ForeFront
Issue Number 8 | Summer 2007
Union mergers
are funny things
Newly-elected UCU general secretary Sally Hunt says
that mergers should be the starting point for a fresh
approach and we all need to face up to the challenges
for 21st century trade unions.
Union mergers are funny things. Often they come about
because one union is struggling financially or one is
haemorrhaging members. The merger of the Association
of University Teachers (AUT) and the National Association
of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE), to
form the University and College Union (UCU), happened
when both were financially sound and membership levels
increasing.
We formed the largest post-16 education union in the
world because it was the right thing for us to do – and
the communications teams said it would reduce acronym
explanations in the opening paragraph of press releases!
We merged because we know we will be bigger and
stronger together. Our members agree and know this too,
which was evident in the overwhelming mandate both
unions received when the decision to merge was put to
ballot. However, we are fully aware that whilst a merger will
give a union more members, it cannot guarantee any new
ones.
The merger may have only happened in June last year,
but I believe things should have moved even quicker. The
last thing the new union needed was a lengthy period of
uncertainty or the type of background in-fighting that can
divert attention away from actually getting on with the job.
We have now elected a general secretary and executive. I
was fortunate enough to be chosen as the first UCU general
secretary and I am keen to get the ball moving as soon as
possible.
There are, of course, many challenges ahead of us but, with
the best of bits of the predecessor unions at our disposal, we
are equipped to meet them. One of the key challenges is to
refrain from insisting something worked better the way AUT
or NATFHE did things. Neither of those unions exists anymore
ForeFront is published by Unions 21 in association with
and in asscociation with
ForeFrontNewsletter5.indd 1
and everything the new union does will be UCU’s way of
doing things.
This really should be the time to take a fresh look at our
approach to some of our traditional problems and also how
unions must operate in the 21st century.
I want a politically independent, industrially confident UCU
that speaks with authority for its members. To do this we
have to stay in the mainstream, not move to the political
fringe. This is not a union that will be directed by or dictated
to from small committees. We cannot rely on just a handful
of voices to determine policy. We must engage much
more with the membership and ensure that UCU really is
campaigning on the issues our members feel strongest
about.
I was talking to a friend of a friend recently and the
conversation turned to what we did for a living and onto
trade unions. She revealed that she had recently joined her
union, but didn’t feel it was for her. She had been to a branch
meeting and hardly understood a word. The whole event,
she said, was dominated by a couple of people who seemed
more intent on scoring points on immaterial issues than
taking things forward.
The most recent trade union membership statistics showed
the largest annual percentage drop in nearly a decade and,
as I keep saying, with twice as many people members of
slimming clubs than in trade unions, we cannot pretend that
we do not have work to do.
We must take our message out beyond the general meeting
or the committee and convince a new generation that we
are worth belonging to. There is a whole generation in work
whose knowledge of unions has been taken from films such
as Billy Elliot and Brassed Off. It is not good enough to just
come up with reasons why people don’t join unions – we
need to be finding reasons why people will want to join
unions.
continued on back cover...
www.unity.co.uk
020 7924 7555
30/7/07 13:32:31
 Professional Development
Debate at Unions 21 events is increasingly noting that as
a movement we need to develop and share best practice
in the way we internally manage ourselves. In order
to deliver the best for our members we need to run
effective organisations and manage our employees well.
This article explains how one union, ATL, has invested in
the development of professional staff.
ATL is a member-led democratic organisation that recognises
the importance of managing professional staff professionally.
It is the Human Resources sub-committee of the National
Executive that oversees the HR Strategy and the annual
plans which detail what is to be delivered during that period.
The Executive operates with respect for the difference
between governance and management so having set the
HR strategy, policies and plans, leaves it to the managers
under the direction of the General Secretary to manage the
organisation.
The HR strategy and plans cover every aspect of HR
management including learning & development. As a union
that now has a dedicated Learning & Development team
working with and growing a network of well over 100 ULRs
it would be hypocritical if we didn’t take the development
of our own employees seriously. To demonstrate its
commitment to the value of continuing professional
development for all employees, ATL significantly increased its
staff training budget from 2006.
