viewpoint F E D E R A T I O N
AUTUMN 2012 NO: 1
Tackling austerity and climate change Page 10
Interest rates, exchange rates and the overvaluation of sterling Page 08 Worse than austerity ahead Page 12
Greece today – Britain tomorrow? Page 20 Putting collective bargaining on the political agenda Page 15
Editor Doug Nicholls Assistant Editor for this edition Carolyn Jones Advisory Editorial Board John Bell Richard Beresford Stephen Cavalier Bill Dewhurst Rosie Eagleson Keith Ewing John Fray Dan Gallin John Hendy Judith Jackson Carolyn Jones Joe Mann Aileen McColgan Doug Nicholls Roger Seifert Dave Spooner Roger Welch Frank Wilkinson We welcome the submission of articles for consideration for publication in future editions. Please send articles to the Institute of Employment Rights at the above address or electronically to cad@ier.org.uk. The views expressed in Federation Viewpoint do not represent the collective views of the Institute of Employment Rights or of the GFTU, but only the views of the authors. The responsibility of the Institute and the GFTU is limited to approving this publication as worthy of consideration within the labour movement. Produced by IER Designed & produced by: surgerycreations.com Price £8.00 to IER subscribers and members (£30.00 others) ISSN 0014 9411
The Institute of Employment Rights 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
General Federation of Trade Unions Headland House 308/312 Grays Inn Road London WC1X 8DP Tel: 020 7520 8340 (24hrs) Fax: 020 7520 8350 Email: gftuhq@gftu.org.uk www.gftu.org.uk
The Institute of Employment Rights was launched in 1989. As a labour law ‘think tank’, supported by the trade union movement, its purpose is to provide research, ideas and detailed argument. In 1994 the Institute was granted charitable status.
The General Federation of Trade Unions was founded in 1899. It provides services and benefits, mainly in the fields of education and research, to affiliated unions. The education work of the Federation is administered through an Educational Trust, which was established in 1971.
The results of the work of the Institute are published in papers and booklets and developed at conferences, seminars and increasingly via on-line materials. Our aim is to provide the tools of analysis and debate for the trade union movement in the area of labour law.
Federation Viewpoint (the 2012 update of Federation News) is a series of short articles in the subject areas of labour law, labour economics and industrial relations, which are of interest to industrial relations practitioners and students.
FEDERATION VIEWPOINT
Brian Denny is Editor of trade union journal RMT News, a journalist and author covering European affairs and culture over many years. He contributed to a pamphlet Social Europe is a Con, published by Democrat Publications ISBN 978-1-904260-10-3 available from www.caef.org.uk Keith Ewing is Professor of Public Law at King’s College London. He is President of the Institute of Employment Rights and Legal Editor of the Journal International Union Rights. Carolyn Jones is Director of the Institute of Employment Rights. Linda Kaucher is a researcher on international trade. With Masters degrees in Journalism and in Human Geography, from Australia and the London School of Economics, and a broad background as an educator, she campaigns to take the lid off trade secrecy. Jonathan Ledger is General Secretary of NAPO, the trade union and professional association for family court and probation staff. Paul Mackney is Chair of the Greece Solidarity Campaign (GSC) and was former general secretary of NATFHE (now in UCU). John Mills is Labour Party Councillor for Camden, Vice-Chairman of the Economic Research Council and Chairman of the People’s Pledge Campaign for a referendum on Britain’s EU Membership.
CONTENTS
Biographical notes
04 Editorial By Doug Nicholls
Features 06 Reforming banks By Prem Sikka 08 The wasted years By John Mills 10 Shifting the Agenda By Keith Sonnet 12 No way to run an economy By Enrico Tortolano 15 The role of trade unions in economic growth By Keith Ewing 17 Monti 11, Mode 4 and social dumping By Brian Denny 20 Solidarity with the people of Greece By Paul Mackney 23 European Capitalism By Linda Kauchner 26 Yankee Doodles By Jonathan Ledger
Tackling austerity and climate change
Austerity: European style
Page 10
Page 17
Doug Nicholls is General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions. Prem Sikka is Professor of Accounting at the Centre for Global Accountability in the University of Essex.
Worse than austerity ahead
Page 12
Keith Sonnet is co-chair of the Alliance for Jobs and Climate. Enrico Tortolano is Head of National Bargaining Policy in the Public and Commercial Services Union.
