NSSN 299: This Saturday July 2! NSSN Conference 2016 – get ALL the Tories OUT!

NSSN 299: This Saturday July 2! NSSN Conference 2016 – get ALL the Tories OUT!

The 10^th annual NSSN Conference takes place this Saturday July 2^nd in Conway Hall in London in the aftermath of the EU Referendum that has precipitated a political crisis for the Tories. Cameron, the architect of the biggest austerity offensive unleashed on working-class people for 90 years is history and his party is split down the middle. Now we need to get rid of the rest of the Tories!

Yet incredibly, this has been the signal for Blairite Labour MPs to try and stage a coup against Jeremy Corbyn. They think that the defeat of the Remain campaign opens the door to remove Jeremy and the anti-austerity, pro-worker agenda he was elected on. The NSSN gives our full support to him and we attended the 10,000-strong protest on Monday outside Parliament. We also offer him and John McDonnell the chance to speak at our conference as a platform to take on the Labour right and the Tories.

On June 27 protest to defend Jeremy Corbyn outside Parliament

Our conference will be a chance to discuss the major issues and report on the strikes and struggles that are taking place every day. We will have militant union leaders but also activists that are in dispute, such as Jane Nellist from the NUT NEC three days before the national teachers’ strike, Kumaran Bose sacked BFAWU member and Geraint Parfitt from the PCS National Museum of Wales strike as well as a United Voices of the World member on indefinite strike in the City of London. This is a strike that shows how the unions can be to the fore in counteracting any racism that has been stoked by both sides of the official big business referendum campaigns.

The Tories are on the run but we need mass action to take them down. Come to the NSSN Conference to help organise that campaign.

‘Organise to take on the Tories! Link up the strikes!’ – This year’s annual NSSN conference – our 10th – will be on Saturday July 2nd in Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL – 11am-4.30pm details here Facebook event

Confirmed speakers: Steve Gillan POA General Secretary, Matt Wrack FBU General Secretary, Ronnie Draper BFAWU General Secretary, Janice Godrich PCS President, Chris Baugh PCS Assistant General Secretary, Sean Hoyle RMT President, Yannis Gourtsoyannis BMA junior doctors committee national executive and striking worker from France Yann Venier – Secretary of the CGT trade union coordinating committee in Nancy

There will also be workshops during the day: NHS, housing, education, organising migrant workers, young workers
If you want to come on the NSSN steering committee – you can put your name forward at registration on Saturday
To register in advance – email [email protected]. Conference fee is £6 each – you can pay on the day or if you want to pay in advance: make cheque out to ‘National Shop Stewards Network’ and post to NSSN, PO Box 54498, London E10 9DE

The conference starts at 11am (registration from 10am) in Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1R 4RL Map. Nearest tube stations are Holborn and Chancery Lane on the Central line and Russell Square on the Piccadilly and it’s a 20 minute walk from Euston and Kings Cross/St Pancras stations. This is a list of tube lines which are closed for engineering work on Saturday

NUT

National teachers strike on July 5^th – 91.7% of NUT members vote for action: members in England have voted to support ‘discontinuous strike action’ against cuts in funding and for genuine negotiations around our workload, pay and other conditions read more UCU are taking rolling strike action meaning that some HE colleges will also be on strike on July 5

Marches and Rallies for Education on 5 July (keep up to date with NUT website:

London:

11 am – assemble in Portland Place, London W1A 1AA (outside the BBC)

12 noon – march to Westminster through central London

1:30pm – rally in Parliament Square

Birmingham:

Assemble: 11.30am in Victoria Square, Birmingham B1 1BB

Rally: 12.00 noon

March: 1.30pm

Leicester and Leicestershire:

Assemble: 10.30 at New Walk, Granville Road LE1 7RU

March: 11.00am

Rally: 12.00 noon in Jubilee Square, Leicester

Durham:

Assemble: 11am Millennium Place, Durham

March: 11.30am to Market Place

Rally: 11.45-1230 in Market Place

Sheffield: March/Rally planned in city centre.

Lincolnshire: Room booked at Stoke Rochford 12-2pm.

Nottingham City: March & rally from The Forest to the Brian Clough Memorial.

Wakefield: Plan to attend Leeds event. Will meet at 10.30 in City Square after morning pickets at schools.

Calderdale: Will be attending Leeds rally. Will be meeting Wetherspoons (Barum Top), Halifax, HX1 1NX for a solidarity breakfast following pickets then getting the train to Leeds together.

Chelmsford:

Assemble: 12.00 noon at top of high street opposite Shire Hall

Rally: Chelmsford City Council offices in Duke Street

Cambridgeshire:

Joint action with the UCU at Anglia Ruskin University who are also on strike on July 5th.

