Report: Unions 21 at the RCN Conference in Harrogate.

What is the role of unions in the current financial climate?

How does the downturn effect our predictions for the future of unions?

 

David Coats - Work Foundation

Josie Irwin - RCN Head of Employment Relations

Gregor Gall - Professor of industrial relations, University of Hertfordshire

Chair: Sue Ferns, Unions 21

 

1. David Coats:

 

All developing countries are being affected by rising unemployment, falling output which could lead to some very painful conditions indeed. Unemployment will probably continue to rise until the middle of next year.

 

In Germany and France Governments are doing the right thing by compensating employers to keep on employees with less hours, that is not happening in the UK.

 

Some people say that the level of Government borrowing is mortgaging the future. But we need to look at why public finances are in the state they are in. It is because of a fall in tax income and other conditions.

 

In the public sector the pain will be delayed. There will either be increases in tax or public spending or both. Both political parties have said they will protect the NHS, because they know any other position is unelectable. The decision is which party’s pledge is more believable, we don’t know.

 

If this is what the political parties are saying it is down to the RCN to hold them to this pledge.

 

Employers in the private sector need to know that if they don’t justify what they are doing to their staff they will end up with disaffected employees who don’t trust them.

 

The old settlement was that unions and employers worked things out between themselves and there was little protection of employment rights in law.

 

Now you only have a residue of collective bargaining, increasing intervention of the state through employment rights legislation, and some enlightened employers.

 

It’s a mess. Employers say there is too much red tape. Unions say workers are vulnerable to exploitation where there is no collective voice. The Government is stuck in the middle.

 

The recession should be used as a way to put forward a new vision for employment relations.

 

Keynes said: "If we consistently act on the optimistic hypothesis, this hypothesis will tend to be realised; whilst by acting on the pessimistic hypothesis we can keep ourselves forever in the pit of want."

 

2. Prof Gregor Gall, University of Hertfordshire:

 

An event becomes an opportunity for an organisation if it has the capacity to make it one, this is the case for unions and the recession.

 

The bed rock of any individual representation is that of the collective body that is representing them.

 

Unions need to be independent of political parties and the government because all the three many parties are neo-liberal.

 

You have had David Cameron and Brown, trying to get your vote. There is a pressing need for the RCN to be an independent and effective critic as well as other unions.

 

The RCN newsletter asks for people to put their views to the PM about nursing. This is not enough, unions need to mobilise to get their message across.

 

Unions need to do more collective lobbying to achieve their aims.

 

For example with Royal Mail, Conservatives failed to privatise it because of political pressure when they had a small majority. Similarly, the Government is now weak and that is why the campaign is being so effective.

 

The light at the end of the tunnel is that small and professional unions are growing.

 

Unions should consider that they have a part to play in public life which comes from the credibility from a skilled and knowledgeable membership.

 

The potential problem with that is the charge that you are just looking after your own self interest. The way round that is to team up with end users to do a joint campaign.

 

If the task of effective political and professional representation is done well then unions will grow.

 

The recession is an opportunity if unions are able to follow through.

 

3. Josie Irwin - RCN Head of Employment Relations

 

Is the RCN well placed to take advantage of the current economic situation?

 

The recession has an affect in two ways:

1) People out of work don’t join unions.

2) The ability of unions to do their job.

 

People tend to join unions for insurance, but they join RCN for learning and development opportunities as well.

 

From the RCN’s 2007 employment survey we know 4 in 5 of members say their workload is too heavy

 

58% work more than contracted hours.

 

55% said they were too busy to give the kind of care they wanted to give.

 

These issues are likely to get worse in a recession because of the associated pressures.

 

UK has high levels of STDs, alcohol abuse, etc.

 

All these civil society issues have an affect on RCN members and RCN is well placed to have a voice on this.

 

Mid-Staffs NHS Trust shows what happens when staffing levels are cut. The RCN has a role to speak out against cuts in staffing ratios.

 

The Mid-Staffs situation highlighted a number of issues.

 

It’s on these issues that we can link up with patients organisations to make the case to government.

 

There is a growing list of issues that we have to deal with whatever party is in power.

 

The Conservative party is talking about scrapping public sector pensions, a question that Cameron managed to evade in his session with the RCN earlier this week.

 

Already members in the private sector are feeling the effects of the recession as their employers try to decrease terms and conditions.

 

We are able to show that where nurses have a better working environment the patient experience is better.

 

I believe the economic downturn presents a real opportunity for the RCN to seize and take forward.