ATL believes in the benefits of diversity and this means their
team comes from a range of backgrounds of public, private
and not-for-profit sectors and with very different mixtures
of experience in the education sector, trade union activism
and functional expertise (Casework, Policy Research, Finance,
Communications, Organising, IT etc). They also do different
jobs, some are active in classic trade union activities such as
casework, negotiations, organising and policy development,
but others are accountants, IT specialists, secretaries,
facilities managers, etc. ATL values them all and the different
perspectives they bring and, with such diversity, a wide
range of learning and development needs to be addressed.
ATL recognises that there are three main types of
development needs to be met:
Organisation-wide Issues
In the last year they provided training on the basics of why
“Organising” is so important for ATL as a growing union to
every one of their 140 employees. This year, they’ve already
run diversity training for all line managers as part of the
leadership development programme and later this year will
be delivering diversity awareness training for all employees.
Functional expertise
ATL wants to be the best trade union it can be and to do this
encourage and support everybody to be the best at their
functional skills. For example, Nicki Landau, Head of Human
Resources at ATL has earned her Fellowship of the Chartered
ForeFrontNewsletter5.indd 2
Institute of Personnel & Development (FCIPD) and become a
certified master practitioner in neuro-linguistic programming
(NLP). Both these developments were supported by ATL.
Similarly, numerous colleagues at all levels are developing
functional expertise appropriate to their jobs. Many, though
not all of which, include qualifications or membership
of professional bodies. Among these they include ATL’s
Organising team who are following the TUC Organising
Academy training programme.
General Skills
Since 2006 ATL has had a leadership development
programme for all line managers and potential line
managers. It has also included senior people on every intake
of the TUC’s “Leading Change” programme. ATL wants
everybody to be IT literate and ensures the development of
general IT skills through an external provider while offering
tailored IT training internally on major systems such as the
membership and casework systems. In the near future
they will be developing structured project management
competency for those staff who require it.
The main way in which ATL has identified and prioritised
training needs is encouraging good general management.
Regular 1-2-1 sessions between individual and line manager,
together with an annual appraisal system introduced in
2006, allow individuals to discuss their development needs
and enable managers to feed these to HR so that general
and individual development activities can be planned.
Certainly ATL want the best from employees in their current
roles but members genuinely want their employees to
prosper in their longer careers too. That is why learning
and development extends beyond skills and competencies
for current jobs. ATL is as keen to support those who wish
to transfer laterally within ATL and have been pleased to
promote various colleagues into higher level roles when
vacancies have arisen. However, as a small to medium sized
organisation of 140 employees ATL accepts that they will not
be able to offer internal career advancement to everyone.
That’s partly why ATL display vacancies within other unions
and encourage ATL people to consider other unions as their
next employer whenever they feel ready to move so that the
talent developed by ATL will continue to add value to the
trade union movement.
Currently ATL are very interested in exploring the possibility
of secondments between unions, to help individuals develop
themselves. So Nicki Landau would be pleased to hear from
other unions that either have people who might benefit from a
secondment at ATL or who have a temporary vacancy that an
ATL person might fill. To contact Nicki e-mail nlandau@atl.org.uk
30/7/07 13:32:31
 Good Work for All?
Job Quality, Health and
Well-Being in British
Workplaces
Work is good for our health
and well-being. That’s the
clear finding from a major
research report recently
published by the DWP.
Unemployment increases
the risk of both physical and
mental illness. And “work
first” is the most effective
policy to tackle poverty and
social exclusion.
While all this may be true, of
course, we also know that
work is only really good for
us if it is “good work”. An
employee in a badly designed
low status job is much more
likely to have a heart attack
than the supposedly highly
stressed senior manager on the
executive floor.
According to Michael Marmot,
the British epidemiologist, the
following workplace factors
can have a clear negative
impact on both health and life
expectancy:
● Employment insecurity
Monotonous and boring
●
work
A lack of control over the
●
work that you do and little
choice about how the job
gets done.