Assemble: 11am Donkey Common in Cambridge

March: Around the centre of town back to the common

Support Simon O’Hara — victimised teacher at Small Heath School in Birmingham

NSSN news

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 attached and here

Download the ‘Join the NSSN’ leaflet 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]

More Union News

BFAWU

Reinstate Kumaran Bose – sacked by Samworths! The NSSN is supporting the BFAWU’s campaign in support of Kumaran Bose who was dismissed for speaking out and for organising a union in his workplace. His appeal is Thursday June 30. Plesae protest outside Samworths customers such as Tescos read more Facebook group Sign petition 1 here and sign petition 2 here

RMT

RMT to lobby Scottish Parliament on Thursday in Scotrail fight (27 June) – RAIL UNION RMT, currently locked into a programme of industrial on Scotrail over the safety-critical role of the guard, will be taking their fight direct to the Scottish Parliament this Thursday – 30th June. Union members and their supporters will outside the Parliament buildings at Holyrood from 11.15 am on Thursday, demanding that the Government take the issues at the heart of the dispute seriously and apply serious pressure to Abellio/Scotrail to reach a settlement that recognises the unions overwhelming safety-case read more

Unison

Support school support staff against pay cuts – Join teaching assistants Facebook Group here Durham school support staff mobilise against slashing of pay

PCS

Welsh museum strikers vote to accept improved offer (24 June) – The offer ends the two-year dispute over the withdrawal of weekend allowances. PCS union members in Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum Wales have voted overwhelmingly to accept an improved offer from their management, compensating them for the withdrawal of weekend pay allowances read more

BIS industrial action to continue throughout the summer – Action short of a strike will start on Monday 20 June with the possibility of more complete walk-outs read more

Sign the online petition against the closure of the Sheffield office
Write to your MP
Tweet your messages of support @pcsbis using the hashtag #KeepSheffieldOpen.
Donate to the strike fund: cheques made payable to the PCS BIS hardship fund can be sent to the BIS group treasurer at 9 Medina Way, Upper Stratton, Swindon, SN2 7NW or money can be transferred to Unity Trust bank account 20240992 sort code 60-83-01

Unite

Weymouth bus strikes set to enter third week in ‘poverty pay’ dispute (28 June) – A third week of strikes by Weymouth bus drivers is set for next week, as the bosses remain ‘stuck in a groove’ and are not moving in the ‘poor relations’ pay dispute. Unite, the country’s largest union, today (Tuesday 28 June) announced four more days of strike action next week for the drivers, based at Weymouth and Bridport read more

Faulty meters on cards as E.ON workers stage second four-day strike in ‘work/life’ balance row (28 June) – Faulty gas and electricity meters for households and businesses won’t be replaced as meter fixers working for energy giant E.ON stage a second four-day strike in the ‘work/life’ balance dispute. Unite, the country’s largest union, blamed continuing intransigence by the management for sparking the second four-day strike starting at 06.00 Friday 1 July, ending at 23.59 on Monday 4 July. This follows on from a four-day strike earlier this month read more

Robert Czegely reinstated! Joint statement from Unite and Meliá Hotels International (27 June) – Following discussions between Meliá Hotels International and Unite, it has been agreed that waiter, Robert Czegely will be reinstated to his position at ME London hotel and all legal proceedings against the hotel group have been withdrawn read more

Southampton airport workers hold strike action ballot on adverse pension changes (27 June) – Summer holiday flights from Southampton airport would be disrupted, if firefighters take strike action over adverse pensions’ changes proposed by the airports’ owner, AGS. The firefighters, members of Unite, the country’s largest union, are likely to be joined by firefighters from Prospect in balloting for industrial action. Without the firefighters being on duty, the airport, which deals with nearly 1.8 million passengers a year, would have to close down. Unite’s ballot, for strike action and industrial action short of a strike, will close on Wednesday 13 July read more

Unite at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) were on strike on Thursday 19th May and are still in dispute. Pay Up HCA! – We are therefore urgently appealing for donations to our strike fund to assist those on strike and minimise hardship. You can contribute as follows:

By cheque made out to “Unite Housing Workers Branch LE111”, sent to PO Box 66701, London E11 9FB.
By BACS to account name Unite Housing Workers LE/1111 Branch, account number 20040626, Sort Code 60¬83¬01 read more

Bromley demo against council cuts July 23 – supported by Unite Local Government National Industrial sector Committee: Assemble Norman Park, Hayes Lane, Bromley BR2 9EF at 11am

BMA Junior Doctors dispute – after initially ruling out talks over the Saturday part of the new contract, the Government backtracked opening up the way for new talks with the BMA. Members are now considering a new offer read more

BMA website: coverage of most last strike

For info on picket lines, strike rallies, protests etc follow #JuniorDoctorsStrike #NotSafeNotFair #JuniorDoctors on twitter. BMA launches judicial review http://oneprofession.bma.org.uk/

UCU

Stop the sackings of union reps at London Met – #savelondonmet #saveourreps Yesterday (April 30) our branch chair Mark Campbell and secretary David Hardman were made redundant in what is an outrageous attack on their strenuous and tireless trade union activities defending jobs and education at London Met read more Sign petition Since launching this petition, the situation at London Met has now deteriorated further. University management have commenced a further round of compulsory redundancies that threaten the jobs of almost 400 academic and administrative staff – some one-third of all substantive university staff. They have also stated their intention to further increase the use of zero-hour contracts and reduce research to that which explicitly ‘generates a profit’. Please see details here

Next wave of strikes announced in UCU’s pay row with universities – Next wave of industrial action kicks off with first strike at Winchester University open day. Eight strikes in eight days from Scotland to the south to hit open days and other university events, with more to follow in coming weeks read more Keep up to date with rolling strikes here

CWU

Reinstate Clive Walder

Clive Walder, a longstanding leading rep in the CWU was sacked last November after 38 years of service with British Telecom. Clive is chair of the CWU Birmingham, Black Country & Worcester branch. Last week, his Employment Tribunal was dismissed on a technicality after a claim by BT, denying Clive the right of a fair hearing. This is outrageous.

