Game changer

Globalisation, the process by which the world’s economies have become rapidly interconnected, was supposed to have brought more wealth into the hands of a greater number of people – a rising tide that would lift all boats.

 
Instead, globalisation has concentrated power into the hands of the few, and has served as the engine powering the relentless lurch toward privatisation, eroding employment rights, widening the gap between the rich and poor, and putting us all at the mercy of big business.

 
Unite, in conjunction with global unions, International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and IndustriALL, is set to launch a major new programme that will empower workers domestically and internationally to fight globalisation’s worst excesses.

 
The Industrial Hubs Programme will kick off as a three-day workshop next week (November 10-12) in Hull and will bring together union activists from across the key Humber distribution hub. Union activists from all over the globe will also come to participate.

 
The worker-led programme will educate trade unionists about national and global supply chains, and how they can strategically organise around these chains to identify opportunities to strengthen collective worker power.

 
Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner explained how the programme would combat globalisation.

 
“The industrial hubs programme is helping us with our understanding of interconnected supply chains and the employer, customer and consumer vulnerabilities that are inherent in them,” he said. “This in turn is informing our organising and bargaining strategies aimed at addressing the havoc caused across the world from global competition for the cheapest rate.”

 
“This programme gives workers the tools to change that. It puts workers’ issues up front and gives our representatives the skills, confidence and organisation to make that change happen,” he added.

 
ITF industrial hubs organising coordinator Noel Coard said the programme would a have wide-ranging impact.

 
“The Industrial Hub Programme is about empowering workers and giving them the tools to turn back the tide of the effects that globalisation has had on them and their workplaces, their communities and their families,” he said.

 
Jim Catterson, IndustriALL energy director, said that the cross-sector strategies developed through the programme will be instrumental in strengthening union power globally.

 
“The aim of this initiative is to build worker and union influence across supply chains through the global ports network and to strengthen ties between unions representing oil and gas, port, road, rail and logistics workers within hubs and internationally,” he said.

 
“Hull, with its large port, widespread infrastructure and petrochemical cluster, is an excellent starting point,” Catterson added.

 
Paula Hamilton, ITF industrial hubs programme leader, explained why focussing on ports would be a key part of the programme.

 
“Port-based hubs are an increasingly important part of the global supply chains that drive commerce and involve workers across multiple transport sectors,” she said. “Our programme is about helping those workers make strong and progressive links right along those national and international chains.”

 
Unite regional coordinating officer Bev Clarkson said the programme, which will begin in Hull but will be progressively developed throughout ports in the UK and eventually on a global scale, may just revolutionise the way workers across the world organise.

 
“What we do in Hull this week will have international consequences,” she explained. “This event could be a game changer, covering everything from health and safety in the workplace to how unions can challenge the harmful impact of globalisation.”

 
Turner agreed that the programme has the potential to maximise collective worker impact on an unprecedented scale.

 
“Unite is at the forefront of something very exciting here,” he said. “What happens this week will have an impact on workers not just here in Hull but from the port to point of sale, from the ship to the warehouse, the truck to the stockroom and all those support and associated workers in between.”

 
“The tide is turning, working people have had enough, and for many, the fight back starts here.”

 
Stay tuned on UNITElive.org as we report from Hull next week.