NSSN 385: May 12 TUC Demo & new McDonalds strike ballot

Come to the ‘A new deal for working people’ TUC march and rally in London on Saturday May 12^th. It is an opportunity to mobilise hundreds of thousands of trade unionists, their families, friends and service users who are angry at the attacks of the employers and their Tory Government.

Some unions such as PCS are urging their members to attend it and use it as a platform to fight against the Tories’ public sector pay rise. Others will be voicing their opposition to Government cuts in the NHS, local government and the rest of the public sector. Railworkers will be marching against the imposition of Driver Only Operation that threatens the role of the guard on trains.

The past year has seen a wave of strikes, industrial action ballots and protests from different groups of workers. In the last month, we’ve seen UCU members in universities push back the employers’ attack on their pensions. Teachers across the country have been taking action against academies and now low-paid McDonalds workers are balloting to strike for the second time.

But how much more could be achieved if the workers in these disputes and more took action together? This march can help to bring workers together to first march together on May 12^th but then to build the confidence so that we can strike together.

TUC demonstration ‘A new deal for working people’: Saturday May 12^th – assemble 11am at Victoria Embankment between Hungerford Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. For details, including transport to the demonstration – https://www.tuc.org.uk/events/new-deal-working-people-tuc-march-rally

BFAWU

McStrike: Ballot for Strike Action at Six McDonald’s Stores Across the UK (6 April) – Ballot for strike action at six stores: Manchester, Cambridge, Crayford, Watford x2 , and central London. McDonald’s workers balloted in Global CEO Steve Easterbrook’s home town of Watford

The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) has notified McDonald’s that it is balloting workers at six stores with a view to authorising a strike later this year. Tristan Bentley, a McDonald’s worker in Crayford said “Workers across the country came together to decide to ballot for industrial action. We want a better deal. We are the McStrikers, and we will not be silent, we will not be scared. We will do whatever it takes to win a better life for all McDonald’s workers.”

Ian Hodson, President BFAWU said: “The BFAWU is balloting its members at six McDonald’s stores. Representatives from six stores attended a meeting and took a decision that they wished to be balloted on industrial action on issues of pay, unequal pay for young workers, and for a choice of fixed hours. The union is committed to supporting its members and campaigning for £10 an hour, an end to zero hour contracts, and to give McDonald’s workers a voice.”

The stores balloted are Cambridge and Crayford, where workers took strike action last September; Manchester; central London; and two stores in Watford, which is the home town of McDonald’s Global CEO Steve Easterbrook. The ballot will close on April 16 and the BFAWU will release the results of the ballot once the company has been informed of the result read more

McStrike! Fundraiser Party – from 9pm Friday April 20^th at Styx, 5 Ashley Road, N17 9LJ London Facebook event

Keep sending solidarity to the BFAWU, donate to the strike fund and also help the fund by buying a #McStrike t-shirt. More info on the Fast Food Rights/Hungry for Justice website

NSSN news

NSSN Conference moved to July 7th – support the June 30^th NHS 70^th anniversary events

The NSSN steering committee has decided to put our annual conference back a week to avoid a clash of dates with a national day of action to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the NHS on June 30^th. We will do all we can to build these protests against continuing Tory health cuts.

The 2018 National Shop Stewards Network Annual Conference will be from 11am-4.30pm on Saturday July 7th in Conway Hall – 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL. The attendance fee is £6 and it is open to all trade union and anti-cuts campaigners. Affiliation letter and conference appeal letter is here

We also want to give advanced notice that once again we will be organising a rally at TUC Congress. This year it will be in Manchester on Sunday September 9^th.

