In just one week, we can’t even to begin to report & reflect on what’s going on industrially or politically that is affecting us, or will affect us if we don’t fight together and find the best strategy which will push back this government, and their links and interests in big business which is still rich and growing richer. So our apologies in advance, but if you have short reports please send them to us to [email protected]. Also post your campaign reports, dispute updates, ideas or question on our facebook pages and tweet at us and with us! Thanks to Midlands NSSN who had their successful regional conference at the weekend and within 48 hours took part in the walkouts at Crown over imposed pension changes.
The past week we have watched in horror at the slaughter in Gaza by the Israeli State. Is there an election rearing its heads we cynically ask? Blood for votes seems to be recurring strategy for them and many world leaders. Global protests have spread across towns and cities, with more due this weekend. Students in Britain protested yesterday over the disgusting fees and EMA cuts, whilst at the same time many made clear they were also against the bombings in Gaza.
We try to support international campaigns in practical ways and raise the ideas that we as workers have more in common with each other than we do with bosses wherever we are. But we may be used against each other, or to undercut each other, if we allow the bosses to get away with it.
Can we afford to have more cuts, more pretend TUPE’s, or take on extra workloads? We know that the answer is NO, and that’s why we continue to press ahead for a strike against austerity as an absolutely essential next step in our collective campaigns to stop the cuts.
We will continue to build and discuss the idea wherever it is possible and would encourage you to as well. We will also lobby the TUC General Council when it meets on December 11th at Congress House, Great Russell Street London. Please see if you and your members and community can take part.
We understand that a general strike will need proper preparation and organisation within each workplace, and town hall meetings throughout the country, explaining why this action is necessary in order to build maximum support. More
**********************
Yorkshire Conference Cosmopolitan Hotel, Leeds 10- 4pm
This is going to be another excellent regional conference with local and national reps discussing HOW to build the fight against austerity and for a one day general strike. It will be a combination of key speakers from the FBU, Unite and other unions alongside workshops. For more info about the conference, contact Alistair Tice, Conference Organiser, on 07706710041 or [email protected]. More
Craig Johnston from the RMT got the Midlands NSSN Conference off to a resounding start with the cry “never mind where the money’s coming from; where’s the money gone?” Full Report ‘Capitalism is killing our people”
North West NSSN is also meeting this Saturday. [email protected] 1-3pm at the Town Hall Tavern
Motions to support the 24 hour strike have also been passed in Bracknell UNITE and will be sent to the EC & Southwark Trades Council. STC added the need for councilors to fight cuts alongside the workforce.
AFFILIATIONS: Thanks to Unite Bristol Finance & Legal branch SW/00140 for affiliating this week. You can affiliate as a branch or individually!
*******************
RMT
Tubelines staff strike on 23 November. Previous strike action and an overtime ban led to the cancellation of tens of millions of pounds worth of essential engineering works on the Northern Line and raised new safety fears as the Emergency Response Unit joined with fellow Tube Lines staff in support of the fight for pensions and benefits justice. More
West Coast shambles rolls on with Virgin deal still not signed off two weeks away from end of current franchise. More
Parliamentary debate on Thameslink/Siemens deal as contract descends into chaos 18 months on. More
Ballot across Scotrail for action over victimised member. More
Parliamentary motion to be tabled as trade unions and MP’s mark 25th anniversary of the King’s Cross Fire. More
CWU
Virgin Media is effectively (but not directly) asking employees to vote to deny themselves the right to be represented by trade union. Virgin Media staff, who are part of the Access Division workforce – mostly engineers – will be balloted in a self-proclaimed ‘referendum’, which opens today (Wednesday November 7) and closes on November 16. More
Over a thousand Royal Mail contact centre and customer support workers are set for a £500 pre-Christmas pay boost. Recognising the hard work, focus and continued dedication of members, assistant secretary Andy Furey said: “Well done to everyone – this high-quality incentive scheme that the CWU negotiated is bringing better customer service, stronger company performance and fair reward for our members.” More
Around 2,000 cleaners and engineers employed by maintenance and facilities firm Romec are set to vote on possible strikes over pay after talks between the CWU and the company broke down earlier this week. News that managers have received bonuses the equivalent of 15% of their salaries compared to the 1.5% pay increase offered by the company has added to the frustration of staff. More
Government in denial over Post Office changes. More
UNITE
Workers at three Crown factories have walked out in an immediate and angry response to an attack by Crown on the pension scheme. Crown’s senior management informed trade union lay representatives on Monday 19th November that all enhanced payments of early retirement in the final salary scheme finished at 9am. This was at 10am. More
Crossrail EIS sacked worker Frank Morris is continuing the protest at the billion pound project in Bond St and other key sites. Frank and 27 others were sacked 8 weeks ago after raising Health and Safety concerns. Please see if you donate to the campaign or arrange as a branch or organisation to visit the protests.
