The NSSN calls on all our supporters and affiliates to support the Southern Rail workers on strike again this week Tuesday-Thursday. Please send messages of support and donations to the RMT – [email protected] RMT Unity House 39 Chalton Street London NW1 1JD
Southern strike “absolutely solid” again this morning despite company lies and dirty tricks (18 October)
RAIL UNION RMT said today that strike action by guards on Southern Rail in the dispute over safety and access remains absolutely solid this morning despite a vicious campaign of company lies and dirty tricks. Mick Cash, RMT General Secretary, said: “Despite a vicious campaign of company lies and dirty tricks, including the spreading of bogus numbers about staff working and an attempt to bribe our members with a £2000 bounty to sell-out on passenger safety, the strike action this morning remains absolutely solid. “Passengers know that Southern Rail under GTR is an unmitigated disaster, a fact confirmed by the all-party Transport Select Committee last week. They also know that the guards are fighting to put safety before private profit. That is the issue at the core of this dispute. “The solution to this dispute can be achieved easily through a cast-iron guarantee of a second, safety-critical member of staff on all current services with a guard. If that safety guarantee is good enough for Scotland it is good enough for the South of England.” Read more from RMT website
Tuesday 1st November 12.30pm – protest demonstration and rally at Houses of Parliament on 1st November to support Southern conductors and oppose DOO read more
Conference: Turkey after the failed coup and the battle for democracy (organised by Solidarity with People of Turkey SPOT)
10am-5pm NUT Headquarters, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD read more
Turkey is fast forwarding towards a dictatorship, and it is no exaggeration to say that the country’s fragile democracy faces further destruction if a strong movement in defence of democracy and human rights is not urgently built.
SPOT (which the NSSN is affiliated to) is committed to supporting a strong democratic movement in Turkey and in partnership with the NUT, invites you to join journalists, trade unionists, minority activists and human rights campaigners from both Turkey and the UK at its official launch and conference on 29 October 2016.
The conference will provide a timely opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the situation in Turkey and make links between progressive individuals and movements in both countries. Confirmed speakers include – Christine Blower, President, ETUCE, Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary, PCS and Kate Osamor, Labour MP for Edmonton
Turkey: Press freedom is essential for democracy, set journalism free! Read more
NSSN news
This is a video of the NSSN TUC Congress Rally – Tories Out! Keep Corbyn!
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 is below
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]
Union News
Unison
Durham teaching assistants hold rally as strike ballot enters final week (Oct 13) – Durham teaching assistants – who have just one week left to vote for strike action in the long-running dispute over cuts to their pay – are to hold a major rally today (Thursday) read more
To contribute to the Durham TAs’ fund, please visit: here
Durham TAs Facebook page read more
Donate to Derby hardship fund here
Derby Unison branch Facebook page read more
Sign petition to support the Kinsley School cleaners in Wakefield on indefinite strike since September 6th sign here Facebook Group Donate to strike fund – send to Wakefield Unison, 18 Gills Yard, Wakefield WF1 3BZ
PCS
Equality staff vote overwhelmingly to strike (14 Oct) – Our members at the government’s equality watchdog have voted overwhelmingly to strike over cuts that we believe would make it impossible for the agency to function. Staff at the Equality and Human Rights Commission have been told to expect a 25% budget cut and threatened with compulsory redundancies, on the back of a 70% cut since 2010. In a ballot, 82% voted for strikes and 90% for other forms of industrial action, on a 64.7% turnout. No strike dates have yet been set read more Unite members at equality watchdog overwhelmingly back industrial action
Black History Month: PCS celebrates our past, present and future read more
Sign the petition to end privatisation at the Imperial War Museums sign here
Unite