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

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]

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Follow us on twitter via @NSSN_AntiCuts and Facebook

Union News

RMT

National RMT protest against Driver Only Operation on Wednesday 25^th April – rail union RMT have confirmed that it will be holding a national protest outside Parliament on Weds 25th April at 11.30 at Old Palace Yard, London, SW1P 3JY (Opposite the Palace of Westminster and in front of the George V statue) read more

ACAS Joint Statement on behalf of Merseyrail and RMT (6 Apr) – Following twelve hours of constructive talks held under the auspices of the conciliation service, ACAS, Merseyrail have acknowledged RMT’s clear position that the only way that this industrial dispute will be resolved is by having a second safety critical person on every train read more

National dispute fund (DOO disputes) – If you would like to donate to the RMT National Dispute Fund which makes payments to support their striking members taking part in National DOO disputes then you can donate via PayPal using the donate button below or make a cheque payable to RMT National Dispute Fund and send it to the address below. Alternatively, you can ring their Freephone helpline on 0800 376 3706 who will be happy to process a credit card payment for you, or, if you would like to pay via internet banking, please email [email protected] for further details. Vicky Thompson, Finance Manager RMT, 39 Chalton Street, London NW1 1JD. Tel: 020-7529-8843

RMT confirms it has served notice on KAD for next phase of Docklands strike action (5 Apr) – DLR union RMT confirmed today that it has served notice on Keolis Amey Docklands for the next phase of strike action in a dispute over outsourcing, abuse of procedures and workplace justice. All KAD members have been instructed not to book on for any shifts that commence between 04:00 hours on Friday 20th April 2018 and 03:59 hours on Tuesday 24th April 2018 read more

Unite

Support the indefinite Bromley library strike – Staff at all 14 of Bromley’s libraries in Unite started an indefinite strike on Wednesday 28 March over a ‘paltry and insulting’ pay offer. The strike by the 36 workers comes after the breakdown of pay talks between Unite and Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL), which runs the library service on behalf of Bromley council. The strike is the latest to hit the controversial Tory-controlled council which has made outsourcing the lynchpin of its polices.

Please email messages of support to Bromley Unite branch secretary Kathy Smith [email protected]

Make donations out to ‘Bromley Unite’ and post to: Onay Kasab, Unite the Union, 33-37 Moreland St, Clerkenwell, London EC1V 8BB

Crewe car workers massively back action in consultative ballot over ‘Bentley pension snatchers’ (10 Apr) – Bentley Motor workers at the luxury car maker’s Crewe headquarters have massively backed industrial action in a consultative ballot over plans to close the defined benefit pension scheme, Unite announced today (Tuesday 10 April). Unite members, including car production workers, senior staff and managers, backed strike action by 98 per cent on a 92 per cent turnout in the consultative ballot over plans which could see workers losing tens of thousands of pounds a year in retirement income. Warning of mounting anger over the plans which have led to workers accusing Bentley of being ‘pension snatchers’, Unite said it would now make arrangements to hold a full statutory industrial action ballot which could result in strike action unless Bentley reconsiders its plans read more

Offshore workers ‘down tools’ on Mariner platform (7 Apr) – Workers on a North Sea platform say they are staging unofficial industrial action over poor working conditions. They said they had stopped work at 07:00 on the Mariner platform, 95 miles (150km) east of Shetland. It is part of one of the largest new offshore developments in UK waters for more than a decade. Contractor Aker Solutions, which is working for operator Statoil, said it is aware of the situation and is investigating read more on BBC website

Thurrock bin strikes suspended as Unite wins spy camera concessions (6 Apr) – Strikes by Thurrock council’s waste collection workers due to be begin next week (Thursday 12 April) have been suspended following lengthy negotiations. The strikes involving 65 members of Unite, the UK’s largest union, concerned a number of issues, principally the council’s plans to install ‘big brother style’ cameras with a live feed on all waste collection vehicles. Following the negotiations which took place yesterday (Thursday 5 April) Thurrock council has now agreed that rather than allowing pictures from the 360 degrees cameras to go directly to managers’ desks and phones, they will only be viewed by the agreed designated senior members of the data protection and information management team at the council read more

Support Ian Allinson: Protesters accuse Fujitsu of victimising whistleblowers read more. Keep up to date with Unite: Our union in Fujitsu website. Protest outside Japanese Embassy 12noon Thursday April 5^th – 101-104 Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 7JT Facebook event

PCS

Campaign for ex-Carillion staff to be brought in-house at the British Museum Sign our online petition