Amnesty Struck – Hundreds of staff members of Amnesty International UK (AIUK) and at Amnesty International’s HQ struck on Tuesday, in separate disputes over job losses. In a unique situation in Amnesty International’s 51-year-old history, about 300 members of Unite working at the International Secretariat and 145 members at AIUK will be striking for 24 hours. Members at the International Secretariat are involved in a dispute that centers on management’s repeated failures to honour agreements.
Urgent talks with Premier Foods’ management have been called for, as the troubled food giant announced a 900 job losses at its bread division.
Langland’s Park Depot who work for DHL. “We the shop stewards committee at Langland’s Park Depot, East Kilbride, both warehouse and drivers, feel appalled and outraged that our local DHL / Sainsbury Management have encroached on our human rights and breached the Data Protection Act by installing covert cameras in our union office. It is an attempt to entrap all our union delegates for their own purpose. We urge you to support us against this unlawful action and highlight it’s despicable nature.” Please send all messages of support to Willie McGonigle, RIO, at – [email protected]
Housing workers has 4 live disputes: 1) Members at One Housing Group have voted overwhelmingly to reject an offer from management that could result in some suffering pay cuts of up to 35%. The result of a second consultative ballot on management’s plans to cut salaries showed that 93% of Unite members rejected the proposals.
2) As Look Ahead, which provides supported housing and specialised care for vulnerable adults, prepares to cut the wages of their support staff in Hackney by over 10%, on top of a 5 year pay freeze, their 2012 accounts show record surpluses and that Victoria Stark, the CEO was awarded a pay rise of £19,200 excluding pension contributions; taking her salary this year to a whopping £168,300. Unite members in Hackney are currently considering taking industrial action over plans to sack them with an offer of re-engagement on significantly worse terms and conditions. 3) St Mungos – Continues its fight for a pay rise and previous cuts. 4) HCA – Management at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) are in formal dispute over pay and management are seeking to push through proposals for restructuring. Management are now seeking to impose changes to the union ‘recognition agreement’ that amount to an attack on the ability of unions to represent staff. More
Turning Point charity to sack 2,600 staff in ‘race to bottom’ then re-employ them on new contracts. More
Speech Therapists in Cumbria. Parents and schools in Cumbria are being urged to speak up against swingeing cuts to the speech and language therapy (SALT) services which could hit children with communication difficulties. “The plan is to replace highly experienced therapists with years of knowledge by the end of the year with therapists with less experience, who will operate a basic screening service. However, the trust is being reticent as to the numbers that will be involved.”
FBU
Save the 17 London fire stations. More
25 years after the Kings Cross fire “It is vital that we remember the lessons of Kings Cross and the words of Desmond Fennel. Station closures and job losses are short-sighted and dangerous. They should not be the price we pay for bailing out the banks. It is a recipe for disaster that cannot be reversed once implemented, and will only lead to death and destruction” Sian Griffiths, London FBU. More
PCS
A strong campaign by PCS members has won improvements in working conditions in DWP call centres
PCS NEC agreed that branches would be asked to organise 15-minute protests during lunchtime on Friday 30 November. This will include co-coordinated protests and across the country to demonstrate members’ anger at the threats to their terms and conditions. “We issued a press release on this and a briefing for reps is being issued next week and materials are being produced for branches to build the protest activity. These materials include a flyer, stickers and red cards to hold at the protests. PDFs of these materials will also be available to download from our website. More information will be available on this next week.
Facility time: Workers in the Civil Service are facing an unprecedented attack with pensions, pay, jobs, public services and terms & conditions all under threat. It surely can’t be coincidence that the government chooses this time to launch proposals to restrict the ability of Civil Service unions to organise in the workplace. More
NUT
After a year without national strike action – and growing threats to our pensions, pay and conditions, how do teachers now rebuild the action needed to defeat these attacks? That’s the debate that will be taking place at:
LANAC’s Second National Delegate Conference: Winning on Pensions, Pay and Workload Saturday December 8th, 11.00 – 15.30, Leicester Adult Education College, Leicester LE1 6HL
Contact Martin Powell-Davies, LANAC Convenor, E-mail: [email protected] Cheques for £5 Conference fee to ‘LANAC’ and sent to LANAC Conference c/o NUT Office, Town Hall, Catford, London SE6 4RU. More
East London schools struck again over bullying actions. More
70% back NUT strike as Nottingham City steps to the brink in school
year dispute. More
UNISON
Admin and clerical workers take second day of strike action at Mid Yorks NHS Trust. Photo is from Dewsbury picket line, attendance of picket lines show the 50 or so new members of the union that have joined the union. Video interview
POA
Lincoln TUC – Lincoln & District TUC met last week and agreed to launch a campaign to defend the jobs and services provided by PCS and POA members who work at HMP Lincoln. Lincoln TUC [email protected]
UCU
Staff and students at the University of Sussex are today demonstrating in protest at plans to privatise the university’s catering, facilities and estates department. More
Other
False Economy – We would encourage you all to use this site to post your events and meetings.