Honeywell staff hold consultative ballot over ‘pathetic’ pension changes (18 Oct) – UK employees of Honeywell are being balloted for industrial action over the closure of their final salary pension scheme and the ‘woefully inadequate’ alternative pension arrangements offered by the US-owned company. Unite started balloting its 1,100 members across the UK today (Tuesday 18 October) in a consultative ballot for industrial action. The ballot closes on Monday 31 October read more
Strike by award winning CityJet cabin crew set to take off (14 Oct) – Business flyers using London’s City airport face severe disruption when award winning cabin crew working for CityJet strike for five days, starting on Thursday 20 October, in a dispute over proposed pay cuts of up to 50 per cent. The 36-strong cabin crew, members of Unite voted by 84 per cent for strike action on an array of issues including roster agreements, pay and allowances. The five days of discontinuous strike action are due to start at 05:00 on 20 October, concluding at 23:59 hours on 21 October. Strike action will start again at 05:00 on 24 October, ending at 22:00 hours on 26 October read more
Unite calls on London bus operator to enter talks to avoid 48-hour strike (13 Oct) – A 48-hour strike involving London bus workers at the bus operator Tower Transit will go ahead on Wednesday 19 October unless the firm re-enters meaningful talks, Britain’s largest union, Unite warned today (Thursday 13 October). Plans for next week’s stoppage come after talks broke down following Tower Transit’s refusal to revisit imposed roster changes which are leaving drivers out of pocket. It will be the third stoppage in a dispute involving over 1,000 drivers, engineers and controllers at three depots across the capital read more
Join the Thunderclap! No Salary Slashing #Sanctuary – Sanctuary Housing Group, are planning to cut salaries of workers by up to ⅓ despite hundreds of workers challenging the cuts in the consultation process. The change is about to be imposed from the 1st of November 2016, with limited pay protection of 6 months read more
GMB
Veolia ships strike breakers to Sheffield (Oct 14) – Veolia Ships Strike Breakers From London To Sheffield Rather Than Resolving Pay Dispute With Union On City Bin Contract. Sheffield City Council cannot allow their loyal workers to be replaced by inter-city scabs on overtime and Veolia should be kicked off the contract forthwith says GMB read more
NUT
London NUT demonstration ‘Invest don’t cut!’ – assemble 5pm Thursday November 17 in Whitehall opposite Downing Street for march to Department of Education and rally at 6.30pm in Emmanuel Centre in Marsham Street
Support Simon O’Hara — victimised teacher at Small Heath School in Birmingham
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 read more Facebook group
UCU
Tomorrow’s strike action at Hull College deferred following positive talks (Oct 12) – Tomorrow’s strike at Hull College has been deferred following positive talks between the college and UCU. UCU members were set to walk out in a row over redundancies affecting up to 142 staff, but have postponed the action by a week until Thursday 20 October. The union said talks were ongoing and it remained optimistic that the dispute could be resolved without the need for industrial action read more
Support the reinstatement of London Met union reps: Mark Campbell and David Hardman https://uculondonmet.wordpress.com/
TSSA
TSSA in dispute with London Underground (14 Oct) – TSSA is in official dispute with London Underground employers as of 00.01 this morning over serious concerns about the decline in workplace safety for staff working on the tube read more
UCATT
UCATT says the latest self-employment figures are a sham (18 Oct) – Latest figures released by the Resolution Foundation think-tank show the scale of the tax dodge perpetrated by thousands of British firms. These figures which show self-employment has risen in the UK by more than a million in the last thirteen years give a false picture, as a significant proportion of those workers will not be genuinely self-employed. UCATT estimates that over 50% of construction workers suffer false self-employment read more
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
BECTU
Brixton and Hackney Picturehouse cinema workers went on strike together on October 15th Brixton Facebook Page Hackney Facebook Page
NUJ