DWP compulsory redundancies: send PCS e-letter to permanent secretary – PCS is calling on all DWP members in the Department for Work and Pensions to send an e-letter to permanent secretary Peter Schofield to support 2 of our members at Plymouth Benefit Centre who are needlessly facing compulsory redundancy. Bizarrely the office that these two members – who are administrative officer grade staff – work in is not actually closing. However, the work that they do is moving to another location that is outside their mobility and the DWP claims that it can find no other AO work in Plymouth for these staff to do. Help support the campaign by registering your protest against this shameful decision by sending an e-letter to the DWP permanent secretary Peter Schofield read more

Support DWP strikes:

Send messages of support to [email protected]
Send donations to the strike fund to PCS DWP Group, 3rd Floor, Town Centre House, Merrion Centre, Leeds, LS2 8LY

UCU

Support the UCU USS pensions dispute – UCU and their members need the support of the whole labour and trade union movement more than ever. The NSSN calls on all our supporters and affiliates to get in touch with any UCU branch taking action in the USS pension dispute as well as those who took more action on pay at FE colleges last week. Invite them to your union branch and trades council, visit a picket line and join one of the strike rallies and demonstrations taking place today. Victory to the UCU – victory to the lecturers!

UCU members to be consulted over latest USS pension dispute proposals read more

Sign this petition to stop the anti-union dirty tricks in the Coventry University Group – We the undersigned condemn the management of the CU Group, a subsidiary company of Coventry University, who have sought to block UCU from applying for recognition by setting up a company union and recognising it

Staff overwhelmingly back motion calling for Open University vice-chancellor to resign (5 Apr) – UCU members at the Open University have delivered a damning vote of no confidence in their vice-chancellor Peter Horrocks. At an emergency meeting, UCU members overwhelmingly backed a motion of no confidence that calls on him to resign. The no confidence vote comes just days before a specially-convened meeting of the Open University (OU) council on Monday (9 April). That meeting has been called to allow council members the opportunity to discuss the proposed cuts and recent concerns about the leadership of the OU read more

Strike ballot at Hull College Group over job losses – the ballot opened on Friday 23 March and close on Wednesday 18 April read more. Messages of support to Dave Langcaster via email [email protected]

Unison

Hull recycling workers strike for sick pay – Branch appeals for donations to hardship fund as workers start two weeks on the picket line for sick pay from international company worth hundreds of millions. Recycling workers working for FCC Environment in Hull have started two weeks of strike action for decent pay sick pay, and are asking for donations to their hardship fund. Please send messages of solidarity and financial support to the Wilmington Strikers c/o Adrian Kennett Hull City UNISON 39, Alfred Gelder Street, Hull HU1 2AG. Please make cheques payable to UNISON Hull City Branch read more

Sign petition: Support sacked NHS Midwife Jane Greaves

Sign petition: End victimisation of trade unionists at Belle Vue Buses in Manchester

Support the Birmingham Homecare Workers read more on Birmingham Unison website Facebook page

Unison, Unite, GMB & EIS

Trade union rights under attack in West Dunbartonshire – the NSSN gives full support and solidarity to the West Dunbartonshire joint trade union’s (JTU) fight against the SNP council’s Tory-like attack on trade union facility time and budget cuts. Justifying this Tory-like attack on trade union representation, the council claimed it had carried out an on-line survey of employees that showed a majority did not believe they were well served by their trade unions. However, only 500 of the 5,500 council staff took part, and of those a mere 347 – 6% of the workforce – responded negatively to the skewed internet survey. The initial proposal from council officers was to cut the current 3.5 full time union conveners to one! Now it is down to two. The unions involved are Unison, GMB, Unite and the EIS read more

ASLEF

Tube strike District line Friday 13 (9 Apr) – ASLEF members at Acton Town on the District line will be taking strike action for duties booking on between 00.01 and 23.59 on Friday 13 April as London Underground continues to ignore repeated offers of talks. For more than two months, London Underground management has refused to meet ASLEF to discuss the issues at the heart of this dispute. The last meeting was on 30 January. The dispute centres on London Underground’s failure to follow agreed policies and procedures when a recently qualified driver was involved in a signal passed at danger incident read more

