UnionDues

Society seems, somehow, to be getting more violent.  And that means that working life is more likely to experience violent incidents – which means, of course, workers are more at risk.

Understanding what drives this trend, and gathering together the many and various ways unions are seeking to protect their members is the mission of a new publication for the Labour Research Department.  In a special episode we chat with report author Andrea Oates.

You can grab yourself a 15% saving on the cover price of the LRD pamphlet by visiting lrd.org.uk and using the code UNIONDUES at the checkout.  Alternatively, visit the companion blog here where you can scan a QR code. 

Matthew Holder joins us to talk about the long-awaited digitalisation of the LRD’s principal publication for the union health and safety community, Safety Rep. He reminds us that it’s not just Covid that has had very distinctive and challenging consequences, but that the still contentious legacy of the Grenfell tragedy is playing out in workplaces and policy development. 

To sign up for a free sample copy of the digital Safety Rep, just email your details to [email protected]

Let me run a few stats by you:  £104 million in recovered back pay, £41 million in members’ pay per year going forward, 5000 new members recruited and 164 days of Industrial action with employers who refused to engage.  They are the results, so far, of Unison's campaign to recruit and organise Health Care Assistants in the NHS.  National officer Louise Chinnery tells us how it was done - and what she and the union of learned in the process.  First broadcast as an Organising For A Change episode in November 2024. More backgound/links/signposting in this blogpost

10 years in the making and anti-apartheid docu-drama-thriller movie London Recruits premieres in November.  In this special episode, Director and writer Gordon Main chats about the making of the film and the vital role unions and trade unionists have in making it the UK's most successful independent movie launch ever! Companion blog here. Running time 26m07s. A Makes You Think production

in this episode we sit down with Gawain Little, General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions which this year celebrates it’s 125th birthday.  The Federation is possibly best known for its phenomenal education and training programme but that is by no means the only string to its bow.

Glasgow Univesity’s Professor of Work and Employment, Melanie Simms also has education on her mind as she ponders new academic new work on understanding the importance of effective employment law, in her #thought4theweek

Run time 39m50s.

Companion blog for links, signposting, backgroound here

Music by Scott Holmes. A Makes-You-Think production.

In the latest UnionDues episode, Musicians’ Union General Secretary Naomi Pohl talks us through the big issues facing her union’s 34,000 members.

Working in a sector worth £7bn,  there should be some scope for everyone to get a reasonable share of the spoils – but of course, the world’s not like that. So the union is keeping the pressure on with their #FixStreaming campaign.

Naomi also discusses the Work Not Play and Fair Play campaigns, and the increasingly successful efforts to get the better venues to publicise their bona fides in terms of prompt and fair payment to musicians.

In a top-drawer #thought4theweek  Glasgow University’s Professor of Work and Employment Mel Simms reflects on being taken out of her comfort zone in the search for new understandings on the future of work – and how the Musicians’ union and others are  in front of the curve by some way. 

Companion blog here. You can buy us a virtual coffee at ko-fi/uniondues

Timestamps:  Mel – 1m37s, Naomi 6m24s, Total runtime 32m42s