An imbalance between the
● an erosion of management
effort workers make and the
rewards that they receive
– this is not just about
pay, but also captures the
idea that workers should
be treated with respect
by their employer and
ForeFrontNewsletter5.indd 3
should be praised for good
performance
● A lack of procedural justice
in the workplace – in other
words, workers cannot be
certain that they will be
treated fairly if they get into
difficulty.
● Low trust relationships
between employees and
between the employees and
employer – in the technical
jargon this is described as
“low social capital”
In other words workers in bad
jobs (who are often low paid of
course) are sick more often and
die younger than their more
highly paid and higher status
colleagues. Class distinctions
may have been eroded in
the last thirty years, but there
can be no doubt that social
position still conditions life
chances.
Recent research published
by the DTI raises some big
questions about whether we
have enough high quality jobs
in the UK. For example, 55%
of workers say that their jobs
involve monotonous tasks,
almost a third say that their work
offers few opportunities for
learning, around 60% say that
they have little autonomy at
work. And the result is that the
UK has the sixth lowest score for
job quality in the EU 27.
Work organisation and job
design may not be traditional
trade union issues but, as we
can see, they are the source
of much discontent in today’s
workplaces. Making the
promotion of “good work” a
priority in both organising
and bargaining strategies
could lead to a rapid growth
in membership and the ability
to make more of a difference
to people’s working lives. With
trade unions in the lead British
workplaces could be healthier,
happier and more productive.
This is more than just wishful
thinking. For the first time the
government has recognised
that work is a public health
issue and that improving the
health of the nation demands
an improvement in the quality
of work. The DWP and the
Department of Health have
developed a joint strategy for
the Health, Work and Well-
Being of Working Age People,
which may be little known
but remains an important
statement of intent.
Of course, that still leaves the
question: how can employers
be engaged? Many will take
fright at the suggestion that
trade unions are beginning to
look at the texture and detail of
the employment relationship.
Indeed, we might anticipate
vigorous resistance to anything
that could be interpreted as
prerogative. But even a
pessimistic commentator
would recognise that most
organisations are concerned
about sickness absence.
Often this is reflected in the
standard employer bleating
about feckless and lazy public
servants (who have a higher
level of sickness than their
private sector colleagues) or an
apparent wish to implement
more coercive attendance
management policies. But
good employers have already
recognised that they will never
secure better attendance
unless they pay close attention
to the workplace factors that
generate high absence levels.
Hard experience is driving
employers to the conclusion
that improvements in work
organisation, job design, job
content and organisational
culture offer a better
prospectus for change than
workplace health promotion
activities like low-fat food in
staff restaurants, reduced gym
membership fees or an Indian
head massage at your desk.
A dispassionate reading of the
situation suggests that unions,
if they are creative, can reshape
the national conversation
about work. Setting out a
persuasive and progressive
vision of the future has been
missing from the trade union
story for some time – and a
focus on job quality is likely to
prove attractive to government
too. So let’s stop tilting at
windmills or demanding the
impossible and get on with the
real task at hand. It’s a great
opportunity. Unions would be
foolish to let it pass by.
David Coats is Associate
Director at The Work
Foundation

30/7/07 13:32:31
 Globalisation:
An irresistible force?
Unions 21 organised one of the breakout sessions
at this year’s Compass conference. The theme of the
whole conference was “Shaping our global world”.
Sue Ferns, Chair of Unions 21, oversaw the debate
as Tony Burke (Unite-Amicus Assistant General
Secretary), John Evans (General Secretary of the
Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD) and
Will Hutton (Chief Executive, The Work Foundation)
discussed “An Irresistible Force? Managing
Globalisation”.
Tony Burke began proceedings arguing that the merger
of Amicus and the T&G into Unite is a way of combating
globalisation. It cuts out wasteful competition between
the two unions and leaves them better able to target
their industrial power where they see fit. Companies are
multi-national in a globalised world, so unions needed to
follow suit. When multi-nationals play off their workforces
against each other through internal procurement
markets then unions need to have a coherent response.