TSSA

TSSA votes for fresh strike action at ScotRail over yet more cuts to CCTV monitoring staff (4 Apr) – TSSA members have voted for strike action at Abellio ScotRail in a dispute about a “criminally negligent” shortage of specialist CCTV monitoring staff now jeopardising the security of the entire Scottish rail network. TSSA blames the bad management of a company wide Voluntary Severance (VS) programme for the current situation after management accepted severance applications from 17 of 22 specialist staff read more

POA

Prison officers threaten action over assaults on staff – The POA are determined to protect the Health and Safety of their members, after yet another weekend of chaos and assaults in Prisons. A member of staff at HMP Bedford was so seriously assaulted on Saturday 3rdMarch 2018, that he required lifesaving surgery to relieve pressure on the brain after being attacked by prisoners and having his head stamped on. As assaults on staff continue to rise the obsession with appeasing prisoners instead of regaining control of our Prisons has to stop read more

FBU

Ask your MP to sign EDM 1115 to mark Firefighters’ Memorial Day 2018

Sign petition: Stop West Midlands Firefighters being taken away from the frontline! #FiredUp

NEU

Support the London teachers’ strikes: Organising action, winning for education – Over the last few months, some tremendous campaigns – and some important victories – have been organised across the London Region by the National Education Union. Some campaigns can be won just by organisation and good arguments – but it sometimes needs the threat of collective industrial action to make sure those arguments are heard! Here are a few examples Campaign against Newham academies boosted by victories

Next London strikes – Newham: Avenue out on April 17-19, 24-26 and May 1-3; Cumberland 18-19, 24-26 and May 1-3. Waltham Forest: Connaught April 17-19. Ealing: Acton High April 19

Next Barnsley school strikes against academy management April 10-11 – “Four heads, five deputies and five Sendcos (special needs and disabilities coordinators) have gone over the last two years. It seems like we have a different head sent in nearly every day.” Read more

Teachers’ In East Sussex Ballot for Industrial Action over Pay – Teachers in East Sussex are being balloted for strike action after their pay this year fell below teachers in much of the rest of the country for the first time. The National Education Union, which encompasses the NUT and ATL teaching unions and represents over two thirds of teachers in East Sussex has conducted consultative ballots already in a number of schools. These have shown overwhelming support for industrial action

CWU

Post Office pay talks set to start this month (April 6) – Union officers will be meeting with senior Post Office bosses before the end of April to begin national negotiations over pay, reports CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey. “We submitted our pay claim, with the endorsement of the postal executive, earlier this week to the company’s chief executive Paula Vennells and it has been agreed that the first session of pay talks will take place on 23rd April,” he explains. On pay, the union is calling for an above-inflation consolidated pay increase flowing through to all allowances, including London Weighting read more

BECTU

Support the Picturehouse workers and sacked reps – Read the latest on Brixton Ritzy Facebook Page and those of Hackney, Crouch End, Central, Dulwich East and Duke of York Brighton

Donate to the Picturehouse Cinema strike fund: https://www.crowdpac.co.uk/campaigns/250/picturehousestrike

NUJ

NUJ calls for inquiry into killing of Palestinian press photographer (8 Apr) – The NUJ has expressed sympathy to the family of Palestinian journalist Yasser Murtaja, who died yesterday having been shot while covering a demonstration in the southern Gaza Strip, east of Khan Yunis. Murtaja was a photographer with the Gaza-based Ain Media agency and was one of nine people killed after Israeli troops used live ammunition as tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered to protest. Five other journalists were injured by live fire, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate read more

USDAW

Tesco Dagenham distribution workers in USDAW are currently balloting for strike action after 10 months of protracted negotiations around pay and agency workers