Neoliberalism is being irreversibly fixed in international law
Page 23
03
viewpoint F E D E R A T I O N
AUTUMN 2012 NO: 1
Tackling austerity and climate change Page 10
Interest rates, exchange rates and the overvaluation of sterling Page 08 Worse than austerity ahead Page 12
Greece today – Britain tomorrow? Page 20 Putting collective bargaining on the political agenda Page 15
Editor Doug Nicholls Assistant Editor for this edition Carolyn Jones Advisory Editorial Board John Bell Richard Beresford Stephen Cavalier Bill Dewhurst Rosie Eagleson Keith Ewing John Fray Dan Gallin John Hendy Judith Jackson Carolyn Jones Joe Mann Aileen McColgan Doug Nicholls Roger Seifert Dave Spooner Roger Welch Frank Wilkinson We welcome the submission of articles for consideration for publication in future editions. Please send articles to the Institute of Employment Rights at the above address or electronically to cad@ier.org.uk. The views expressed in Federation Viewpoint do not represent the collective views of the Institute of Employment Rights or of the GFTU, but only the views of the authors. The responsibility of the Institute and the GFTU is limited to approving this publication as worthy of consideration within the labour movement. Produced by IER Designed & produced by: surgerycreations.com Price £8.00 to IER subscribers and members (£30.00 others) ISSN 0014 9411
The Institute of Employment Rights 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
General Federation of Trade Unions Headland House 308/312 Grays Inn Road London WC1X 8DP Tel: 020 7520 8340 (24hrs) Fax: 020 7520 8350 Email: gftuhq@gftu.org.uk www.gftu.org.uk
The Institute of Employment Rights was launched in 1989. As a labour law ‘think tank’, supported by the trade union movement, its purpose is to provide research, ideas and detailed argument. In 1994 the Institute was granted charitable status.
The General Federation of Trade Unions was founded in 1899. It provides services and benefits, mainly in the fields of education and research, to affiliated unions. The education work of the Federation is administered through an Educational Trust, which was established in 1971.
The results of the work of the Institute are published in papers and booklets and developed at conferences, seminars and increasingly via on-line materials. Our aim is to provide the tools of analysis and debate for the trade union movement in the area of labour law.
Federation Viewpoint (the 2012 update of Federation News) is a series of short articles in the subject areas of labour law, labour economics and industrial relations, which are of interest to industrial relations practitioners and students.
26
FEDERATION VIEWPOINT
Growing use of lockouts during disputes By Jonathan Ledger
YANKEE DOODLES I HAVE SPENT MUCH OF THE PAST 2 weeks cheering enthusiastically at sports I don’t really understand such as hockey, taekwondo and, most bizarrely of all, beach volleyball. Olympic fever has hit many of us and I was lucky enough to see several events live. But it is the atmosphere around London which has been most striking to me with strangers engaging in friendly conversation and smiling at each other. As a Londoner I can confirm that that sort of behaviour usually gets you a seat all to yourself on the tube. I also sat through a live match in another sport alien to me when in New York recently. The entertainment on offer whilst watching the baseball at the Yankees Stadium came from the crowd as much as it did the two teams. However, the main reason I was in the Big Apple was to meet with trade unionists and exchange experiences and ideas as part of a General Federation of Trade Unions’ delegation. Unlike the baseball the encounters with our sisters and brothers threw up familiar and worrying issues.
The “Lock out” Workers in New York and across the States are suffering sustained attacks on their terms and conditions and job security. We spoke to trade unionists representing building workers, machinists, utilities workers, bakers, hotel staff as well as workers across the public services. Reductions in pension rights struck a chord with us, of course, but one feature of the industrial relations environment which felt chilling was the repeated use of the lock out of staff when a dispute was recorded. Such vicious and prehistoric tactics appear to be
on the increase in some parts of the US and cause enormous suffering to ordinary people with legitimate grievances. One such lock out was taking place at the Con Edison Electrics company while we were in the city. We were proud to be able to join hundreds of staff and supporters at a rally and march in support of the locked out workers. Happily, the lock out ended with a settlement a couple of days later thanks, in no small part, to an electrical storm passing over the city. No strike deals are quite common in the contracts (negotiated settlements) that unions agree with employers. However, the Unite Here union, which represents hotel staff, provided us with insights into how unofficial action can be organised if a hotel reneged on an agreement. It was also clear, along with pensions, how important health care provision is as part of the remuneration package to staff. We were reminded of how integral to a fair and decent society is the NHS. The US based British academic Professor David Harvey spoke to us about his take on the global economic crisis http://www. democracynow.org/20...f_may_day_david_harvey. A leading Marxist thinker he argued that (formerly discredited) Marxist theories on capital and its impact on communities are on the rise. I couldn’t disagree with his attack on the austerity policies of many western countries and the failure to prosecute the vast majority of bankers involved in the financial meltdown and, more recently, in fixing LIBOR. He gave us a theoretical context in which to evaluate the attacks on workers’ rights, job cuts and privatisation. As in sport, there are many differences between the US and Britain. But there is also much we have in common along with trade unionists across the globe. Maybe sometimes we underestimate the potential we have not just to defend the disadvantaged and under protected but to help build a better and fairer world. And to all those who told me that I would love New York – you were right!
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