What Workers Think

TUC Congress, Manchester

12.45pm Room Central 7

Publication launch and discussion: What are the workplace problems people care about? What role do they think unions should play? Unions 21's YouGov survey results will be revealed, with analysis of the answers to these and other key questions.

Panel:

Paul Maloney - Vice Chair, Unions 21

Lesley Mercer - Director of Employment Relations and Union Services, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy

John Smith - General Secretary, Musician's Union

Chris Keates - General Secretary, NASUWT

Tim Horton - Research Director, Fabian Society

Research presentation from Dan Whittle, Director of Unions 21

Refreshments Provided

The Future for Union Learning

at TUC Congress, Manchester

With unionlearn

12.45pm Room Central 7

Publication Launch and Discussion

Panel:

Tom Wilson - Director, unionlearn

Sue Ferns - Chair, Unions 21

David Jones - Group Head of HR Learning and Development at Shop Direct

Professor Mark Stuart - Leeds University

Others TBC

Refreshments Provided

Football Finance - Keeping Out of the Red

At TUC Congress, Manchester. Sponsored by NASUWT

5.30pm in the Derby and Chester Suite of the Midland Hotel

Gordon Taylor - Chief Executive, PFA

Andy Burnham MP

Sue Ferns - Chair, Unions 21

Are football clubs too important to their local communities to be allowed to fail financially, and if so how can we make football sustainable at all levels?

Getting there: click here (Google map)

Refreshments provided

What is Fair Pay and How Do We Achieve It?

TUC Congress, Manchester 1245

Manchester Central Covention Complex: Central 5

Ken Mulkearn - Editor, IDS Pay Report

Ged Nichols - General Secretary, Accord

Karen Rowlingson - Professor of Social Policy and Director of Research, University of Birmingham

Josie Irwin - RCN

Sue Ferns - Chair, Unions 21

With the Fabian Society

This event examines the importance of pay levels to fairness in society and asks how we can stop and reverse growing pay disparity.

Getting there: Click here (Manchester Central website)

Refreshments Provided

How Can the Coalition Build on Social Partnerships?

Liberal Democrat Conference, Liverpool. Hilton Liverpool, Meeting Room 1.

Sponsored by NASUWT

Panel:

Mary Bousted - General Secretary, ATL

Paul Noon - General Secretary, Prospect

Dan Rogerson MP

David Hall-Matthews - Chair, Social Liberal Forum

Sue Ferns - Chair Unions 21

Chris Keates - General Secretary, NASUWT

Fitter, Smarter? – How Can the Coalition build on Social Partnership in Health and Education

This event will examine the coalition’s approach to cooperation between public sector unions, employers and the Departments of Health and Education. It will ask why cooperation is important to improving public service delivery and the working lives of staff, and how it can be developed.

Getting there: Click here (Hilton Hotel website)

Refreshments provided

Is there room in the Coalition for Unions?

Liberal Democrat Conference Fringe Event

18.15pm Room 4a in the Liverpool Arena & Convention Centre

Panel:

Lembit Opik

Lorely Burt MP

Nita Clarke - Director, IPA

Peter Kunzman - Social Liberal Forum

Chris Keates - General Secretary, NASUWT

This event will examine the direction of the Liberal Democrat’s policy on workforce relations and trade unionism now that the party is in power. It will ask if and where unions figure in the Coalition’s vision for the UK.

Where's the labour in Labour?

Labour Party Conference Fringe Event, Manchester

12.45pm in the Lancashire/Cumberland Room, IoD Hub, Peter House, Oxford Street

Where's the labour in Labour? How the party should approach trade unions and workforce policy.

Panel:

Phil Woolas MP

Michael J. Leahy OBE - General Secretary, Community

Prof Cathy Warwick - General Secretary, Royal College of Midwives

Nita Clarke - Director, IPA

With Progress and IPA

This event will examine the direction of the party’s policy on workforce relations and trade unionism now that the party is out of power and opposing a right-wing coalition government antithetical to trade unions and much of Labour’s employment agenda.

Getting there: Click Here (Google maps)

Rally for Fair Pensions

Labour Party Conference Fringe, Sponsored by NASUWT 1300

Manchester Central Covention Complex, Charter 1

Angela Eagle MP

Chris Keates - General Secretary, NASUWT

Diana Holland - Assistant General Secretary, Unite

There has been a sustained attack on occupational pensions in the private sector and now the coalition government seems set on making sure that the public sector shares the pain. This is a short-sighted approach that will do nothing to meet the retirement needs of workers and push many more people into dependency on means tested benefits. Is this really the road the UK should take or can there be a more positive agenda for pension reform?

Getting there: Click here (Manchester Central website)

General Election 2010: Where Now for Industrial Relations?

08.00-09.00, Hyatt Regency Birmingham

Joint invite only roundtable with IPA at the Conservative Party conference providing an opportunity for attendees to have a constructive policy discussion with the government representative and each other

Will Hutton, Work Foundation; Paul Noon, Prospect, Nita Clarke, IPA Involve and Ian Mulheirn, SMF. Government Speaker TBC

Getting there: click here (google map)

Refreshments Provided

TUC climate change conference

Unions 21 are promoting this year's TUC conference on climate change which necessarily links the drive for a low carbon economy with pathways out of the recession. Alliances for a Green Recovery will highlight the respective roles of government, business, trade unions, community and finance organisations in accelerating the transition to a low carbon future, and what we can do better together.

Paul Noon, General Secretary of Prospect, will chair the conference for the TUC. Environment Secretary Chris Huhne will make an opening keynote speech on the Coalition's strategy for sustainable growth, with Frances O'Grady responding on behalf of the TUC. David Kennedy, CEO, Committee on Climate Change, will then outline the climate change challenge the UK faces, and the CCC’s advice on an energy and industrial strategy to meet these targets. Delegates are then offered a choice of two from nine expert-led Response Workshops before and after the lunch break. They tackle key themes including building local green alliances, green skills, low carbon transport, the Green Investment Bank, green energy, energy efficiency, reforming our energy market, securing energy intensive industries, and building alliances for a global climate change agreement. A leading economics' journalist will chair the Green Policy Panel in the afternoon. The closing speaker will provide an Opposition view on building a green recovery.

To register, go to: www.tuc.org.uk/greenrecovery