IWGB

University cleaners announce biggest ever outsourced workers strike in UK higher education – University of London workers organised by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) are to hold the biggest-ever strike of outsourced workers in UK higher education history. Over 100 cleaners, porters, security officers, receptionists, gardeners, postroom staff and audiovisual staff are expected to walk out on 25 and 26 April after a near unanimous vote in favour of industrial action. The workers, who are employed by a number of outsourcing companies that have contracts with the University of London central administration, are demanding to be made direct employees of the university, and for equal terms and conditions with those that are directly employed read more Donate to strike fund

Strike solidarity protest 4pm Wednesday April 25^th Facebook event

United Voices of the World

Wildcat Strike of Recycling Workers (Mar 28) – United Voices union members at the Orion recycling plant in east London walked off the job on March 28 in a historic and inspiring wildcat strike to protest against inhuman working conditions. The 10 migrant workers, all of whom are from Peru, took the courageous decision to stand together and fight, despite being told to ‘fuck off’ by their foreman, and threatened with the sack. Within only 19 hours of first coming to United Voices offices in Elephant and Castle to speak out about the conditions they endure, they were on strike and negotiating with their boss in a mass meeting at the gates of their workplace. The workers had never been members of any union before let alone been on strike, and much less a Wildcat strike. This shows what can be achieved in next to no time and at no expense with the right combination of inspiration, determination, unity, and solidarity. They have been continuing the action read more

Blacklisting & Victimisation

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)

GMB Makes FOI Demand To Scotland Yard Over Blacklisting (Apr 9) – 3,213 secretly blacklisted construction workers and environmentalists deserve to know exactly what role the police played says GMB. GMB, the union for construction workers, has called on Scotland Yard to release its internal investigation into the secret blacklisting of 3,213 construction workers and environmentalist by household name companies including Carillion, Balfour Beatty, Costain, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Sir Robert McAlpine, Skanska UK and Vinci read more

Public inquiry finally confirm Mark Cassidy as an undercover police officer that infiltrated construction union UCATT

Undercover police officer HN15 = Mark Cassidy = Mark Jenner

The undercover policing public inquiry has finally confirmed that the joiner many of us knew as Mark Cassidy was in truth an undercover police officer. His real name is Mark Jenner and between 1995-2000, he infiltrated the construction UCATT (his subs were paid from a bank account set up by Special Branch). He also infiltrated rank and file groups including the Building Worker Safety Campaign, the meetings of which he chaired at the Colin Roach Centre in Hackney. Jenner / Cassidy also targeted RMT, Unison, CPSA, TGWU and was on numerous picketlines including Dahl Jenson at Waterloo, JJ Fastfoods at Tottenham Hale and L.B. Southwark DLO.

Mark Cassidy / Jenner was first publicly named in by an article by journalist & union activist Mark Metcalf and in Blacklisted book by Phil Chamberlain & Dave Smith. The Met Police issued a public apology to ‘Alison’, the activist he lived with during the five years of his deployment. It is shameful that the Met and the public inquiry have taken so long to admit that Mark Cassidy was an undercover police officer from the Special Demonstration Squad, something that everyone has known for years. ‘Alison’, Mark Metcalf, UCATT (now part of UNITE) and blacklisted workers Brian Higgins, John Jones, Steve Hedley, Frank Smith, Dan Gilman & Dave Smith (who attended meetings, protests and pickets with Mark Cassidy / Jenner) have all been granted core participant status in the undercover police public inquiry.

This public confirmation about Mark Cassidy comes just a week after the Met confirmed that police provided information to the building industry blacklist. Blacklist Support Group send a huge hug to ‘Alison’ and all the women activist at Police Spies Out of Lives for their inspirational battle to force the authorities to tell the truth about the undercover police officers that abused them.

https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/finally-confirms-hn15-mark-cassidy/

Full story on Mark Jenner: http://powerbase.info/index.php/Mark_Jenner

Blacklisted t-shirts available at: https://shop.hopenothate.org.uk/component/hikashop/product/78-blacklisted-t-shirt

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

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNcgrNs6pB8

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

Blog: www.hazards.org/blacklistblog

International

French rail workers strikes: ASLEF sends solidarity greetings to the CGT read more

Diary

2018

April