By | 3 min
Speakers
Will Hutton, Chief Executive Work Foundation
Paul Noon, General Secretary of Prospect
Mick Maguire, President FIFPRO
Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers
Constituency delegates at the conference were waking up to news of the US bail out plan for failing financial institutions as Unions 21 convened a breakfast meeting at Labour Party Conference. Will Hutton, Chief Executive of the Work Foundation joined Mick Maguire, President of FIFPRO, Paul Noon, General Secretary of Prospect and Leo Gerard, United Steelworkers, around the table to discuss how unions should respond to globalisation and how they can organise globally.
Will Hutton chose to respond to the economic news directly and began the meeting by challenging unions to respond. He said that the financial crisis presented trade unions in Britain, North America and Europe with a real opportunity, arguing that if banks are being bailed out by the taxpayer, they should for example require the companies they invest in to recognise trade unions.
Hutton also argued that there are issues about the lack of voice on boards of companies that should similarly be addressed: “I do think that if we are going to see major government effort to bail out distressed banks there should be that there are quid pro quos and the Labour Movement should start urgently debating what those quid pro quos are”.
Leo Gerard told the meeting that the previous day he had been part of the first ever meeting of Workers Uniting, the new union formed from the merger between United Steelworkers and Unite. He called the merger “a learning experience and an adventure“. Leo said the current US model of globalisation is not based on any rules or standards and so is destined to fail: “For a more equitable world collective bargaining has to be expanded to developing countries in which labour standards are lower, it is the aim of Workers Uniting to do this”. Leo argued that collective bargaining has to happen in South America and Africa, or the working conditions in the USA and UK will be put under more pressure.
Mick McGuire had lessons from the PFA about how a union can answer the practical realities of a globalised employment market. There are now over 600 international players playing for English clubs, in 1991 it was 7. FIFA PRO is now made up of over 40 countries. All the battles won in England by the PFA over the years are now templates for player organisations in other countries to use. This is important in driving up standards in regions such as Eastern European where players face poor conditions, for example only being paid if they win.
Mick said that English football can invest in players from other countries to the detriment of domestic players. UEFA are now consulting the football unions to contribute ideas to a new way of dealing with the effect on national teams of youngsters taking training places in countries not of their birth. UEFA are looking at the idea of players being allowed to take on new nationalities if they have trained in another country for a certain length of time.
