Undermining the Union
In September, Corus announced that it was organising a company programme which would offer traditional trade union services in areas such as health, training and pensions. Corus gave no information to Community about its initiative, nor did the company explain how these services differed from those already available. The real difference is that the Corus Employee Assistance
Programme (EAP) is organised by a commercial organisation controlled by Corus which ultimately is driven by the need to maximise profit. Community exists to serve its members and their families and is always accountable to its members. The union provides a widening range of services to members and to harness their collective strength when there are conflicts of interest with the employers. Devices like the EAP are designed to distract and divide members to weaken this collective strength. Corus obviously believes that they will recoup the money that they are spending on this scheme through attacking the ability of the union to win improvements in wages and conditions and to resist redundancies and restructuring. A workforce which was less committed to the union would mean that employees would not be as effective in promoting their own interests and defending their jobs. The Corus offer is thus a very poor deal for working people.