The ERIS Quarterly Bulletin is being produced to provide Trade Unionists with information that will help them make sense of the pressures and opportunities working people face in Europe. ERIS recognises the dangers and challenges of populism to working people and the dangerous anti-democratic movements and ideologies that underpin and finance populist propaganda. Labour Movements have been the bastion of tolerant open democracies in the world and ERIS will use this bulletin, its meetings, research, information exchanges and other activities to continue to pursue European wide labour movement collaboration. The contributions have been reviewed by the editors and may be subject to very minor editorial alterations but are largely the views of the contributor. Contributors are drawn from across Europe and will have given talks or supported ERIS meetings, events and research. ERIS is not endorsing any individual article. The editorial Board will oversee the general content, direction and source of contributions.
Editorial Board Tim Brooks, Bryan Hulley, Rob Martin, Bob Lanning, Janet Wall Editors John Merritt and Basil Bye
Autumn 2018 edition special notices; The importance of ERIS since the EU Referendum vote Following the result of the Referendum on 23rd June 2016, and now facing the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, ERIS is as necessary as ever. In support of our unions defending and advancing the interests of their members we will:
• Monitor the long period of negotiation to exit the EU; • Co-operate with European colleagues to maintain and develop standards of worker protection; • Meet and learn lessons from unions in the European Economic Area, eg. Norway; • As the UK continues to be a valued member of the European TUC ERIS will continue with exchanges of people and information; • As the UK continues its membership of NATO ERIS will continue to develop links with unions in the defence industry, both private and public (MOD); • UK membership of European Works’ Councils continues, so ERIS will continue to support UK unions’ EWC representatives; • Multi-national companies will continue within the EU and ERIS will support union exchanges in these companies; • ERIS will research and co-operate with Solidarity Economy organisations including public services in promoting worker participation and economic, social and environmental sustainability across Europe • Cheaper and nastier treaties, eg. TTIP, continue to undermine workers’ interests. ERIS will continue to support opposition to such treaties; • A UK Conservative Government will continue to work for a smaller state opening our public services to multi-national companies. ERIS will work with unions in European wide opposition to the attacks on public services; • ERIS will support the development of a trade union plan of action to influence negotiations and the creation of a democratic Europe. • ERIS remains committed to working with trade unions in the UK and in Europe to defend workers’ rights here and abroad and to fight for a social Europe that will protect all workers and their families, irrespective of ethnic origin, nationality or work location. ERIS and the future of ERIS’s European and international relationships ERIS will continue to work with comrades and friends from the European Trade Union and Labour movement. We recognise the dangers of the hostile environment that has been growing in European conservative forces alongside liberal free market advocacy. Neither is good for the people of Europe or the world, and we will continue to work to counter these dangerous trends calling on Trade Unions and Trade Unionists to support us with the research needed to support a progressive and internationalist agenda of Solidarity and Fairness.
1 Million Climate jobs: What You Can Do By Chris Baugh Deputy General Secretary PCSU If you are persuaded by the ideas in this booklet, what can you do? The first thing is get the booklet into the hands of as many people as possible. You can download it from the website. You can order copies and sell it. You can get your organisation to order several copies. You can push it out on Facebook and Twitter. This booklet was produced by the Trade Union Group of the Campaign against Climate Change. You can get involved in our group, or in the parent Campaign, which brings together large numbers of people in national and global climate demonstrations. You can help the group with a donation, or a standing order. Or you can just get active with us. In this chapter we also mention many other things you can do. Please don’t be bowled over and think all this is far too much. It is just that each person is different, and we want you to select one or two of the many things we suggest and do them. Gil Scott-Heron says it well: ‘Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.’ Joining Environmental Groups A million new climate jobs will not be an easy thing to win. We will have to convince people and organisations right across society. So one important thing you can do is to join an organisation and work with them in their cause – and mention climate jobs. There are a wide variety of environmental groups you can get involved in, from the obvious ones like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to many smaller campaigns and local groups. As we go to press, there are at least 130 local anti-fracking groups around the country. And, for example, Fuel Poverty Action brings together environmental activists, pensioners groups, and low income people who sit in the cold. You might also consider getting together with two or three other people to form your own campaign group. It isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Detailed guidance on forming local groups and networks can be found on the Campaign against Climate Change website with lots of practical advice. Campaigning against Austerity You can also join any of the campaigns against austerity. On the national level there is the Peoples Assembly, Keep Our NHS Public, Unite the Resistance, and One Million Climate Jobs the National Shop Stewards Network. There are anti-cuts groups in many towns, and groups keep forming to stop local cuts in the NHS, libraries, youth services, and all the rest of the welfare state. These