Draft Principles For A Broad Open Trade Union Grassroots Network

national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis

Friday May 06, 2011 22:26

by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacity

Basic Aims & Objectives; Communication; Decision-Making.

Some readers will be aware that for some time I have been advocating the construction of a cross-union grass roots network. A meeting has been convened tomorrow to discuss such a project. Unfortunately for me (and for any other with similar interests) a conference to discuss Republicanism & Socialism has been scheduled for some time now to take place on the same day. I publish these draft principles for discussion not to promote bureaucracy but with the intention that any such network formed remains a broad and militant organisation, the property of its members and not of one political party or another nor as a sectarian battleground.

Draft Grass-Roots Union Network Basic Principles

Basic Aims & Objectives
1. The overall aim of the Network is to offer solidarity to the struggles of the workers in Ireland and to assist in making them more effective. The Network will seek to do this by:
• Publicising industrial actions and related demonstrations through Network bulletins
• Sending out requests for assistance and solidarity support through the Network as appropriate
• Taking any other promotional or coordinating actions as decided by the Network
2. The GRTUN is anti-sectarian with regard to religion and is anti-racist, anti-homophobic and anti-sexist.
3. GRTUN has come into existence as a result of our experiences of many of the TU leadership having failed to lead effective resistance against the attacks of Capital and having undermined our attempts to provide such leadership.
4. Having experienced its limiting and undermining effects, this Network stands in opposition to “social partnership” and also to the ideology underpinning it and to any measures that seek to bind the unions into no-strike agreements for any period of time.
5. GRTUN is a broad-based organisation in support of workers’ defence and resistance and considers that breadth one of its strengths. For that reason the Network
• Considers it would be harmful for the Network to fall under the control of any political organisation
• Or to permit attacks of a personal nature on Network members during its proceedings or in Network publications
• Or attacks on any political party with members in the Network and not represented in the Dáil

Communication
1. Content of bulletins shall be the decision of the General Meeting or as otherwise delegated by them.
2. The Administration of the GRTUN will keep a list of the electronic addresses of all members.
3. All members shall receive a copy of each issue of the bulletin and nobody shall be excluded from the above list except by two-thirds voting majority.

Decision-making
1. Decisions shall be made during general meetings or as delegated by majority for periods during general meetings.
2. General meetings shall be called by the GRTUN elected administration committee and
3. may also be called by one-third of the membership or by 50 members, whichever is the least
4. The ruling of the Chairperson at a meeting shall be final unless a vote of “No Confidence” in the Chair’s ruling should be proposed.
5. It shall be sufficient for one member to propose a vote of “No Confidence”; if backed by a second, then the proposer should be allowed to explain and the Chair to speak against, after which the meeting should proceed to vote on a show of hands. A simple majority will decide the issue.
6. If the challenge should be successful then the Chairperson shall vacate the Chair and a replacement shall be selected for the remainder of the meeting. The issue under discussion shall then be reopened.

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Comments (4 of 4)

Short

by Padraig Yeates - None in a representative capacity

Sat May 07, 2011 08:06

padraigyeates at ireland dot com

35318284510

Diarmuid
The basic principles are sound. The problem is getting enough organisations with a large enough membership to provide a representative critical mass. This is essential to ensure a commercially viable audience, without which any long term project is doomed.
Padraig Yeates

A More memorable Acronym.....

by wageslave

Sat May 07, 2011 09:09

Hey Diarmuid... You should call it "GRUNT" so people remember it more easily!

Grass Roots Union NeTwork

renumeration to the bureaucrats running it should be discussed

by Unionist

Sat May 07, 2011 09:20

payments and renumeration for the people in charge of day to day running of the organisation is an important issue. The high salaries paid to union leaders were a factor in neutering them in the past. This issue should be up for discussion. A low ceiling should be imposed so those people are not motivated by profit but by principle. also so they retain the perspective of poorly paid union members instead of that of well paid fatcats!

Thanks

Sun May 08, 2011 15:38

for the comments. The name of the network will be up to the founders -- I just gave it that name for the moment. I would suggest that discussion of the other issues are also premature at this moment. The Network needs to get into action and gain activists, start publicising its existence and orientation, offering solidarity whenever industrial actions occur or the workers are threatened.

When the organisation has gained some weight will be the time for it to discuss its position on some of the other issues. "Critical mass" is a thing that cannot be predicted. For now, to influence thinking of active but not compromised trade unionists and to start to gather mass, even if "uncritical" would be the important objectives. The draft rules and objectives are an attempt to facilitate the Network getting off on the right (left!) foot.

I understand that the meeting went ahead yesterday -- some kind of report on the proceedings would be usefuland I look forward to early notification of the details of the next meeting. At the other event, after a very interesting discussion about Connolly, the issues of building bases including a trade union grassroots network were given a brief airing during a discussion about resistance to the IMF etc.

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Draft Principles For A Broad Open Trade Union Grassroots Network

Comments (4 of 4)