In essence, Unite is a product of globablisation. Both
sections of the new union have already begun to look for
new union partners outside of the UK. Amicus is in talks
with the United Steel Workers union in the USA. Burke
said that it’s the same companies that the unions deal
with so it makes sense.
He felt that there were other methods for unions to
employ in preventing multi-nationals “racing to the
bottom” in terms of wages and conditions. It is crucial that
unions support and get involved in the learning and skills
agenda – helping their members to improve their skills
and be prepared for the challenges of globalisation.
Establishing global framework agreements with multi-
nationals is another option for managing globalisation.
John Evans pointed out that this is already happening
through a number of Global Union Federations. Over
50 agreements have now been signed. Evans agreed
with Tony Burke that it is essential that multi-lateral
organisations reinforced work towards minimising the
negative effects on workers, noting, optimistically, that
core labour standards had been put back on the table at
the recent G8. Around 80 successful cases on the neglect
of labour standards have been taken to the ILO by trade
unions. This must be enhanced, the ILO needs the means
to apply core labour standards across the globe. Evans
asked why workers’ rights do not get the same emphasis
as investor rights or intellectual property rights.
John Evans spoke about some of the new pressures
that workers face in today’s world. His claim that the
global labour force had doubled in the past 15 years was
queried by Will Hutton. Hutton pointed out that the
billions of Chinese peasants had not suddenly become
part of the global labour force and that this may just
ForeFrontNewsletter5.indd 4
be scaremongering by western governments. Evans
pointed to the evidence of downward pressure on wages
and conditions and that this is due to a bigger labour
force. On the subject of China and India there was some
disagreement. Will Hutton did not necessarily see these
often cited countries as a threat. He said in the case of
China it is the world’s subcontractor or ‘reprocessor’ –
there is little value-add in China so the bulk of the benefits
and the financial returns remain elsewhere.
Will Hutton argued for the need to be ‘more forensic about
globalisation.’ For many in the west, globalisation and
trade growth are good. Inequalities in western economies
are in areas that are sheltered from trade or globalisation
– the care or security sectors, for example. The level of
mergers and acquisitions is what is putting pressure on
the workforce.
John Evans and Will Hutton shared concerns about the
rise of the super-rich. Evans pointed out that the share
of national income going to workers has decreased from
75% in the 70s to 65% now in developed countries. This
is partly because workers do not benefit from productivity
gains. In comparison it is the CEOs that have seen an
increase in their share doubling from 5% to 10%. Will
Hutton felt that the financial effects of globalisation had
led to the emergence of a super-rich plutocracy. A level of
‘frivolity’ had become part of this world where if one CEO
earnt £2 million, then another would want £10 million. He
lamented the poor corporate governance structures in
place and called for a defence of public companies.
All three speakers mentioned the ‘outrageous’ activity
of private equity firms that, in Hutton’s words, ‘makes
Caligula’s Rome look like a vicar’s tea party.’ Some of
continued on page 7...
30/7/07 13:32:32
 Union Information Network
Just over a year ago the TUC helped launch the Union
Ideas Network – an innovative attempt to bring together
unions, academics, policy-makers and researchers. Since
its launch over 950 trade unionists and academics have
signed up to the network, and the UIN web-site (www.
uin.org.uk) has carried articles on themes as diverse
as working time, unions and politics, union efforts to
organise migrant workers and community unionism.
At the heart of the UIN was a belief that the developing
revitalisation of the trade union movement requires an
injection of new ideas and fresh thinking, just as much as
it needs investment in organising and renewed efforts to
support and develop our activist base. Generating that ‘new
thinking’ internally is sometimes hard. Union structures,
resources and culture are all (rightly to a large extent)
focussed on the organising and representing our members in
the ‘here and now’, leaving little time and resource available
for thinking more strategically and long-term.
But think more strategically and long-term we must.
