Facility time is vital for unions but also for employers

#ulgc15 Delegates slammed attacks on the trade union facility time and called on the union to support our members with training, finance and other resources to fight these attacks but also to organise to increase our activist base.

Moving the motion for the Service Group Executive, Western Isles Alison MacCorquodale delivered an excellent maiden speech and told delegates that securing and maintaining adequate facility time was already one of the major challenges facing us in Local Government.

She warned, however, that with the election of the Tory majority government, we now face a crisis.

“We have a government which wants to attack facility time because it wants to attack the trade unions. This is not about saving money, this is about trying to break us because we are a threat,” slammed Alison.

Attacks on union reps an issue for the whole trade union movement

#stuc13 'Stewards and reps are the lifeblood of the union' UNISON's John Stevenson told Congress as it applauded the work of lay activists and shop stewards as key to vibrant and successful trade unions with benefits to the employer as well as staff, but recognised that on a day to day basis management are taking a harder line.