Trade unions and co-ops working together Allison Roche Co-operative Ways Forward January 2014

1. Workshop 8: Trade Unions and
Co-ops working together
Co-op Bank Crisis: Ways Forward for the Cooperative Movement
Co –operative Business Consultants
Friday 17 January 2014
Manchester

2. UNISON, Public Services and Community
and Co-operatives
• Work with co - operative trade union members in Public Services
International (PSI) 20 million workers , 650 unions,148 countries
• Regional PSI - European Public Services Union (EPSU) - 8 million
workers 265 unions
• UNISON 1.3 million members – as well as public workforce largest civil
society ‘voluntary’ organisation in the UK
• Equality sections: retired, young, black, disabled, women, LGBT
members
• 60,000 UNISON Community sector members– local
government, health services (few in Higher Education and Police and
Justice)
• Schools Co-operative Society with 600 member schools
• Co-operative Colleges initiative
• Work with Co-operative MPs, Co-operatives UK
• UNISON Co-operative Councils Network and Credit unions campaign

3. The Open Public Services agenda
• Public Service Reform 2006 – commitment to privatisation, voluntary
sector delivery, competition, contestability, moving away from top down
management to more localism
• Open Public Services White Paper July 2013 – remove red tape, increase
SME and third sector provision of public services, new rights for
communities, innovative and funding and payment mechanisms
• Cabinet Office – mutual's task force, pathfinders and funds
• Undermining of trade unions role via attacks on facility time, collecting TU
fees via employer payroll, creating barriers for workers to register
grievances at employment tribunals and weakening employment
protections such as TUPE and the two tier code and Fair Deal
• Increased parliamentary Inquiries on opening public services CLG (2012)
PAS c (2013)
• EU Public Procurement Directive and UK Regulations 2014
• Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) 2015

4. UNISON key response to opening
public services
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Increased public funding not austerity
Centralism v localism balance
Accountability and citizens core role
Collaboration, Co-operation and Co - production
Social partnership between trade unions and
employers – stop race to the bottom, poor
employment practices – Zero hours, TUPE, Fair deal
• Procurement and commissioning: Social value and
environmental criteria alongside cost and price criteria
• Do we need diversity in provision and expensive
procurement competition? Where is the evidence?

5. Drive to mutualise public services –
current government initiatives
• 2010 Cabinet office drive: Right to Provide and Right to
Request to become social enterprise or employee
mutual's in Health and Social Care
• Patchy evidence of pathfinders: top down, low and
problematic implementation, cuts imposed, future
uncertainty of sustainability
• EU Public Procurement Directive - article 76a
- What organisations does it apply to?
- Do the public, service users, public sector workers
and elected accountable officials understand both the
risks and benefits of mutual's?
• Will they be sustainable?

6. EU PP Directive Article 76a
• The organisation referred to in paragraph 1 must fulfil the following
cumulative conditions:
• (a) Its objective is the pursuit of a public service mission linked to the
delivery of the services referred to in Paragraph 1;
• (b) profits are reinvested with a view to achieving the organisation‘s
objective. Where profits are distributed or redistributed, this should
be based on participatory considerations;
• (c) the structures of management or ownership of the organisation
performing the contract shall be based on employee ownership or
participatory principles, or shall require the active participation of
employees, users or stakeholders;
• (d) the organisation shall not have been awarded a contract for the
services concerned by the contracting authority concerned pursuant
to this Article within the past three years.

7. Wandsworth council drive to mutualise its
public services by October 2014
• To save £20million by 2015 (departments must opt for
mutual's/social enterprises, outsourcing, shared
services or in-house if no market testing option)
• Staff invited to propose becoming a staff mutual or
social enterprise with outline plan of efficiency savings
of 20%
• Any one model of social enterprise/mutual allowed
• Uncontested contract will be awarded – incubated as a
council controlled “shadow mutual” for one year
• Then given 3 yrs as a reserved contract and protected
from competitive market until 2018/19 when
retendering begins

8. Wandsworth Councils drive to mutualise public
services by October 2014
• Council will have a new Social Enterprise Policy and
Procurement framework to support staff led Social Enterprises
and mutual's
• For 1 yr shadow and first 3 yrs (incubation period) council will
allow TUPE and meet redundancy liability costs
• New staff however will be offered alternative arrangements
from TUPE and LGPS
• In event of non award staff would be TUPEd to new provider
, stay with the mutual or be made redundant
• In event of mutual failure during the incubation contract – it
would only be an option for the council to re-acquire business
not compulsory

9. Joint union work with Co-operatives
in public services
• Increase public funding of public services
• UK Public Procurement Regulations 2014 campaign
– increased complexity in Procurement and Commissioning
- transparency, accountability, FOI, use of social and
environmental criteria not just price
- Strengthened use of legal definition of Teckals (in-house
provision)
- Monitoring, scrutiny and evaluation of regulations and use
of EU PPD article 76a
• Learn from the Voluntary and Community sector ‘hanging by a
thread’ competing for public service contracts

10. Trade Unions and
Co-ops working together
• What alliance/safeguards need to be in place to preserve
and distinguish the Co-operative principles and model in
public services?
• TUC /UK Co-operatives best practice guidance to
distinguish from wider mutual's and social enterprises
• Use of policy and procurement tools – UNISON Ethical care
charter
• Promoting the Schools Co-operative Society model with
600 member schools works - National Recognition
agreement framework, Adopt Living wage campaign
• Co - operative college initiatives
• Joint work with Co – operative MEPs and MPs - TTIP
• Co-operative Councils Network and Credit unions