Securing a long-term future for unions in Britain goes
beyond employing more organisers and trying to shape
‘Warwick 2’. Despite our best efforts the reality is that over
the last few years we’ve been running to stand still -
stabilising rather than increasing our membership. Collective
bargaining coverage and on-site union representation have
both continued to decline, and the public-private split in
union membership has become more, rather than less,
pronounced. In this context, simply doing ‘more of the same’
is not enough. Stepping up our investment in organising
needs to go hand in hand with new and creative approaches
to reaching out to non-union Britain.
Our work on learning and skills - developing a new layer
of Union Learning Reps, repositioning unions as a positive
force for change in the workplace, demonstrating a clear
‘union effect’ to members and non-members alike – is a great
example of the work that unions can do when they develop
innovative solutions to workplace problems. But why stop
at learning and skills? Can we position ourselves at the
Stop Press: Professional Footballers Association (PFA)
ForeFrontNewsletter5.indd 5
forefront of the rising tide of environmental awareness? Can
we think more creatively about how we go about organising
and representing workers across entire sectors rather than
workplace by workplace? Can we engender a new wave of
activism, turning passive members into active participants?
The Union Ideas Network – and organisations such as Unions
21 – can help unions begin to address these questions
and more in a real and constructive way. This shouldn’t be
abstract ‘blue-sky thinking’ but serious, practically focussed
discussion about what more unions can do to recruit, retain
and represent the next generation of members. A good
example of this approach was the recent UIN conference
held in London. Nearly 100 participants heard academics,
including Jane Wills from QMUL and Jeremy Waddington
from the University of Manchester, speak alongside union
officers to map out the challenges and opportunities for
unions posed by globalisation. The event provided a potent
mix of the theoretical and practical, and demonstrated the
value in unions reaching beyond our immediate ranks for
ideas and experience.
So the UIN has some real, potential value for unions. But,
like any network, the actual value of the UIN is very much
dependent on the active participation of its members.
Unions such as UNITE, PCS, and the NASUWT already
subscribe to the UIN, as do a range of university departments
and institutions and bodies such as ACAS, but we need
more people and organisations to sign up the UIN, and
more network members to upload content and take part
in the discussion boards on the UIN web-site. The more
people signed up, the more content the site carries, the
more ideas thrown in for discussion and debate, the better.
The UIN relies on the content generated by its users, and
it’s this interactivity that makes the network so unique and
so potentially valuable. As someone once put it far more
succinctly than I could, ‘The best ideas are common property’
– and the UIN is about making that old adage a reality.
Paul Nowak is National Organiser at the TUC and a member
of the Union Ideas Network Working Group.
This summer we can extend a warm welcome to the
Professional Footballers Association who’ve recently
agreed to become a part of Unions 21.
The Professional Footballers Association is a TUC affiliated trade
union and the oldest established sporting trade union having
been founded in 1907, so this year is their centenary.
The PFA adds yet another voice to Unions 21’s ‘open space’ as
we join together to share our different experiences and views
about the big issues for today’s trade unions. Additional bodies
who want to discuss how they can join in with Unions 21 should
contact Unions 21 Chair, Sue Ferns at Sue.Ferns@prospect.org.uk
30/7/07 13:32:32

What Future for Unions?
Unions 21 launched the second of its ‘Debate’ series of
discussion papers with an event that encapsulated the spirit
of the new initiative. There was standing room only at a
packed meeting at Congress House, when Tom Wilson, the
TUC’s Head of Organisation and Services, introduced his
paper – ‘The Future for Unions’.
Wilson gave an optimistic evaluation of the state of the trade
union movement. He has analysed what parts of the workforce
now make up trade union membership and found that they are
increasingly professionals or associate professionals and likely
to be better educated than the rest of the workforce. Arguing
that this is not just due to greater union membership in the
public sector, he said that smaller unions and those with strong
occupational identity seem to fare better than others. Numbers
are on the up – the paper contains what the author claims to be
a unique data set showing the most accurately available figures
for every union registered with the certification office. The data
shows if each union is growing or shrinking and even takes into
account union mergers. Wilson felt that unions can look forward
to a better future.
