In the staff canteen a group of workers grumble about the lack of PPE. It clearly winds them up; but despite an underlying sense of discontent, nothing concrete ever seems to change.
Individuals have complained in the past, but management just ignored them. There is a general feeling that nothing will change. At some point, most union safety reps have participated in this kind of conversation with their colleagues.
When management won’t budge, the most effective way to achieve improvements in workplace health and safety is for workers to act collectively rather than relying on one or two vocal individuals.
How reps frame an issue can determine whether collective action to improve safety is likely to take place. If workers see themselves as part of a group, their individual sense of being powerless can be transformed into a more optimistic collective outlook.
If virtually all workers in a department are angry about a management proposal to change shift patterns, it helps if safety reps emphasise the shared opposition. This tends to increase conviction about the need to challenge the employer.
But widespread anger is not enough to guarantee that workers will take action. Even as part of a group, most people are unlikely to challenge their employer if they don’t think the boss will take any notice. Workers need hope that acting together will actually make a difference.
So reps also need to be positive about the chances of success. We should talk up our victories. Hearing examples of how workers at other firms have already improved workplace safety by sticking together will boost both collective and individual confidence.
RIGHT TRACK A threat of strike action by workers on Edinburgh Trams has secured rest periods, toilet breaks and improved staffing. more.
Without some degree of group cohesion, collective action is highly unlikely. That feeling of collective strength does not fall from the sky, it develops with lots of small workplace conversations. The most successful safety reps don’t run around doing everything for their co-workers, they inspire them to work as a group to resolve their safety problems themselves.
At a recent UNISON course, a nurse explained how she encouraged co-workers to take action over a perceived unfair safety training programme. Community nurses were asked to complete compulsory online training on their work laptops by fitting in occasional ten-minute chunks throughout the week, or at the end of a busy shift. Because the NHS is short staffed, this often meant back home in their own time.
Managers and supervisors based in the hospital, got similar training but delivered by a real trainer with coffee, Danish pastries and biscuits supplied at the breaks.
The UNISON safety rep used a packet of digestive biscuits as a call to action: “You may see a packet of biscuits, but I see a symbol of unfairness, a symbol of inequality, a symbol of injustice!”
Everyone cheered at the training course, and her co-workers were motivated enough to demand and win the same training given to the managers!
BAD TASTE HelloFresh prevented its workers from taking toilet breaks and then dismissed them “without following any sort of fair procedure” when the complained, their union Community has said.
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Janet Newsham from Greater Manchester Hazards Centre recently told me that she once used scratchy Izal toilet paper as a prop when talking to her co-workers about the state of the staff toilets in a previous job. As she was telling me the story, I knew exactly how that anecdote would end.
Worker led action to improve safety doesn’t need to be a mass walk out. Reps can suggest creative opportunities for workers to participate in together.
At one under-heated primary school, the safety reps recently encouraged their co-workers to turn up to work wearing stickers and bucket hats from the Disney film Frozen. The senior leadership team were confronted with the feelings of their staff about the need to turn up the heating. And much quicker than waiting for the next safety committee meeting, and more effective than one rep raising the issue with management.
When the heating got turned up, the workers themselves knew that their collective action had won the victory, which only adds to that sense of group cohesion that is so important for successful union organising.
Tram workers get a break after strike threat
A threat of strike action by workers on Edinburgh Trams has secured rest periods, toilet breaks and improved staffing.
The Unite dispute arose due to late running times at Edinburgh Airport, which prevented workers from taking comfort breaks. This led to concerns about health problems related to not going to the toilet for long periods.
Following a ballot, where workers overwhelmingly supported strike action, the company accepted Unite’s position, with members with workers getting their agreed rest periods and comfort breaks. An increase in tram driver recruitment is now also expected in order to provide the level of service required to properly cover the route.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This was a dispute over basic dignity at work. “While we are pleased that this dispute is settled, it should not have taken the threat of industrial action to result in a u-turn by Edinburgh Trams. Being treated with dignity and respect is a human right, not a benefit that employers can withdraw on a whim.
“Unite backed its tram membership all the way in their fight for decency and dignity at work and won.”
Unite highlighted too little time in the timetable for routes from Edinburgh Airport to Newhaven, leading to trains running five to six minutes late on the two-hour journey and staff having to make up the time. This impacted upon the driving time before a scheduled break, leaving many tram workers going long periods without hydration or toilet breaks and reporting stress and infections.
Lyn Turner, Unite industrial officer said: “Edinburgh’s tram workers were forced to threaten industrial action following legitimate concerns around rest and comfort breaks, which angered our members. Appropriate running times should have been negotiated prior to the Newhaven line being opened.
“Unite is pleased that the dispute is over, but anyone with an ounce of basic decency knows it should not have come to this in the first place.”
Unite represents drivers, ticket service assistants, controllers and vehicle maintenance workers on the tram network.
Staff sacked after raising safety complaints
A union representing 79 dismissed HelloFresh workers who complained about “dire working conditions” has said the sackings were an outrage and a disgrace. The Community trade union said it is challenging firm's “shameful” action at the warehouse in Nuneaton.
HelloFresh said the workers were dismissed on 16 October 2024 after it uncovered “multiple serious breaches of employment terms” during an inquiry that followed some team members' “refusal to work” earlier this year.
But Community said HelloFresh had a “draconian approach to its workforce” and had prevented workers from taking toilet breaks and had dismissed them “without following any sort of fair procedure.”
Jacques Vertommen, who worked at HelloFresh for four years until he was sacked via email, said he and others had been forced to wait hours to go to the toilet. “We don't understand why they sacked us because there was no reason to sack us,” he said. “The environment we worked in was very toxic and people raised their concerns and then went back to work but the management refused and suspended everybody.”
Another former HelloFresh worker, Tasmin Omar (above), who was also sacked, said some workers even “had accidents” due to the delays in being allowed toilet breaks. “When you've had a break, you have to wait for so long and sometimes if you need the toilet, you need the toilet,” she said. “We got sacked for speaking up. It's been a really hard time for all of us.”
Gavin Miller, regional secretary for Community, said: “HelloFresh’s mass dismissal of workers who had spoken out against the dire working conditions on site is an outrage and a disgrace.
“HelloFresh market themselves as a consumer-friendly, forward-looking business, yet this is a company with an antiquated and draconian approach to its workforce – preventing workers from taking toilet breaks and dismissing them without following any sort of fair procedure in the process.”
He said the workers were “stunned at what had transpired”, adding: “We are clear that we will not allow our members on site to be treated this way, and we will be doing everything we can to support the workforce and protest against the company’s shameful course of action.”
ORGANISING 101:
TAKING THE BISCUIT
In the staff canteen a group of workers grumble about the lack of PPE. It clearly winds them up; but despite an underlying sense of discontent, nothing concrete ever seems to change.
| Contents | |
| • | Taking the biscuit |
| • | Tram workers get a break after strike threat |
| • | Staff sacked after raising safety complaints |
| Hazards webpages | |
| • | Organising |
| • | Organising 101 |