The Trade Union Bill could seriously hamper the ability of unions to organise and protect their members. Health and safety could be a casualty if, as the government wants, union membership falls or union representatives are unable to get the time off they need.

However, this erosion of union power is not inevitable. Over the past 150 years trade unions have faced a barrage of attacks from governments and employers. And that’s because we have continued to organise and support workers. So over the next few years one of our top priorities must be to ensure that workplaces are organised and that we use every opportunity we have to recruit members.

STRIKE ONE  Unions make workplaces safer because they have the collective power to get things done. The government’s determination to make the union role more difficult is an attack on fundamental rights and safety.

For a union to be effective takes two things. The first is a strong membership within the workplace. The second is high membership involvement. By encouraging members to participate, much more can be achieved than if members expect the union to ‘sort things out’.

Health and safety can play a major role. The TUC has produced new resources aimed at supporting unions to gain members and a more active membership, with more health and safety representatives. It will make the union more effective on the ground – where real gains can be made.

You can do this by:

• Involving members in identifying issues, finding solutions and dealing with problems;
• Increasing the number of confident, trained health and safety representatives who are representative of the workplace they come from;
• Dealing with problems early, when they are manageable, rather than leaving them to get worse; and
• Improving negotiating strength.

We know that union health and safety representatives make a difference. Workplaces with union representatives and joint safety committees have half the major injury rate of those without. At the same time, health and safety is one of the main reasons that people join a trade union.

There is a lot to be done. Over two million people have an injury or illness that was caused or made worse from work and over 28 million working days are lost every year as a result of work-related injuries and ill-health. The HSE estimates the cost of injuries and ill-health from current working conditions alone to be £14.2 billion, but of course the human cost is much greater.

Why health and safety?

Workplace safety and health is no different from the other issues unions fight for, like better wages, benefits and respect. An ultimate measure of dignity and respect on the job is the degree to which workers are provided with a work environment that will not rob them of their health, their limbs or their lives.

BUILDING UNIONS  Site workers are among an increasing band of union campaigners using civil disobedience to boost their campaigns. A fired Unite safety rep was quickly reinstated after a hastily summoned group of Blacklist Support Group members crossed Bond Street in London… very, very slowly. They creating a high profile public spectacle that quickly trended on social media and had bosses on the phone to the union rescinding the sacking before the protest had ended. [see: Road Block]

In an organising campaign, it all comes down to whether this is an issue around which you can involve the workers. That means picking issues that are relevant, and winnable.

In addition, many employers are more interested in engaging with unions on issues such as health and safety than on many other issues, and areas such as well-being can also give us a way to involve the workforce, and engage with the employer. And there is a legal requirement on employers to consult with the workforce on health and safety, so we should use that where we can.

It is not just about the traditional work hazards, such as chemical exposure, work at heights or unsafe equipment. Most of the health problems that people are likely to experience come from factors like how their work or workload is managed and how their workplace is designed. Over 70 per cent of work-related sickness absence is caused not by injuries, but by the problems of back pain, repetitive strain injuries and stress (Hazards 132). These should never be accepted as ‘just part of the job’ – something can be done about them, and it is the role of the union to see that something is.

There are six very strong reasons why unions should be using health and safety issues as a way of developing trade unionism in the workplace:

• Winnable Most experienced union health and safety representatives will have achieved some successes. Often these have been significant and may well have stopped people being injured or made ill.
• Widely felt and deeply felt Workers often care about safety and health. It affects everyone in a workplace
• Easy to understand Workers experience health and safety problems firsthand. For far too many, it’s part of their everyday experience.
• Gives workers a sense of their own power Safety and health is an area in which, given the right issues, all workers can get actively involved and bring about results for themselves.
• Sends a message to the employer Shows the employer that workers will not just put up with whatever they say. And don’t forget…
• It makes a difference Union health and safety representatives save lives and stop workers becoming ill or injured.

Whatever the workplace, the key to organising is teamwork. You must work with other representatives in your union and with other activists. There is a need for a ‘one-team’ approach with everyone working together and maintaining clear communications. In unionised workplaces it will be stewards, health and safety representatives, green or equality representatives and union learning representatives. In non-unionised workplaces, it will be anyone interested, perhaps with support from someone at the union.

You should look to use electronic communications – email and texts - to keep in touch with other representatives or activists, especially for the lone reps who are geographically isolated. Use social media – workers could be kept up-to-date on what the union is doing through Twitter or Facebook messaging.  

Most union activists already work in unionised workplaces where there are other members and the union is recognised by the employer. Unionised workplaces, though, can present their own set of problems such as large numbers of non-union members, or too few activists and inactive or ineffective union branches. The one clear benefit that a union can demonstrate to current and potential members is the presence of a trained and union supported trade union health and safety rep.

In a unionised workplace, one of the first things that you can do is to map your assets. Find out who works where, who is a member, and where your activists are and whether they are trained.

Mapping, which I will cover in detail in the next issue of Hazards, is just an audit of the current situation. It is a simple process to establish where to prioritise recruitment and other organising efforts. It may reveal any changes necessary to help promote health and safety in areas without effective representation or an active membership and to encourage activists to come forward and become safety representatives.