campaigns are all connected to climate and jobs in two ways. First, we cannot have the sort of government spending we need on climate jobs as long as the politics of austerity dominates. Second, the fight against austerity has to be based on putting forward an alternative. Simply saying ‘No’ is not enough, and any serious alternative has to include decisive action on climate change. Informing Yourselves Climate change issues are complicated. How do you learn about it? How do you understand the science? How do you counter the arguments of climate deniers? There are various websites you can go to – we include a list in the Online Companion. Trade unions are developing their own environmental courses. And the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union Group can send you an education resource pack. You can also set up a small discussion group in your workplace, or community. This can be informal – one or two people who want to get other people discussing climate. You can watch videos together, or discuss articles. You can ask the local Friends of the Earth group, your union, or our campaign to send you a speaker. The point of a discussion group is not to mobilise people for action. It is to help each other understand. So you don’t need a lot of people. And don’t be intimidated by all the complications. Science is too important to be left to the scientists. Green Issues at Work If you are in a union, you can take up green issues in the workplace in a very practical sense. You can start by looking at simple things like recycling, water use and energy efficiency. Unions are developing the idea of an energy audit of the workplace, on the model of health and safety audits. PCS, the civil service union, has a checklist for audits, and there is useful material in the TUC’s Greening the Workplace report. But in order to make that happen you have to engage the employer, and argue that they should give employees time off to do the new audits. This is part of electing union ‘green reps’, like health and safety reps. It helps to remember that we have the law on our side. The Climate Act, whatever its weaknesses, means that the government has created a legal framework to reduce CO2 emissions, to meet various targets. How Does All This Activism Link Up? At this point you may be feeling that we are proposing an enormous variety of worthy things you could be doing, but how does all this relate to climate jobs? Is it just an activist’s shopping list? No. Climate jobs are not an easy ask. Energy flows through every part of our economy and society. Great corporate and financial interests are involved. Paying for a million jobs would in effect mean an end to austerity politics – not just because of the expense, but also because of the principles involved. There is a great deal at stake here, on all sides. This means it will take a large and determined public movement to achieve what we want. That movement will have to unite many kinds of people and organisations, and will have to be prepared to take many kinds of action. What we are asking you to do is to build the networks which that movement will rely upon. As part of this, if you are not a member of a trade union, please do join one. Unions were created at the dawn of the industrial revolution to deal with inequalities of power, between bosses and workers. Working people combined because they knew their only strength was to act together. Like many human institutions unions can be good, and bad, or a mixture. But they should not be judged by the worst examples. There are still 6.5 million union members in the UK. Those people are part of the biggest voluntary organisation in the country, and the most resilient and durable. In times of prosperity, unions can ensure that workers get at least some share of the profits. In times of austerity, unions are often the first and last refuge for working men and women. And even if you work in a non-union area, you can get advice on how to deal with the problems and know your rights. But effective trade unions are always more than an insurance policy. Unions have historically been agents of social change. They fought not just for health and safety at work, but for public health. The National Union of Mineworkers fought for cottage hospitals, and all the unions fought for the NHS and the welfare state. Unions have campaigned and marched against the Iraq and Afghan wars. Now we face climate change. Unions increasingly recognise climate as a trade union issue. The wide union support for this booklet is one of many examples. But far more needs doing. Being in a union also gives you the opportunity to raise issues like the environment in your workplace meetings, branch meetings and other forums. If you are not sure which union to join, the TUC website has a useful list at www.worksmart.org.uk/unionfinder/. If you cannot find an appropriate union, One Million Climate Jobs or work in isolation, the UNITE union has community branches in every town which welcome members who want to begin to make the world union. Time to Act You can also be active around some of the themes in this booklet. You can familiarise yourself with the arguments about Tax Justice. You can support PCS union members – tax and customs inspectors – taking action to protect their jobs. Or you can get involved in UK Uncut’s direct actions to shame the big tax dodging companies on the high street. You can support the rail union campaigns to take the railways back into public ownership, and protests against the closures of local bus lines and the privatisation of other services. There is huge scope for decisive action in saving energy. You can lobby your local council about this. And you can make contact with town hall unions and construction unions. There are all the anti-fracking camps and protests. There are many direct action and grassroots groups you can join. The future is not assured, but the potential for putting a million people to work to save the planet is undeniable. We hope the ideas and proposals set out in this booklet will contribute to the growing discussion and debate about an alternative to political inaction – one which recognises that social and climate justice are a common struggle in which we can all play a part.