Clive worked in a BT call centre and was dismissed after an aggressive customer reported him to management just 33 seconds into a phone call. The decision was made without taking stress into account despite the local CWU branch reporting that 7% of staff at the call centre leave their jobs each month, some walking out mid shift. Management took the decision without consulting any medical advice or taking into account any mitigation.

Clive is a NSSN steering committee member and we will be supporting the campaign protesting the sacking and campaigning for his reinstatement.

Contact Clive to send messages of support and invite him to your union branch, shop stewards committee, trades council etc – [email protected] 07771931185

Nationalise Tata – support the Steelworkers

For latest developments, follow Facebook group

BURSARY OR BUST: Continuing the fight to save NHS bursaries https://www.facebook.com/NHSbursarycutsforum/

BECTU

London Rio cinema dispute – Follow on Facebook and twitter

United Voices of the World

Cleaners indefinite strike from June 8 – Please come and support our strike from June 8 in support of the cleaners at 100 Wood Street who are paid poverty wages and are being unlawfully dismissed by the anti-union cleaning contractor Thames Cleaning and Support Services Limited (“Thames”).

Migrant cleaner to begin hunger strike on 4 July for London Living Wage – Juan Cantos – a Latin American cleaner in the City of London – is preparing to begin a hunger strike on 4th July in protest at unlawful sackings and his employer’s refusal pay the London Living Wage. Juan is one of a group striking Latin American cleaners at 100 Wood Street, an office building which is owned by Europe’s richest man Amancio Ortega (1), is home to financial giants such as JP Morgan and Schroders and is managed by CBRE, a Fortune 500 commercial real estate company. The hunger strike will coincide with the start of the fourth week of the first all-out strike in the history of the City of London. It is also the first time in the United Kingdom that a workforce composed entirely of Latin Americans has gone on all out strike

Protest 5pm Wednesday June 29 at 100 Wood Street https://www.facebook.com/events/511203239071394/ Report from June 21 protest here

All the cleaners are asking for are their rights to be respected and to be paid a wage they can live on Please consider donating to our strike fund. Bank details can be found at http://www.uvwunion.org.uk/volunteer/ read more on United Voices of the World Facebook Group Strike Facebook event

IWW

Support Antonio! Reinstate Cleaner Sacked for Union Organising (29 June) – Over Christmas, Antonio, a cleaner employed by cleaning contractor ISS at the premises of huge international institution of finance capitalism Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was sacked a few months after managers saw Antonio distributing IWW union joining forms, they hauled him into a disciplinary meeting without his union rep. Four days later (on Christmas Eve!) they sent Antonio a letter confirming he’d been sacked – they gave him seven days (until New Years Eve!) to appeal. Protest: Thursday, 30 June, at 16:00–18:00, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 2 King Edward Street London, EC1A 1HQ read more

Other News

Trade Union Co-ordinating Group (TUCG) annual Tolpuddle seminar in Parliament – Tuesday 12th July at 6.30pm in the Wilson Room, Portcullis House (more information to follow) www.tucg.org.uk This year’s theme is ‘Keeping the Right to Strike’ and it will include contributions from legal experts, politicians and trade union leaders. There is also a Q and A at the end of the session

Emergency demo: no more austerity – no to racism – Tories must go Saturday 16 July 2016 Assemble 12pm, BBC HQ, Portland Place, London W1A 1AA http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/emergency_demo_16july

London Hazards 2016 Mesothelioma Day – 10am-4pm July 1 TUC Congress House read more

Blacklisting & Victimisation

Buy the book ‘Blacklisted: The Secret War between Big Business and Union Activists’ Author: Dave Smith and Phil Chamberlain. Blacklisted tells the controversial story of the illegal strategies that transnational construction companies used to keep union activists away from work. See the official trailer from ReelNews

Blacklist Support Group financial appeal: the Blacklist support group is desperately short of funds, to continue the incredible work we need more finance, would you please consider making a donation, raise it at your branches and trade councils. Please make cheques payable to Joint sites committee and send to 70 Darnay Rise Chelmsford Essex CM1 4XA. Please forward onto your contacts many thanks Steve Kelly (JSC Treasurer)

Blacklist Support Group – update June 17

Book http://newint.org/books/politics/blacklisted-secret-war/

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCa8yQmZ70

Blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/blacklistSG/

Donate to ReelNews – http://reelnews.co.uk/donationssubscriptions/

International

Korea: Don’t let Han’s death be in vain read more

Diary (see & use false economy)

2016

July

2 10th annual NSSN Conference in Conway Hall, London https://www.facebook.com/events/1361018323924300/