In the run up to the year anniversary of 35 Unite members striking in Veolia Sheffield it sadly appears that GMB North East, Yorkshire and Humber are the latest to be blamed for the dispute.
Previously the workforce, Veolia and Sheffield City Council were to blame. Some on the Trotsky-lite left are even blaming the wider movement for not calling a general strike over the issue, so who knows who will be blamed next. However, whilst it is our turn, whilst our members and our staff are in the firing line it is only right that we do some fact checking:
The history
GMB has had trade union recognition at Sheffield Veolia for decades. 85% of the workforce are members. Using their collective power has ensured that Sheffield refuse workers have received good pay, terms and conditions for years. They are now amongst the best paid refuse workers in the UK.
Veolia do not want to recognise Unite. You don’t need to spend too long on “X” to see that they are not waiting with open arms and cake for Unite to join them at the negotiating table. Our understanding is that Veolia are taking legal action against Unite in more than one country and are very unhappy with Unite’s attempts to undermine their business. Veolia are sticking to a longstanding agreement and I am in favour of employers doing that.
The workforce doesn’t want Unite; 85% are in GMB and have signed a petition asking for Unite to stop harassing people and to call off their campaign.
The law doesn’t want Unite; the Central Arbitration Committee was unequivocal; GMB has legal recognition, Unite’s claim was rejected.
Trade Union principles; There is a strange business union/marketplace approach that some within Unite appear to have invented locally. It calls for the democratic right to be represented by a union of your choice. To be clear, people have the right to join the union of their choice but the right to be represented by the union of their choice is not something that Unite always practise. Unite has single union agreements all over the UK. Despite this new strategy they have given up exactly none. What they want us to do they are not willing to do themselves.
They are right to not give up sole recognition where they have it. Where a union has 100s of members why on earth would they allow another union to bargain on behalf of one unhappy employee? The only people to benefit from that would be employers as two unions are easier to divide than one. This is simply a case of Unite locally wanting to have their cake and to eat it too.
Don’t poach, pick up the phone. Many times over my 36 years in the movement I have rung a sister union to let them know that people were leaving them and that they needed to “get down there to fix it”. If despite 85% density GMB has let people down at Veolia where was our call? Where is the call now? No-one rang because none of that happened. Our phone lines remain open.
Hostility to the movement and to working people. GMB activists and staff have been photographed, referenced in social media and been followed. Cars have been damaged. The one female loader on the fleet was harassed on the doorstep in the middle of her round. This anti union behaviour includes trying to break a union agreement and publicly and continually seeking to talk GMB down. It is not GMB who are flying in the face of Trade Union values.
Unite members deserve better.
GMB, Sheffield’s Refuse Workers, Veolia and Sheffield City Council are not the problem here. Neither are Unite members.
It seems that locally Unite have picked a fight without knowing who the enemy is and without a plan. One minute it is Veolia, the next it is Sheffield City Council, one minute they are sending staff to America to have a go at Veolia, the next their eyes are on a sister union in Sheffield. I think it is time for some leaders to stop looking for new people to blame and to instead look in the mirror.
Despite all of this we are still offering Unite a courtesy arrangement so that their member’s voices can be heard. In part that is because we still recognise that Unite nationally is a sister union with a great history. Our friendship goes back a long way and it won’t be broken by this. Mostly however it is because of our respect for Unite members. There are some good people who have been on strike for a year but who have been led up the garden path with no plan. It is for them that our door remains open.
Andy Belfield - Regional Secretary
GMB NEYH