Investment, ownership and workers involvement in Regional and local sustainable public, social and environmental economy: By Stefan Pfeifer, North Rheine Westphalia Regional SPD economics advisor. This is from a presentation made to the ERIS – Social Enterprise Link Conference ‘an Alternative Economy is Possible’ in September 2018 This paper addresses the ‘general (public) interest’ industries which have a high degree of public and social and cooperative enterprise ownership in Germany. These he said sit between the State and the Private sector. They include much of the provision for; • Municipal waste management • Water supply and sanitation • Energy supply (electricity and gas) • Public Transportation • Public savings banks to provide money and credit • Educational institutions (such as day-care centers, further education) • Nursing homes • Municipal housing / provision of living space • Fire and rescue service • Culture / Sports These are widely regarded as important to people’s needs and so local and regional government, through economic and political powers at this level, are able to own, co-own and take part in the provision these products and services. However, there remains a contest over ownership and here are some examples. Both in these industries and others, the German Constitution requires that workers should be involved in the running of these industries. For example; Works councils; Workplace information, consultation and co-determination rights workplaces with at least 5 employees Company Supervisory board (SVB); Co-determination at board level >2000 employees: 50%of svb seats >500 employees: 1/3 of the svb seats Trade unions negotiate collective Agreements, Cooperate with works Councils, have seats on SVB These rights are hardly contested and to change them would take constitutional change, therefore there would have to be a huge movement to make a change. Also, there have been some political decisions which have helped shape the economy. For example, a commitment to not using nuclear power has helped motivate the German economy to create many renewable energy sources and the decision to invest in manufacturing has meant this sector, which has always been unionised, gives the German economy and workers a strength. This has meant that if new towns are developing or work or demographic changes are taking place, the region can introduce new train services, it can improve its utility services, it can create local renewable energy providers and people can save and borrow with regional cooperative and municipal banks. Health and social care funding is provided largely by not for profit insurance providers, paid for from employers and wages or if unemployed, by the government or regional government. However, there are still tensions and of course budget restraints have an impact. For example, national private energy providers, often coal and gas based, have strong union representation but they have been reluctant to support smaller renewable energy providers as these are less unionised and will not support as many place based jobs. In conclusion, we recognise a “third sector” often a welfare-oriented economy is not only committed to making profit which is re-invested, but also sees itself as socially responsible. It is an important component of an economy for the many, not for the few. It operates both for the citizens as customers and for the employees as service providers, not for the short-term profit interests of international companies. Public enterprises can often – not always – be better served by public institutions and businesses – and not more expensive – than by private companies. To do this, they need a clear public mission, to be an efficient organization involving employees and have effective public scrutiny.
Migration: Speaking truth to power Extracts from reports cited in government papers used in ERIS education sessions ERIS has been concerned at the hostile environment in which migration has been discussed. We have selected a few papers used in reports to government putting evidence based information into the public domain. From a Select Committee Report we note the following https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmhaff/500/500.pdf 30: There are widespread misconceptions about immigration, including that most migrants come to the UK to access benefits, despite migration to work and to study making up by far the greatest proportion, and significant over-estimates of the number of people arriving in the UK each year to seek asylum. These misconceptions can make it difficult for some people to integrate. They can also be exploited and deliberately manipulated to increase division and accentuate fear. 67: The UK is home to world-leading universities and international students and staff contribute to the economies of every region of the UK. Research commissioned by Universities UK found that in 2014–15 non-EU and EU students contributed £13.8 billion to UK GDP and supported 206,600 jobs. The majority of non-EU students are temporary visitors and leave the UK after completing their studies. A proportion will remain in the UK either to continue their education or move into employment via points-based routes. 