacks can are between care visits contracts, workers or having to take time as no breaks deductions of pay through unlawful balance issues, such demanding also bring work life up on increasingly as unpaid. They can working hours to catch insecurity, such as and longer (unpaid) job market bringing wider the in security of work jobs. With other changestime for workers’ to be demanding is the automation, now workplace. and fair rights in the UNISON will jointly ent Rights and NW rk Institute of Employm what a better framewo At this fringe, the landscape, and consider the next. y insecurit job on and appraise the mean for this generati of rights at work could
Preparing for pow Labour rights und er: er Labour governme a nt
The Labour Party Manifesto 2017 caught the popular imagination and inspired a new genera tion of voters. Turning those ideas into practical propo sals is the next step along the path to power. Come and hear IER and CTUF’s ideas for labour rights under a Labour government.
–13:45pm June 2017, 12:45 Wednesday 21 wing, floor, Syndicate ‘Syndicate 3’, 1st Brighton Centre ment Rights Employ of e Institut Hendy QC Speakers: John Convenor NW Region When: al Region Monday 25 Septem r Paula Barke ber 2017, 12:30pm Global Where: Senior Organiser UNI Charlotte room, The Nigel Flanagan Grand Hotel, Brighto n BN1 2FW Speakers: Prof Keith NEC Ewing Jane Carolan IER/CTUF Chair: John Hendy QC IER/CTUF d provide drinks Len and McClus key Sandwich lunch Unite - TBC Rebecca Long-Bailey MP Shadow BEIS Secretary Chair: Tony Burke, Unite
When:
Where:
EVENTS FOR 2018-2019
London
• The future of labour law: progressive rights under a progressive government. • Employment law update. • Celebrating ILO standards: how does Britain compare? • Caselaw developments explained: labour law review. • IER’s 30th anniversary lecture. • The future of labour law: progressive rights under a progressive government. • Employment law update. • Celebrating ILO standards: how does Britain compare? • Caselaw developments explained: labour law review.
Rallies and meetings
2017 Friday 7 July 6 p.m.
Next year the Institute aims to hold 4 events in Liverpool and 5 events in London, with one of these being a free special IER 30th anniversary lecture taking place in London early in 2019. Our plan to hold fewer events in 2018-2019, allows us more time to focus on modernising and updating our methods of delivering our educational packages.
Liverpool
Organised by The Institute of s Employment Right
where next for ral Election… After the Gene ts? Speakers: Trade Union Righ
they addressed Racism at Work and the Trade Union Act. We believe the on-going fall in numbers is linked to growing problems with facility time and a fear-factor at work. In response, we are investigating ways to use new technology to deliver our courses to a wider audience. Our hope of developing online education packages and webinars did not materialise last year but is very much back on our agenda for the future.
Kindly sponsored by:
IT & COMMUNICATIONS Traffic to the IER website in 2017-18 was similar to the previous 12 months on average, but the extraordinary success of the Manifesto for Labour Law’s launch in 2016 skewed last year’s figures so that the data for this year showed a decline overall. There were 10.2% fewer vistiors to the website in 2017-18 as a result, 9.3% fewer visits, and 10.7% fewer views of individual pages.
er: Preparing for power a Labour rights und nt me Labour govern
t the popular Manifesto 2017 caugh The Labour Party tion of voters. inspired a new genera imagination and sals is the next into practical propo Turning those ideas and hear IER and Come . power to step along the path a Labour labour rights under CTUF’s ideas for government. end of congress ber 2017, 7pm or Sunday 10 Septem 1NR Road, Brighton BN1 Old Ship Hotel, Kings IER/CTUF Keith Ewing Prof rs: University diff Speake IER/Car Dr. Lydia Hayes F IER/CTU John Hendy QC Unite Len McCluskey Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP Workplace 2020 Christine Blower Chair: and followed Sponsored by: fringe at d Refreshments provide GFTU reception. at supper chips by fish &
When:
Where:
News and blog feeds remain the most-visited sections of the website, particularly the Fact News articles the IER published during the 2017 Snap Election, which aimed to educate visitors on the employment law policies of each major party and explain the mechanism and benefits of sectoral collective bargaining. Fact News generated a 79% rise in website visits (year-on-year), a 759% increase in retweets on Twitter and 1,756% improvement in Facebook engagement (both compared with previous the period). Fact News video content drove a 1,176% increase in YouTube views in 2017 compared with 2016. Our TUC/Labour Party Conference Manifesto four-pager, was seen 2,214 times on the website. Elsewhere, we have seen continued popularity of our “Easy Guide” resources, including the IER’s Easy Guide to the Trade Union Act 2016 and the Taylor Review. The Manifesto for Labour Law has consistently stayed in the top ten most-visited pages since it was launched in 2016. On Facebook, we have seen a 13% increase in people liking our page, rising from 631 in May 2017 to 715 in April 2018. On Twitter, we saw a 71.5% increase in the number of times our tweets appeared in users’ browsers in April 2017 – March 2018 compared with the previous year. Twitter followers have jumped by 20.9%, from 1,487 in April 2017 to 1,798 in April 2018. Between October 2017 and March 2018, the IER was mentioned on average 138 times a month, compared with 102 times between October 2016 and March 2017, representing a 35.3% rise (data was not available for months prior to October 2016). E-mailings continue to gather steam, with news briefs and promotions being opened 11.7% more times in 2017-18 compared with the previous year, and engagement levels (links clicked) improving by 46.6%. CONCLUSION As we head towards our 30th anniversary on 28 February 2019 we can be proud of what we have achieved. Our aim as an independent Institute has always been to provide the labour movement with ideas and educational packages that will inform the debate about the future of labour law. We believe we have been successful in that aim. In the year ahead our goal must be to ensure that our unique selling point – our network of dedicated and sympathetic experts working closely with our trade union allies – find a collective way to disseminate our ideas even more effectively across the labour movement. We are therefore exploring ways to take our experts out to audiences in new ways, whether that is by modernising our presentation methods or outsourcing our seminar platforms to trade unions and academic institutions.
