The line-up for the July 10 strike is now complete. The FBU has today announced that fire-fighters defending their hard won pension rights will be walking out on the same day as up to 1½ million council and school workers, teachers, civil servants and others who are resisting the continuing public sector pay freeze. Workers from Unison, PCS, Unite, GMB, NUT, FBU and NIPSA will be on strike together. Transport for London workers as well as power control operators on London Underground will also be out on strike that day, meaning that RMT and TSSA can be added to the growing list.
At our 8th annual conference this Saturday July 5th, the NSSN will be giving full support and solidarity to these workers – in the build up to July 10th and on the picket lines and strike rallies on the day itself. But we will also be debating how to keep the strike going and avoiding what happened after the N30 2011 pensions strike. After 2 million workers took action together, the TUC and conservative union leaders signed up to the government’s deal. That step totally demobilised the mass movement and only emboldened this fat cat government. Unison has already named September 9th and 10th as the next two strike days. We welcome this and call on all unions in the public and private sector to meet together asap after July 10th to ensure that the momentum is maintained into the autumn and beyond.
As the tube strike in London has shown this year, when the unions take decisive action they can win huge public support and actually mobilise millions around them who are suffering from these brutal cuts. Another main theme of our conference will be the struggle for a living wage and against super-exploitation conditions such as zero-hour contracts. We take inspiration from the victorious Seattle $15Now campaign and one of the main campaigners Ginger Jentzen will be speaking on Saturday. Alongside her will be Ronnie Draper from the BFAWU bakers’ union and Helen Pattison from Youth Fight for Jobs as we discuss how the NSSN can continue to pay its part in Fast Food Rights and the struggle for a £10 per hour minimum wage…come and buy one of our new T-shirts!
Finally, this conference is open to everyone fighting back in the trade unions and anti-cuts movements. If you are in dispute, have been or might be in the near future, come along and tell us all about it. There will be hundreds there who are facing the same challenges as you are. Let’s get prepared for a hot summer, industrially at least…..and a hotter autumn!
Rob Williams NSSN national chair
NSSN News
Come to the 8th Annual NSSN Conference on Saturday July 5th – ‘What recovery? We want our share! Fight Together for a Pay Rise! – Break the pay freeze, fight for a real living wage, oppose zero-hour contracts, fight for PAYE’. Leaflet – http://www.scribd.com/doc/221151679/NSSN-2014-conference-leaflet
It will be on from 11am-5pm in Conway Hall – 25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London WC1R 4RL – delegate/visitor fee £6. Confirmed speakers include Ronnie Draper BFAWU bakers’ union General Secretary, POA General Secretary Steve Gillan, Janice Godrich PCS President and Peter Pinkney RMT President…plus Ginger Jentzen from the victorious Seattle $15Now campaign!!
Confirmed workshops include:-
Fast food rights/zero-hour contracts/living wage/$15Now
Fighting NHS cuts
Construction: fighting the umbrella scam and blacklisting
Political representation for workers after the Collins Review
Housing workers fighting back
Email us now if you want to come as well as if you want leaflets – [email protected].