85: The work of British Future suggests that the principle of contribution carries strong support, and the public are broadly in favour of people coming to the UK to contribute but are concerned about people coming to claim benefits. A study by University College London estimated that migrants coming to the UK since 2000 were 43% less likely to claim benefits or tax credits compared to the British-born workforce. The British Social Attitudes survey found that 37% think that EU citizens who are working and paying taxes in Britain should be able to access the same benefits as British citizens immediately or after one year, 24% think they should have access after three years and 30% after five years or more. Cited in the report is this report on the positive economic benefit for the UK it is stated; European immigrants to the UK have paid more in taxes than they received in benefits, helping to relieve the fiscal burden on UK-born workers and contributing to the financing of public services – according to new research by the UCL Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration. The Office of National Statistics finds fewer EU citizens are immigrating to the UK, and more are emigrating. Since the EU referendum in late June 2016, the estimated number of EU nationals immigrating to the UK fell from 284,000 the year before the vote to 223,000 in the year after. This figure has picked up slightly for the year 2017 as a whole though—240,000. Meanwhile the number of EU citizens emigrating has increased from an estimated 95,000 in the year before the referendum to 139,000 now. Again, while we can’t say how many people’s decisions to enter or leave the UK have been changed as a result of the Brexit vote, these could well be the biggest shifts in EU migration we’ve seen in recent years, and they are also driving overall falls in net migration to the UK. https://fullfact.org/immigration/immigration-and-jobs-labour-market-effects-immigration The available research on the labour market effects of immigration in the UK suggests that immigration has relatively small effects on average wages but more significant effects on low, medium and high paid workers. • In the period 1997-2005 when the UK experienced significant immigration of people coming for work, one major study finds that an increase in the number of immigrants corresponding to 1% of the UK-born working-age population resulted in an increase in average wages of 0.1 to 0.3%. • Another study, for the period 2000-2007, found that a 1% increase in the share of immigrants in the UK’s working-age population conversely lowers the average wage by 0.3%. • These studies, which relate to different time periods, reach opposing conclusions but they agree that the effects of immigration on averages wages are relatively small. What is clear is that the pressure on school places, housing, the NHS, the tax system and wages are not the result of migration. Rather they are a consequence of the economic choices of the Government (austerity) and Employers wanting to keep wages low.
Solidarity Enterprises and Trade Unions working together in Spain and the Basque Region: By Oscar Areanas the international Secretary for the CCOO in Euskadi (Basque Region) in Spain In Spain there is a Constitutional Commitment to the social economy and creating and maintaining cooperation and worker ownership and involvement in the economy. Article 2 states; “The set of economic and business activities, which in the private sphere are carried out by those entities that, in accordance with the principles collected in article 4, they pursue the collective interest of its members, or the general economic or social interest, or both”. Article 192 states “The public authorities shall efficiently promote the various forms of participation within companies and shall encourage cooperative societies by means of appropriate legislation. They shall also establish means to facilitate access by the workers to ownership of the means of production Section 7 states; “Trade unions and employers’ associations contribute to the defence and promotion of the economic and social interests which they represent. Their creation and the exercise of their activities shall be free in so far as they respect the Constitution and the law. Their internal structure and their functioning must be democratic.” So what is the Social and Solidarity economy in Spain? The Chaves-Monzón Report states that “The Social Economy includes private, formally organised organisations with autonomy of decision and freedom of membership that produce non-market services for households and whose surpluses, if any, cannot be appropriated by the economic agents that create, control or finance them”. In short, organisations that do not pay profits to external shareholders. In Spain, there are seven types of enterprise that can be identified in this way. They are worth many £billions to the Spanish economy and employ many people around 2,336,163 in 2017. Over 80% of these are of three different business types; • Cooperatives (Member and worker owned – 48%), • Labour Societies (Employee Ownership – 21%) • Other Societies Benefit (member or socially owned – 27%). Many of these get state support in terms of tax, legislation and sometimes investment. However, in Spain, some Laws are regional and there are some strong regional developments which do not reflect the national picture, Catalan and Basque regions are very notable for this. As a result, different regions have a different level of Trade Union engagement, Further, there are regional as well as national trade unions, which again, affect the type of Union involvement and in Basque region a Regional Trade Union has very strong representation in some Solidarity Enterprises, so national Trade Unions can be sidelined. Further, the huge Worker Cooperative Mondragon with 70,000 workers and over £3 billion turnover has almost no Trade Union involvement at all, which is a challenge for the Unions. That said, in the Basque region the Solidarity Economy sector provides at least; 54,667 jobs, has 1,206,310 members, (including 34,837 working members) and is comprised of over 1,160 cooperative companies. We have better representation in Labour Societies which are employee owned worker buyouts of companies and there seems to be a different approach to employment in these businesses to worker cooperatives, even though both have worker owners. CCOO see an important role for Trade Unions in the Solidarity Economy and we continue to build relationships with workers from all businesses, with a view to ensure workers interests are represented.