Responding to Wilson’s opening remarks, Ed Heery, Professor
of Human Resource Management at Cardiff Business School,
thought that there is a further positive for unions – the
redistribution of membership towards the driving force of the
economy in the South East. However, he felt that the state of
the union movement could not be measured on numbers alone.
Other factors that should be taken into account include union
recognition, bargaining power and workplace organisational
strength. Heery also argued that the paper does not give
sufficient weight to the advantages of larger unions. Big unions
have the ability and funds to cross-subsidise activity such as
organising.
Analysing some of the other areas of the paper, Ed Heery agreed

ForeFrontNewsletter5.indd 6
Lesley Mercer explains CSP’s approach to members
that unions have more professional and managerial members.
There could be a number of reasons for this – new pressures on
this section of the workforce, the fact that there are more people
that fall into that bracket, or the erosion of managerial autonomy
due to different workplace organisation.
The paper argues that leadership is a key factor in union growth.
Heery emphasised that leaders need to demonstrate visibly the
effectiveness of trade unions to their members. The style of
leadership is important but it’s not necessarily just militancy that
can bring results.
Finally, he noted the importance of good management in
delivering effective unions. Managerialism doesn’t necessarily
squash worker voice and “managed activism” is a key driver of
trade union success.
Lesley Mercer, Director of Employment Relations at the Chartered
Society for Physiotherapy (CSP), said that the paper chimed
with a lot of what is happening at the CSP. It’s 80 per cent
female, overwhelmingly a membership of graduates, with 90
percent density in their sector. As a smaller union, that is also a
professional body, the CSP needs to be acutely aware of what it
can provide. With the relatively high-cost of membership, it also
needs to give its members exactly what they want.
The CSP carries out regular polling to find out what its
membership expects. The society recognises the importance of
acting on the findings. Continuing professional development
is the priority of its members – so the union is launching an
online portfolio of courses. Mercer noted that this is traditionally
the role for employers but the membership sees their Society
as delivering this. Similarly, the members want the union to
promote physiotherapy as a profession.
This service provision is not at the expense of organising.
Recently, the CSP has increased its organising capacity and
30/7/07 13:32:33
 invested more in training its workplace representatives. None
of this could be achieved without good management and a
business-like approach.
Another union perspective was provided by Steph Marston,
Head of Organising at the communication professionals union
Connect. She felt that the hostility of employers should not be
underestimated and that this remained the biggest challenge for
unions. In Connect’s sectors, many of the companies have never
had any experience of unions. Union growth, in her experience,
is against the will of the employers and a strategy is needed to
overcome this.
Steph Marston argued that unions are often perceived negatively
as being just about work. Rather than the poor public image
that unions have gained because of this, this should be seen as
unions’ unique selling point. Unions should be seen positively
as providing a voice at work. This can only be done by having
effective participation in the union and getting people active.
A model of engagement is required so that unions “can articulate
an alternative vision of the world of work.” Unions need to show
how they can bring about change in the workplace; they need
to provide leadership on how work should be organised around
people’s lives. In this way a consumerist relationship between
unions and their members can be avoided. Unions can’t just be
about getting people “more” they have to be about changing
work for the better and making it different.
The final union response came from Matt Waddup, Assistant
General Secretary at the newly merged University and College
Union (UCU). He said that unions had to be realistic about the
situation that they are in – they have failed to keep up with
the new job creation of the past ten years. This was a missed
opportunity because the environment for growth won’t get any
better. Too many unions are making too many excuses and not
adjusting their approach. Unions need to turn their attention to
the ‘never-evers’ – the increasing number of people who have
never joined or even been asked to join a union. Dismissing
people as “the wrong kind of members” is unacceptable if unions
Matt Waddup Tom Wilson
continued from page 4...
mega-bucks deals financed by debt have created a serious
level of short-termism that is bad for the future of the acquired
companies. There is no investment in R&D or sustainable
development and pension funds are put at risk. This has
reached such a degree that even some private equity partners
are concerned.
John Evans remarked that this creates a new challenge for
unions – previously unions always knew that the company
and the employer were one and the same. Now, private
equity’s ownership and practices had blurred the relationship.
