To have immunity via the law, you have to jump through hoops. You need to be officially registered with the government before taking any industrial action, then you'd have to ballot the membership, your bosses would need to be informed of when the strike would take place.
Who can organize a strike?
Thanks.
How do we officially register with the government?
Is it through CAC : http://www.cac.gov.uk/
Or can ACAS help? http://www.acas.org.uk
Looks like theres a lot of red tape in between those hoops...
Yes like the poster above says you need to be registered as a trade union. This costs money and requires a lot of red tape. It also binds you into the antiunion laws which forbid all sorts of things like unofficial action, secondary picketing, lightning strikes, etc.
So rather than forming your own union if you want an official strike you'd be best joining an existing union for your sector, or else just do it unofficially. Of course you can still join an official union and have a wildcat strike, but then you still won't have any legal protection.
What is the nature of your problem?
The nature of our problem isnt much different than in any other administration i guess.
Mainly : job cuts, below-inflation pay rises (we got 1.5% this year and most of us havent had any other 'pay rise' in the last 15 years), new recruits being hired under different contracts (obviously less attractive), use and abuse of unpaid interns, etc...
They are both current and long term problems but without any means of pressure, collective bargainings have really become pointless.
Forming a union is a dreadful prospect indeed. Guess joining one is a better solution, especially if theres something at stake.
Dont know how everyone will feel about paying membership fee though, on top of losing a day's pay or more.
A wildcat strike seems fairly risky, especially considering the management's habit of recruiting new people under a less favourable contract. They would be happy to sack the lot and hire new staff under worse-off conditions.
Would the IWW be preferable to a more standard union for our sector?
some other things:
1) you have to attempt to come to an agreement with the employer first - so you'd have to first send the employer a list of grievances and go through some kind of negotiation. (this is in order to get immunity from being sacked)
2) if you wanted to do it through the IWW, you'd obviously have to make sure that all members joined
3) you'd be immune from being sacked (for, I think 2 months), but you could anyway get sacked and then have to go through the process of claiming unfair dismissal - the fines for which aren't always incredibly high - although I don't think any employer would welcome paying out to a lot of employees, so success would depend on the level of solidarity
I'd say go for it if you think there's a chance that the rest of the workforce is up for it. Otherwise, what about 'action short of strike' - i.e. basically being as uncooperative on the job as possible (obviously, again, this would require a coordinated effort as they'd probably just sack individuals).
You might also want to join the IWW as an individual and then get the IWW to send an anonymous letter saying that it's got union members in that workplace who are unhappy about a number of issues, and would welcome the opportunity to meet to point out what they are. - it might be enough to scare the employers into meeting some of your demands?
john wrote:
some other things:1) you have to attempt to come to an agreement with the employer first - so you'd have to first send the employer a list of grievances and go through some kind of negotiation. (this is in order to get immunity from being sacked)
Thats done. We have sent a petition signed by 3/4 of the workforce that lists all the grievances. We also had negotiations but to no avail.
john wrote:
I'd say go for it if you think there's a chance that the rest of the workforce is up for it. Otherwise, what about 'action short of strike' - i.e. basically being as uncooperative on the job as possible (obviously, again, this would require a coordinated effort as they'd probably just sack individuals).
Yeah its a bit difficult when you're dealing with the public though. And you have to remain within what your contract says you should do. I guess that could be a strategy though. But it sounds risky too if we are legally unprotected.
john wrote:
You might also want to join the IWW as an individual and then get the IWW to send an anonymous letter saying that it's got union members in that workplace who are unhappy about a number of issues, and would welcome the opportunity to meet to point out what they are. - it might be enough to scare the employers into meeting some of your demands?
Yeah, i guess bringing in the threat of a union nosing around could scare them a little bit. I dont know what impact the IWW would have in that respect though. Management may just feel that its only a few individual 'lefties' that are putting a bit of pressure to see what happens.
The IWW can be of some benefit. It is a legal union, which provides you with some protection. It also can put you in touch with others who can provide useful advice. It doesn't particularly matter what size the union is for that, it's knowledge.
There have been a number of successes when the union has got someone their job back, forced employers to back down on disciplinary proceedings and gaining compensation for workers (for example, the IWW got my daughter £2500 compensation after an industrial accident).
But at the ned of the day, the IWW acts like a workers self help club. It makes it possible for you to do meaningful stuff.
Hi,
I have a question.
I work in London for a cultural centre that provides with language courses, cinema sessions and a library. We are self-organized, we have staff representatives officially elected every 2 year, and we negotiate with the management for better conditions and better pay for the staff.
We are not part of or affiliated to an official trade union though.
My question is :
Can we legally organize a strike? Would we be covered if we do so? Would we get 'statutory immunity' if the strike is called by us, rather than by an official trade union??
I had a look at the Berr (formerly DTI) website for legal information. They talk mostly about trade unions organizing a strike, but they would wouldn't they?
They also mention 'individuals' calling for a strike. Its not clear who they mean by that, and the whole thing is still rather vague and ambiguous. As all legal texts are i suppose.
Heres the link :
http://www.berr.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page17758.html
If anyone has a bit of knowledge of English law and could shed some light on the issue for me, it would be great.
Or would anyone know where i may be able to get some info from?
Also, if it turns out that only unions are legally allowed to organize a strike, could the IWW be helpful at all on this?
cheers