The Economist 2012.12.01 by The Economist

Author:The Economist [The Economist]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Economist
Published: 2012-11-29T21:32:33.216000+00:00

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Labour relations

Fight the glower

Trade unions are beginning to learn from community activists

Waning power

WHEN HSBC moved to Canary Wharf in 2003, it discovered some troublesome neighbours. London Citizens, a collection of local community groups, rallied the bank’s cleaners to demand a higher, “living” wage. The bank said no. So they bought shares, and at the annual general meeting the chairman found himself being addressed by the man who cleaned his office by night. Later nuns brought a bank branch to a standstill by paying in the week’s collection in trolleys full of pennies. HSBC agreed to pay its cleaners more.

London Citizens has since grown to encompass 237 institutions—most religious or educational. Neil Jameson, its monkish director, focuses on causes uniting this colourful patchwork of London life. Though broadly leftish in tone, it is uninterested in ideology and has admirers from across the political spectrum. Mr Jameson’s mantra is “power before programme”. His organisation is one of several that now harry firms over workers’ pay, as well as things like tax avoidance. In some ways they are taking the place of trade unions—which, these days, have programmes but little power.

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