Newsquest south London strike to be extended by five days (17 October) – Newsquest journalists in south London have voted for a further five days of strike action over a newsroom restructure that will result in 12 reporters covering news, sport and leisure across 11 newspapers and eight websites under a single content editor. Seven reporters have resigned over the plans. The decision was made at a chapel meeting on the picket line on the third day of industrial action at Newsquest south’s headquarters in Sutton. Newsquest has failed to answer the concerns of its staff, saying it has ended its consultation without meeting reporters and sub-editors whose roles are due to change radically. The present strike action will end on Wednesday and then recommence on Monday 24 October 2016 at 00:01hrs until 23:59hrs on Friday 28 October 2016 read more To send messages of support and donations to the hardship fund, email Bernard Roche at [email protected] noting the amount and send the money to Account number 20143387 Sort code 608301 NUJ Newsquest staff put in for £1,500 pay package
BMA Junior Doctors
Please sign this petition to support the junior doctors
BURSARY OR BUST: Continuing the fight to save NHS bursaries https://www.facebook.com/NHSbursarycutsforum/
IWGB
Deliveroo Campaign Public Meeting – 8 November 7pm London (venue TBC) Facebook event
United Voices of the World
Cleaners at the London School of Economics (LSE), backed by their union United Voices of the World (UVW) and LSE staff, students and other supporters protested on 14th October to demand the reinstatement of Alba, one of the longest serving members of the cleaning team at the LSE, who was unfairly, unnecessarily and unlawfully sacked by the LSE’s new cleaning contractor Noonan
John Lewis Protest: bring the Cleaners into the partnership! – SAVE THE DATE: 5 NOVEMBER 2-5pm (John Lewis, Oxford Street) https://www.facebook.com/events/1765354393752143/
Read more on United Voices of the World Facebook Group and Website
Other News
Axe the Housing Act – Build the Housing Summit
Saturday 22 October 2016 11.30am @ NUT HQ, Hamilton House
Workshops, Discussions and planning of future actions to resist the vicious, destructive Housing and Planning act!
The Act attacks existing tenants and will push more into private renting without rights or rent controls. It will not come into full force until after April 2017 and this allows us a little time to build on nation wide consensus against it. A big and growing grassroots movement is determined to resist and defeat it. Trade unions and councils have a key part to play to stop this Act
#AxeTheHousingAct https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/axethehousingact
#WeAreNotMoving https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/wearenotmoving
#RentControl https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/rentcontrol
NPC Lobby of Parliament will take place on Wednesday 2 November 2016, with a demonstration in Old Palace Yard at 12 noon and a rally in Committee Room 14 from 1-3pm, hosted by Kelvin Hopkins MP
BOOK NOW for a conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Lucas Plan! – Leading figures from the left, trade union, environmental and peace movements are coming together at a conference on November 26th with a fresh perspective on tackling current crises, using the ideas of socially useful production pioneered in the Lucas Plan. The Plan, produced by workers at the Lucas Aerospace arms company, showed how jobs could be saved by converting to make products that answer a social need, rather than weapons. To book for the conference, visit www.lucasplan.org.uk/tickets. See www.lucasplan.org.uk
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)
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
Remember Colombian trade unionist Heber Marin’s fight for justice
Monday, 31 October 5 pm – 7pm Diskus Suite, Unite House in Holborn
Heber Marin was an elected officer of the TGWU Catering Workers’ Branch, predecessor of both the Unite Hotel Workers’ Branch and the Unite Restaurant Workers Branch. He was murdered by a paramilitary death squad in his home country of Colombia on 10 October 1986.
This meeting on the 30th anniversary of his death will celebrate his work organising migrant workers in London and fighting for human rights in Colombia. It will discuss the situation facing migrant workers in London today and why Justice for Colombia has become the key international solidarity issue for Unite’s London and Eastern Region
Diary (see & use false economy)
2016
October
29 “Solidarity with the People of Turkey” (SPOT) in partnership with the NUT, will be hosting a conference which provides an opportunity to bring journalists, trade unionists, minority activists and human rights campaigners together from both Turkey and the UK
November
5 National libraries, museums and galleries demonstration https://www.facebook.com/events/282708008768589/
19 NUS/UCU United for Education national demonstration in London read more
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