Work has already begun and with the support of our trade union members, we are confident our success can only grow. cad@ier.org.uk
IER Officers & EC OFFICERS President: Professor Keith Ewing Chairperson: John Hendy QC Treasurer: Geoffrey D Shears Director: Carolyn Jones VICE PRESIDENTS Tess Gill Old Square Chambers Len McLuskey UNITE Professor Aileen McColgan Professor Sonia McKay Dave Prentis UNISON Tim Roache GMB
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Richard Arthur Thompsons Binder Bansel Howard Beckett UNITE Alan Bogg Amanda Brown NUT Mick Cash RMT Nicola Countouris Ruth Dukes Dr Lydia Hayes Professor Phil James Aristea Koukiadaki Paul Mackney Virginia Mantouvalou Robert Monks URTU Tonia Novitz Paul Scholey Morrish Solicitors Mark Serwotka PCS Bob Simpson Barry Smith GMB Liz Snape UNISON Michelle Stanistreet NUJ Barbara Switzer Sarah Veale Dave Ward CWU Prof David Whyte University of Liverpool Dr Frank Wilkinson Spencer Wood OH Parsons
IER Budget Report 2017-18 Year to 31st March 2018 £s
Christine Blower NUT Dr Mary Bousted Stephen Cavalier Thompsons Phil Clarke Moore Stephens Manuel Cortes TSSA Professor Paul Davies Professor Simon Deakin Mike Dempsey Pattinson & Brewer Professor Linda Dickens Mark Dickinson NAUTILUS International Ronnie Draper BFAWU Richard Evans SOR Kate Fallon AEP Michael Ford Old Square Chambers Steve Gibbons Steve Gillan POA John Hannett USDAW Sally Hunt UCU Chris Keates NASUWT Chris Kitchen NUM
Ian Lawrence NAPO Professor Roy Lewis Lesley Mercer CSP Professor Jonathan Michie Gerry Morrissey BECTU Steve Murphy UCATT Doug Nicholls GFTU Ged Nichols Accord Joe O’Hara Dave Penman FDA Tim Poil NGSU Roy Rickhuss Community Rod Robertson Mickey Rubenstein Paul Scholey Morrish Solicitors LLP Mike Seifert Grahame Smith STUC Gordon Taylor PFA Baroness Muriel Turner Mick Whelan ASLEF
Actual 2017/18
Actual 2016/17
INCOME Sales of Publications
18,000
9,172
15,851
Donations
45,000
49,706
56,224
Subscriptions
27,000
23,500
24,520
Sponsorship
5,000
6,867
1,700
16,000
12,112
16,914
400
711
595
Commissioned Work
5,000
0
600
Project Development
10,000
4,645
7,305
40
0
4
500
435
270
Seminar Receipts Royalties
Bank Interest Advertising TOTAL INCOME
126,940 107,148 123,983
EXPENDITURE Printing: Promotional (inc C&E Packs&publicity) 7,000
4,150
5,292
12,000
7
7,543
1,500
2,575
1,515
98,418
87,775
88,761
Rent
5,000
1,066
2,306
Sundries
1,500
353
941
Advertising
500
449
858
Insurance
800
517
540
C&E Room Hire (inc. Refrshts & TUC)
3,000
286
1,347
Professional Fees
2,000
4,583
750
C&E Hotels
150
266
50
C&E Fares
150
191
209
Travel
3,000
1,191
2,494
Telephones
1,500
1,427
1,298
Office Stationery
1,100
828
890
Postage: Couriers
1,000
601
494
Postage: Mailing
5,000
3,906
3,410
250
244
0
IT Development
1,500
841
1,082
Bank Charges
1,300
946
1,147
Printing: Publications Design Work Salaries
IER Members
Budget 2017-18
Repairs & maintenance
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
146,668 112,203 120,929
Surplus/deficit
–19,728
–5,055
3,054
33,204
8,660
13,041
0
11,960
778
Invoices owed to us
3,747
3,325
Money in bank: Bills to be paid