Prosperity and Justice: A Plan For A New Economy Considerations of ERIS working group: Lewis Bye-Brooks, Basil Bye, John Merritt, Tim Brooks, Bryan Hulley, Alan Goodfellow, Paul Dibben ERIS welcomes that the tone of the report is inclusive and advocates partnership working with Trade Unions as one of the key partners: ERIS has held for many years the IPPR commissions conclusion that the western and UK economy is not working and agree that a fairer economy is also a stronger economy We believe this report should be considered in combination with The Manifesto of Labour Law (The institute of Labour Law, including advocacy for a Labour Act and a Ministry of Work, the repeal of Trade Union laws, the Labour Party work on Alternative Forms of Ownership and a focus on devolution structural changes. Together, these will help bring Britain into the 21st Century ambitions for more equal and more productive economic, social and environmental sustainability. The Report has two significant parts: The Background, outlining the current economic, social and environmental conditions and proposal for a remedy to meeting the situation where current conditions are failing. Background Summary For some time it has been accepted by many economists, politicians and business leaders that business self regulation and the free market created wealth. That belief has been consistently undermined by experience and new and revisited ideas of economic and political strategy are being considered. While it is notable that in the UK the top 43 executives earn over 450 times the rate of the average workers wage, inequality of wealth is even greater than inequality of income. This inequality is not just damaging in itself, but is driven by a business culture of short term, profit making and shareholder rewards. These are often institutional shareholders and they do not consider the longer term consequences of under investment and laisee-fair approaches to the Health, Safety, Environmental and social and economic well-being of citizens and workers. While the UK is one of the richest countries in the world, it is the 5th most unequal of the 27 Europe Union countries, and at the same time it has low productivity and a huge number of young people, working people and pensioners, are using food banks and receive benefits to supplement low incomes. The banking crisis and government responses aimed at cutting public expenditure has exacerbated the problem. Large international companies, including banks are taking an ever larger part of our economic turnover while their tax bills are relatively tiny. Further, while we have been a country that has benefited hugely from immigration, bringing in workers to undertake many of jobs that are skilled, semi-skilled and low skilled, that our economy needs, there is a section of economists, politicians and the public who see immigration as one of the causes. These problems are not unique to the UK, but the UK performs worse on many measures than many other political economies. To remedy these areas of economic, social and environmental failure they say a radical overhaul needed: Significantly, they highlight the importance of worker involvement in making an economy work for all: Recommendations include; Wider role for Trade Unions needed, including; • Seats on the Board for employees/Trade Unions • Representation on Remuneration committees • Representation on national investment strategic bodies • Workers should be consulted through Trade Unions • Trade Union membership should be doubled • Collective bargaining needs to be reinvigorated: (inequality increased in direct correlation to the reduction in collective bargaining agreements). • A social partnership group should be set up called Productivity UK with membership of Trade Unions, Government and Business, public sector enterprise and Universities • Devolution needed: Nations, regions and cities with social partnerships for a new National Economic Council, regional Social and Economic Councils to be set up Government, Trade Unions, Business and civil society • They recommend creating four English regions; North, Midland, South East and South West regions, funded by the Treasury. There were questions raised in ERIS about how big regions should be and whether they should have revenue raising powers and these remain of interest. The Commission considered City and County combined authorities and a place based industrial strategy (which includes a positive approach towards Cooperatives and social enterprises). The IPPR recognised some local taxes would support this, but believed it needed a nationally funded agreement through an Inclusive growth fund to ensure less well regions are supported. Other recommendations included; • Automatic recruitment of new employees into Trade Unions – including with the GIG economy which the Government must support. • Taxation needs to made on wealth as well as income (should it be progressive we ask?) • They are concerned that tax income for the public sector cannot easily be predicted • We need to create a national investment bank with some regional strategies (what about regional banking – coops and regional governments) • Immigration should be designed to promote human dignity and economic well-being – what about social well-being?) • Employment regulation needs to focus first on; Increasing the minimum wage, improving employment status and rights and improving enforcement • ACAS should be beefed up • Penalties of transgressors need to be tougher • Creating a new citizens wealth fund for the whole population (like the Norwegian oil fund for helping young people into housing). (More discussion about housing is needed) • Introducing a Sustainable Economy Act (with Environmental component) and Green industrial strategy • Well-being measures should be reported on including; Retirement age, working hrs, health at work, citizen health and others. The issues will be taken up by ERIS and inform some future meetings, research and advocacy proposals