Boycott Workfare – Many companies and charities have pulled out of the government’s workfare schemes when met with pickets and direct action that put these exploitative schemes in the spotlight. Week of action from 8th Dec. More
VICTIMISATION
Congratulations to the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Hillsborough Justice Campaign and Hope for Hillsborough campaigns won the ‘Long Walk’ award at Liberty’s Human Rights Award, “for their unwavering dedication to seeking justice for the 96 victims, their families and the survivors of the Hillsborough disaster”. Also shortlisted were the Blacklist Support Group.
Defend the Four – A HUGE congratulations to the Unison ‘four’ who have forced Unison to acknowledge that they broke the law in suspending four branch secretaries from the union, two of whom are NSSN steering committee members and have continued to fight with their members against cuts and mobilise and develop new members and reps. “The four have now set legal history in defending the rights of union members from being attacked by union bureaucracies seeking to silence it members.” Glen Kelly
INTERNATIONAL
Friday, 23 November, is known in the USA as “Black Friday,” the day following Thanksgiving and the traditional beginning of the Christmas shopping season.
It will also go down in history as a turning point in the effort to win rights at work for employees of Wal-Mart, the world’s largest employer, as strikes take place at Wal-Mart locations across the United States. More
South African Miners strike committee appeals. More
Jordan: Unions strike against fuel price hikes
Solidarity strike closes Bticino factory . More [email protected]
DIARY – More events on False Economy
24 Nov
YORKSHIRE & HUMBERSIDE NSSN Conference 10am-4pm. Leeds, Cosmopolitan Hotel, 2 Lower Briggate, LS1 4AE. Contact Kevin Pattison 07962867034.
STUC Anti-Racism March – Assemble 10.30am at Glasgow Green. March goes through Merchant City, past George Square and up to Rally at Glasgow Film Theatre. Join Alan/Karen with branch banner and leaflets (including flyers for MacLean Commemoration).
Construction Safety Campaign AGM 11am to 3.00pm Frenchgate centre, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN1 1LL
Reclaim the Night London, march (women only) and rally (all welcome) against rape and all forms of male violence against women http://www.reclaimthenight.org/
Save Lewisham Hospital 2pm Loampit Vale
Justice for Cleaners – Barbican Centre
25 Nov
Scotland Commemoration in Glasgow of Red Clydesider John Maclean. Assemble 1pm at Eastwood Cemetery for graveside oration, march MacLean’s Cairn at Shawbridge.
27 Nov
Manchester Community Branch @ Friends mtg House.
28 Nov
GMB, Unison, & Anticuts groups lobby Newcastle City Council against cuts. 4-6pm.
PCS forum to expand on the alternatives to the austerity agenda 7pm London Wednesday 28 November with Mark Serwotka PCS, Dexter Whitfield author, Nick Wrack TUSC contact [email protected]
29 Nov
Clydebank Trade Union Council Public Meeting. Free Tuition, Free Bus Passes, Free Prescriptions – Can We Afford Them? The Hub Community Centre, Kilbowie Road, Clydebank
London Hazards – AGM
30 Nov
PCS 15 minute protests
5 Dec
Autumn Budget Statement Protests:
5pm Birmingham High St, B4 7SL (More)
A day of action has also been called for students to organize local protests against attacks on education
8 Dec
LANAC meeting Leicester Adult Education College, Leicester LE1 6HL
11 Dec
NSSN lobby TUC to NAME THE DATE for a general strike.
************
Twitter NSSN_Anticuts
Facebook main group ‘National Shop Stewards Network’ & ‘Stop the cuts’
Website: www.shopstewards.net
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07952 283 558
Post: NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9D
***********************************
Our apologies. We no longer are able to directly subscribe or unsubscribe you to the email bulletin:
To subscribe, if you have had this forwarded, email; [email protected] with subscribe in the subject area
And ‘unsubscribe’ only in subject header to unsubscribe.