Where there are a number of existing union activists, it is best to do the mapping exercise as a group. Remember the aim is to get workers to become active themselves and not to leave it to “the union”. After all, a union is its members.

Starting from scratch

Organising in new workplaces is different. If you want to start recruiting members in a workplace where there is no union, first speak to a full-time officer of the union. You can check there is not an existing union or union members you may not know about. The union may also be able to provide advice and support.

BANK ON UNIONS  Prevention of workplace injuries and work-related ill-health as a result of the ‘union safety effect’ saves the economy the equivalent of £219m- £725m a year at 2014 prices. The contribution of the under-threat union safety role in the public sector alone is £130m-£360m [more]

If you do go ahead, the first step is making contact. Any organising campaign needs to be assisted by people who know the workplace and the problems. It may be there are one or two people you know, or who have approached the union asking to join. These contacts are your major asset in using health and safety as an organising tool. Like any asset, these people need an investment of resources, so they receive the appropriate support and where necessary training. Top of the list, though, is one-to-one contact with someone representing the union.

Remember that even where there is no union, the employer is required under the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations to establish a means of informing and consulting with employees on health and safety issues. The employer should be asked how they are doing that. If there is no recognised union, it has to be either with every worker individually or through “representatives of employee safety”.

If there is any form of safety representative system in place, or safety committee, this could give you the opportunity to influence the discussions staff have with the employer. Try to ensure those selected or elected as worker representatives are potential union activists. Having people working on the inside is always best.

If there is a safety committee established by the employer, and possibly controlled by the employer, the aim would be to turn it into a committee on which union members, or union supported activists, can be involved and can influence workplace policy.  This could be a key element in building the union presence in the workplace prior to negotiations for recognition.

Building the union

Union activists can use workplace safety and health issues to win the support of workers and to recruit new members to the union. The way that you try to recruit will depend on whether the union is recognised or not. It is much easier where the union is recognised and there are union health and safety representatives than in a place where there is no existing organisation and, often, a hostile management.

However, one thing to bear in mind is, of all the activities you can undertake, routine inspection is the most fundamental function that a union health and safety representative can carry out in terms of establishing and maintaining a union presence. It must always be a priority, however difficult it is.

When negotiating improvements, remember the legal requirements are only a minimum. Your union or sources like TUC Risks and Hazards may have examples of much better workplace agreements on issues from stress to the elimination of hazardous chemicals.

And the union safety rep role can be bigger than the basic – extensive – legal rights. In some workplaces unions have negotiated roving safety representatives and Union Inspection Notices (UINs).

Roving health and safety representatives come into their own where a branch has a lot of diverse employers, small workplaces, low union density, or a significant number of contractors on site. UINs – served on employers and identifying problems to be remedied - are most useful where there is an active, trained, and effective safety representative structure, but where management often ignores complaints.

Putting plans into action

Many of the proposals in this guide may seem like good ideas but you cannot do everything at once. Neither can you just do nothing. You are going to need to put these proposals into action. You will achieve nothing if they just remain ideas in your head or notes on a piece of paper.

To prevent this happening you should:

• set out a clear action plan with a timetable.
• set up a small working party that will oversee the implementation of the action plan and know who is responsible for what;
• make sure that regular reports are given to the branch or safety committee;
• agree that everyone should come together again in six month’s time for a quick and easy review how far you have got.

Hopefully the activities you have taken part in will have produced enough good ideas to allow you to make a real difference to the health and safety of your members.

Double your money with union reps

Allowing union reps time off to represent their members improves staff retention, reduces illness and boosts industrial relations, a Bradford University analysis of official figures has shown. The February 2016 report for the TUC concludes every £1 spent on paid time off for public sector union reps to represent their members, taxpayers get at least £2.31 back in savings.

The government’s Trade Union Bill seeks to cut the “excessive” number of union representatives - and therefore the amount of facility time available - in the public sector. However, The benefits of paid time off for trade union representatives calculates the savings delivered by unions across the economy could exceed £1 billion every year, falling in a range between £476m and £1,250m.

Prevention of workplace injuries and work-related ill-health is the biggest single contributor to the savings, at 2014 prices the equivalent of £219m-£725m a year. The contribution of the under-threat union safety role in the public sector alone is £130m-£360m.

The TUC argues that the time available to union safety reps to do this work – not classed as facilities time and protected by law – would nevertheless be hit by the government plans, despite assurances to the contrary. The union body says the Trade Union Bill cap on all time for union activities would inevitably leave unions choosing between safety and other union functions. It said this could undermine the well established ‘union safety effect’.

Back to the top of the page

Strength in numbers

From stopping work to stopping traffic, mapping the workplace to mapping the places it hurts. Unions have shown remarkably creativity on workplace health and safety. The result? A dramatic cut in work-related injuries and ill-health and, a new TUC analysis shows, a saving to the economy of up to £725 million every year.

See Pauline's story

Resources

Health and safety and organising - A guide for reps, TUC, March 2016, pdf and e-book versions.
The Union Effect: How unions make a difference on health and safety, TUC, 2016.
• TUC Risks weekly e-zine.
• TUC health and safety webpages.

Hazards website
• Organising
• The union effect
• Mapping
• Union Inspection Notices

Road block From doctors, to firefighters to construction workers – stopping the traffic can be an effective way to make bad employers change direction. more