ForeFrontNewsletter5.indd 7
are to grow.
Matt Waddup felt that unions were too good at ‘displacement
therapy’ and they had lost their primary focus – organising and
bargaining. Consequently, this was partly why the union wage
premium had fallen. Job security is a relatively new issue that
fits in with unions’ core agenda. In recent years members have
been confused by the false choice of “we’ll service you” or “we’ll
organise you”. Unions need to listen to what potential members
want and provide appropriate structures to enable this. A
challenge is finding a way to involve members more widely
without alienating the activists. Above all, unions must ensure
Ed Heery expresses his views
they give members what they want rather than what unions are
currently prepared to give them.
As the debate continued with contributions from the floor, the
issue of union density was raised. Lionel Fulton from the Labour
Research Department and David Coats of the Work Foundation
both argued that the key statistic was union density and that this
was on the wane – most seriously in the private sector. Unions
had failed to keep up with the growth of the workforce in the
past ten years. But Tom Wilson felt that union performance had
to be seen within this context – the situation could have been
far worse. Unions have to be positive about the areas where
they have grown but not complacent about their achievements.
Lots of discussion and ideas were generated. You can join in by
getting hold of the paper. Visit www.unions21.org.uk for details.
Sue Rogers, (NASUWT) commenting from the floor
Will Hutton set a greater challenge – unions should stop trying
to change the system and embed themselves at the heart
of it. They are institutions that deliver equality – part of the
‘enlightened infrastructure’ of modern society and this is what
they should focus on.
Globalisation was recognised as a great force but it appears
there are many solutions for shaping and managing it. These
solutions require significant change and strategic responses.
But unions, if they evolve in the face of these global
challenge’s, can continue to shape the world.
30/7/07 13:32:35
 Prompting Association
serious for College
Debate Management
Unions 21 recently launched the Debate series of
publications to encourage more serious debate about
(ACM)
the future of trade unions. A warm welcome to the Association for College
The first “Debate” publication was written by General Management who’ve recently agreed to become a
Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation John part of Unions 21.
Monks. Entitled “the EU – the next 50 years” it principally The Association for College Management is a TUC
based upon John’s speech to the all party group on the EU affiliated trade union and professional association
at Westminster in Spring 2007. which represents managers of post 16 education and
The Second item for Debate is by Tom Wilson, Head of training.
Organisation and Services ACM are the latest in a number of additional unions
at the TUC. Tom’s paper, joining Unions 21 and each new joiner brings with
entitled “The Future for them a further source of knowledge and opinion that
Unions” looks at the can help enrich the debate we have about the future
declared facts of trade of unions.
union membership in
the UK over the last 10
years and concludes
with a proposed 9
point plan for future
success.
They are intended
to do what it says
on the tin and to
prompt serious
debate about
the subjects
raised. The
Debate publications will forward a range of opinions from
authors who submit pieces through Unions 21 and we
are intending each to also be sponsored by a non-union
supporter of Unions 21.
The John Monk’s piece was kindly sponsored by
Thompsons solicitors who also launched the publication
at the ETUC congress in Seville Spain during May 2007
and the launch of Tom Wilson’s paper, which is to be
sponsored by Russell Jones & Walker is detailed on pages
6 -7 of this publication. Jenny Watson, Chair of the Equal
Opportunities Commission, will provide the next Debate
in our series. She will look at the forthcoming equalities cover story continued...
challenges for society and unions. The paper will be The stereotype does not help, I am not ashamed to
launched at TUC Congress 2007. admit that I read Heat magazine from time to time. My
life is not an endless procession of marches or protest
rallies. Merger or not, it’s always good to take stock and
If you would like to suggest an issue for a future consider next best options.The formation of UCU, the
publication or consider sponsoring a Debate publication, challenges and opportunities that it creates, has helped
then please contact Unions 21 Vice-Chair, Paul Day, start the debate on the future of a union, but it is also
Deputy General Secretary, ATL at pday@atl.org.uk time for a wider debate about the future of unions.

Visit www.unions21.org.uk for the latest news and events



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