If you want to put yourself forward for the NSSN steering committee, email us by 12noon on Thursday July 3rd
Get your trade union branch or trades council to affiliate to the NSSN – it only costs £50. Already affiliated? Please think about renewing it. Also, many of our supporters pay a few pounds a month. You can set up a similar standing order to ‘National Shop Stewards Network’, HSBC – sort code 40-06-41, account number 90143790. Our address is NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE. Affiliation letter here
And if you can, come to one of our regional Conferences. If there is not one in your area, get in touch to either assist in organising or have a speaker at one of your meetings or events. Contact Rob or Linda on [email protected]
Union News
FBU
Firefighters to join mass strike action on 10 July (July 2) – Firefighters in England and Wales will join hundreds of thousands of other public sector workers taking strike action on Thursday 10 July, the Fire Brigades Union has announced. The long-running dispute over firefighters’ pensions will see a further day of strikes at the same time as a walk out by local government workers, teachers and civil servants over a range of issues, including attacks on pay and pensions and workloads. The strike will last between 10am and 7pm and will be the fifteenth in the FBU’s campaign. The union is also expected to announce further action later this week read more
Unite
Argos warehouse staff to strike on Friday in ‘work/life’ balance dispute (July 2) – About 1,000 warehouse staff employed by Argos at five distribution centres will strike for 24 hours on Friday (4 July) in a dispute over terms and conditions which will mean increased weekend working, adversely impacting on family life. Unite represents the workers and predicts that the disruption to customer deliveries by the online shopping giant will be ‘substantial.’ The strike, starting at 06:00 on Friday, will hit the company’s internal distribution centres at Basildon, Bridgwater, Castleford and Magna Park (Lutterworth, Leicestershire). The strike at Heywood (Greater Manchester) starts at 06.30
Strike ballot opens as ‘arrogant’ First Glasgow continue to stall on pay deal (2 July) – Engineers at First Group Glasgow say the threat of industrial action affecting the city’s bus services during the Commonwealth Games is increasingly likely as management continue to stall over a long-running pay dispute read more
Local government workers to strike over ‘poverty pay’ on 10 July (30 June) – Local government employees, members of Unite voted overwhelmingly today (Monday 30 June) against the ‘insulting’ one per cent pay offer. Unite’s local government staff will now join up to two million council workers and teaching staff in taking strike action on Thursday 10 July against the government public sector austerity pay policies read more
Unite calls on Northampton General Hospital ‘to come clean’ on patient safety fears after lock-out (30 June) – Unite has today (Monday 30 June) called on Northampton General Hospital ‘to come clean’ on fears that it is ‘playing Russian roulette’ with patient safety, as its unprecedented ‘lock out’ of 78 biomedical scientists enters its fifth day read more Messages of support can be sent to the Shop Steward concerned [email protected]
Yorkshire ambulance staff vote to strike in patient safety dispute (27 June) – Yorkshire ambulance service workers, members of Unite have voted overwhelmingly for strike action on 5 and 6 July in the long-running dispute over patient and staff safety issues read more
RMT
Power control operators London Underground – strike action extended to July 15
Transport for London – further strike action called on July 10th read more
PCS
Video: Why we all need a pay rise (2 July) – Our members have recorded a video to say why they are striking for fair pay on 10 July. Our national executive has taken the decision to back joint action with other unions, following an overwhelming 73.7% yes vote of those who voted in a consultative ballot, which ended on Monday (30 June) asking members to back our ‘We all need a pay rise campaign,’ starting with a 1-day strike on 10 July see video
Lambeth College strike
Send messages of support and financial donations to Lambeth College blog http://lambethcollegestrike.wordpress.com/
Pet Shop Boy adds support to Lambeth College strikers (2 July) – Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant has added his support to the strikers at Lambeth College as they enter a fifth week of strike action read more on UCU website
GMB
GMB Demo Rotherham Produces Results (June 27) – GMB demonstration in Rotherham over issues with recruitment and fears over health & safety and pupil behaviour at abbey school has produced results. Members of GMB, the union for school support staff, participated in a fourth day of Strike Action today and Demonstrated at the Council Offices. Following the Demo GMB were invited to a meeting with Dorothy Smith, Director of Schools and Lifelong Learning read more
BECTU
Ritzy Brixton Cinema workers are on strike again this Sunday – for more info https://www.facebook.com/RitzyLivingWage
Benefit gig July 12th – 19:00 to 13 July at 04:00 in UTC+01
BECTU cinema workers rally Thursday 17th July 1pm BFI South Bank to 4pm GLA Tower Bridge – Front of house staff across Odeon, Cineworld, Curzon and Everyman are joining the Ritzy cinema workers on a Cinema Workers Rally through the West End ending with speeches outside the GLA. Cinema staff and their supporters across the entertainment industry are marching in support of the Living Wage for cinema workers nationally and calling for a boycott of Picturehouse cinemas. Ritzy staff are currently taking strike action in their bid to secure the London Living Wage from the hugely profitable multi-national Cineworld. Curzon staff are currently in negotiation for the same. Both campaigns have taken on a growing significance both nationally and in the capital as austerity continues to impact harshly on low-paid workers
Unison
General secretary’s call to action for 10 July strike (June 30) – Dave Prentis has delivered a strong call to action to UNISON activists to make sure next week’s local government and school support staff strike is successful. Local government and school workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland voted for strike action after rejecting the employers’ pay offer of just 1%. The first strike day will take place on Thursday 10 July read more
NIPSA
Strike action – 10th July – NIPSA, the leading public service trade union announces that members employed on National Joint Council (NJC) pay will join other NJC Trade Unions on strike on 10 July 2014 read more
Other News
Stand Up Against Austerity Comedy Fundraiser | 7 July Monday 7 July, 7pm – Hammersmith Apollo – with Jo Brand, Jason Manford, Stewart Lee, Shappi Khorsandi, Francesca Martinez, Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Hardy, Mark Steel, Jen Brister, Kate Smuthwaite get tickets
Blacklisting & Victimisation
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70
Blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/
International (also see Labourstart)
Swaziland: sugar strikes spread as South African sugar giant Illovo refuses to settle read more
Philippines: Tell seafood giant Citra Mina to respect the human rights of their workers! read more
Diary (see & use false economy)
July
4 London Hazards —– Mesothelioma Day July 4th
Thousands die in the UK every year from exposure to asbestos, mainly construction workers but increasingly in schools now teachers and pupils. We want to establish a London Asbestos Support Group to help victims and families. Please come and support this event. Refreshments will be supplied, specialist speakers from the schools asbestos campaigns and Guys Hospital specialists are just some of the campaigners who will contribute to the discussion on how to make this happen
5 8th Annual NSSN Conference – Conway Hall – 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
12 Durham Miners Gala 2014 visit Durham Miners’ Association official website here
18-20 Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival – Tolpuddle, near Dorchester, Dorset visit Tolpuddle Martyrs museum here
August
2 Does working-class education have a future?
A day conference for all trades unionists including Union Learn reps, trade union branch officers, TUC/ Trade Union Studies tutors, WEA/adult education lecturers, and mature students, organised by Trade Union Solidarity magazine and Bridgwater Trades Union Council
11am to 4pm, Saturday 2nd August GWRSA/Railway Club, Wellington Rd, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 5HA
Speakers:
Marie Hughes South West TUC Regional Education Officer
Trish Lavelle CWU National Education Officer
Becca Kirkpatrick Co-editor Trade Union Solidarity
Shan Maidment TU studies tutor, City of Bristol College
Carole Vallelly GMB Southern Region/TUC tutor
Nigel Costley, Secretary, South West TUC
Dave Chapple, Bridgwater TUC
Ian Manborde, Ruskin College
Richard Ross London Metropolitan University
Cost is £5 per person which includes buffet lunch. Places are limited: please register in advance if possible, make cheques out to “Bridgwater Trades Union Council” and send to Dave Chapple, Conference Organiser, 1 Blake Place, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 5AU. Further details phone 07707 869 144 or e-mail [email protected]
September
6 Featherstone Massacre Commemoration. We will be meeting at the Bradley Arms, North Featherstone at 2pm. There will then be a graveside commemoration followed by a guided walk led by local socialist historian John Gill.
If you would like to get involved (or if you would like to speak at the commemoration) please get in touch.
We are also looking to organise an event about the First World War later in the year…this is likely to be on a Saturday afternoon in November. Again if you are interested in speaking -or can recommend a speaker- please get in touch.
Fraternally
Alan Stewart
Convenor, Wakefield Socialist History Group
07931927451
October
18 TUC demonstration in London – ‘Britain Needs a Pay Rise’. It will begin with a march through central London, culminating in a rally in Hyde Park read more here
CONTACT US
PHONE 07952 283 558
EMAIL mailto:[email protected]
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/NSSN_AntiCuts
FACEBOOK NSSN GROUP or STOP The CUTS Likes page
ADDRESS NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE
